Several months ago Warner Bros. dropped the news that Hollywood A-Lister Ben Affleck would be adapting Stephen King's seminal end of the world novel "The Stand" into a feature film. At the time the Academy Award winning screen writer was also supposed to do the screenplay, however that is no longer the case.
WB has hired screenwriter David Kajganich to adapt the novel. Kajganich is best known for his screenplay of the 2007 film The Invasion with Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig. Personally I haven't seen the film but it's rating on Rotten Tomatoes is pretty poor--only 19% with 128 rotten reviews against 31 fresh. However the overall RT statement calls the film "slickly made but it lacks psychological insight and thrills." Take that for what you will but it speaks to possible weaknesses in the screenplay. Just sayin'.
Despite this WB hired Kajganich for "The Stand" ironically because they were so wowed by his screenplay adaptation for another Stephen King book--"IT"* which is also getting a fresh look on the big screen.
From my perspective I'm excited for both of these projects. I consider "The Stand" and "IT" to be my two favorite Stephen King novels of all time, and while I did enjoy the television mini-series back in the day, both would look great on the big screen. My only concern is that "The Stand" is such a gigantic novel that you really can't do it justice even if you made it into a 3 hour film. Splitting it into two or even three films might work out better.
In any case I'm excited to see what Affleck does with this film. I know a lot of people out there think Affleck is a talentless hack but I'm not one of them. Yes he's made some bad films (Gigli, Reindeer Games) however the two films he's directed, Gone Baby Gone and The Town were phenomenal. As far as I'm concerned he can stay behind the camera for the rest of his life.
As of right now the film is in pre-production but there is no start date or cast so this film could be in development hell or simply fall apart at any time.
*Despite the fact that it was a mini-series, IT scared the crap out of me when I was a child. I didn't like clowns before then but after that I detested them. If I ever have kids they are never going to get a clown for a birthday party. Not a chance.
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