Of the dozens of novels that Stephen King has written, one that is frequently cited as his best and most prolific is 1978’s “The Stand.” The unabridged version of the story is a sprawling epic about a superflu that wipes out most of the world’s population, leaving small groups of survivors to try and rebuild. It’s not exactly a cheery, life-affirming story, but it’s gripping, sweeping, and profound. Its also being set to become a feature film, and for a change it’s not being directed by Mike Flanagan. This time the reins are being handed to Doug Liman.
“The Stand” has already seen itself adapted in a few ways. The first was a mini-series in 1994, broadcast across four parts. It has a litany of big name stars for its time including Gary Sinise, Rob Lowe, Molly Ringwald, and the future voice of Patrick Starfish, Bill Fagerbakke.
In late 2020, a new nine part mini-series in during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic released. This version would also include some big names like James Marsden, Whoopi Goldberg, Alexander Skarsgärd, and Amber Heard. Both of these versions made sense as a series, given how much ground the books cover. But this upcoming version is reportedly going to be a single film.
Liman and Paramount Pictures aim to make one movie out of the script, and are in the process of recruiting a writer. Liman has previously directed “Swingers,” “The Bourne Identity,” “Edge of Tomorrow,” and more recently ,the 2024 remake of “Road House.” It’s an interesting choice considering how Liman has made a number of successful action films, while “The Stand” is not an action-packed story. Sure, it has its moments, but we’ll have to see what spin Liman puts on the eventual script.
The idea of putting this story into one film is a mind-boggling one.There would have to be some substantial revisions and cuts made for that to work. We’ll continue to follow this developing project in the weeks and months to come.
