Director Josh Boone, whose new film The Fault In Our Stars, based on the hit novel by John Green, is out in theaters today, let slip a little bit of his vision for his other big book-to-film adaptation: Stephen King's apocalyptic plague-filled, good vs evil opus, The Stand.
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In an interview with Vulture, Boone sounds like a kid who's just been given the keys to dad's ferarri. "We're gonna do one three-hour, R-rated version with an amazing A-list cast across the board. Every single one of those characters will be somebody you recognize and somebody you relate to. And it's gonna be awesome. I'm really excited. It's the most exciting thing I've ever got to do in my entire life. If 12-year-old me had ever known that one day I'd be doing this, to even just go back and look at that kid, I'd be like, Keep doing what you're doing!"
The Stand was originally adapted into a tv miniseries in the mid-90s starring Gary Sinise, but the reception was mixed, at best. Though it was able to convey many of the points of King's nearly 1200 page novel, it never rose above the limitations of its medium. At three hours, Boone is going to have to be very careful with what he decides to leave in. A film of this scope can get away from someone very, very quickly. Several directors, including Ben Affleck, have tried and failed to get the film off the ground.
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The original novel is about a plague, called 'Captain Tripps' that wipes out most of the world's population. The remaining few people then find themselves caught in an ageless battle between King's major antagonist, Randall Flagg and the wise and kind Mother Abigail. It's terrifying and brilliant and overwritten and under-edited, like all of King's works, but the story told is just great.
The Stand is not the only King adaptation in the works. New Line Cinema recently obtained the rights to It, the horror novel about a group of kids who have to wage a battle against a supernatural being both as children and later as adults.
The Fault In Our Stars is in theaters today. Watch the trailer below! So what do you think? Is this the right guy for the job?
