Horror Doug Liman to direct Stephen King’s The Stand

[Sawyer]

http://deadline.com/2014/08/does-tv...aughey-coveted-for-the-stand-and-gold-823461/

Remember how a movie actor’s stock dropped when they slummed on the small screen? Matthew McConaughey heads into the weekend as a favorite to win an Emmy for HBO’s True Detective. His performance as Rust Cohle, stacked on top of his Oscar winning Dallas Buyers Club role, is so impressive he is being chased for numerous plum film roles. I’m told that Warner Bros covets him to play the role of Randall Flagg in The Stand, the adaptation of Stephen King’s apocalyptic masterpiece novel that Josh Boone will direct. Flagg is the personification of evil, a demonic figure who wreaks havoc after a plague kills most of the population. He was played in haunting fashion by Jamie Sheridan in the miniseries adaptation. This is by no means a firm situation, but it’s understandable why the studio thinks McConaughey would be a compelling and persuasive force of evil in the film. Flagg was such a force of evil that King used him in several of his works including The Stand.

 

[kvz5]

Looks like the tracking board rumor was right after all.

 

[terry78]

Now that would be a get. MM is back on fire fo' realz. I did want him to play Captain Cold in a Flash movie if they ever pull that out of their ass.

 

[DeGenerate10]

I really see MM more as Stu Redman. But I'd love to see him as Flagg.

 

[Sawyer]

I see Stu being a bit younger than Matt's age range. I can see Jake Gyllenhaal. He's a bit young now, but this thing gets delayed enough, and he'll be perfect.

 

[Marvolo]

Ohhhh make it so!!! Mathew can play a sinister character insanely well.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Yes, I like the idea of MM as Flagg. But only THIS Flagg. I picture Flagg in The Dark Tower somewhat differently, even though it's the same character and the stories sort of intersect. But I think if DT is ever made, MM wouldn't quite fit Walter O'Dim/Marten/Flagg.

Of course, none of that is relevant to this film.

 

[Doctor Jones]

MM in anything Stephen King seems like a perfect match.

 

[MadVillainy]

He'd be great.

Im still not convinced of this movie though

 

[Sawyer]

Nor am I, but if it's gonna happen, there's nothing I can do about it. Might as well just hope for the best. MM being cast certainly comes close to hitting that mark.

 

[Marvolo]

I know it could still be ****, but if it is 3 hours and rated R like the director said it would be then its at least got a chance to be good. But if at the last minute they cut it to a 2 hour PG-13 film then its gonna be a gutted shell.

 

[kvz5]

Boone tweeted this:

Josh Boone @JoshBooneMovies
I have always wanted McConaughey as Stu and Bale as Flagg. Still not sure how that story leaked - just not true.

Josh Boone @JoshBooneMovies
Not that either couldn't play the other role brilliantly - but my heart's been there since I started writing.

 

[Sawyer]

Don't ruin this for me, Boone, you **********!!!!

 

[DarkKnight88]

Yeah, switch it around Boone!

Although, I guess it would be a Reign of Fire reunion. Bale hasn't played a villain since American Psycho, right?

 

[Eddie Dean]

He was sort of the villain in Public Enemies.

 

[Necrosis Boy]

I cannot see this turning out good.

 

[DarkKnight88]

Based on what? Wait till they start filming at least before completely writing it off.

If they cast McConaughey and/or Bale it's already better than the terrible 90s mini-series.

 

[Brother Jack]

I could certainly see McConaughey as Flagg but I've long thought it would be better to get a lesser known actor for the role. A large part of Flagg as a character is the relative anonymity of him; he looks more or less like a regular guy in normal clothing. The supernatural menace comes more out of the evil yet attractive vibe he puts off and the things he can do rather than what he looks like. Casting a big star might detract from that.

 

[Victarion]

I don't know if I can picture Bale as Flagg, even though I'm a big fan of Bale's.

 

[childeroland]

Knew MM as Flagg was too good to be true. And Bale would make a better Stu.

 

[Sawyer]

Can't really see Bale as being the ideal actor for any of the characters in this, tbh. Not really wholesome enough for Stu, too old for Larry or Nick, too A-list for someone as relatively minor as Lloyd. Flagg probably comes closest, but now that the idea of McConaughey has been planted in my brain, Bale just doesn't cut it.

Or maybe the Trashcan Man.

 

[Frodo]

I love the idea of McCougnhey as Flagg. My hope would be that he could appear as the Man in Black in the Dark Tower, should that ever get off the ground this century. I see Bale more as Roland than Flagg myself.

 

[:eek:]

One can only hope nothing of this is true, because it sounds like something out of a stupid superhero-movie:

"Gone Girl," "The Stand" Ending Change Talk

By Garth Franklin Monday September 8th 2014 12:47AM
Two upcoming films based on two famous novels are set to get a quite different approach to their respective endings.
On the one hand there's "Gone Girl," David Fincher's upcoming film adaptation of Gillian Flynn's novel. Previously there were rumors that Fincher had essentially reconfigured the entire last act of his work so it would offer a quite different experience from the book.
Now, a writer for The New York Times saw the film at a private screening and says that the film ultimately hews closely to the book. If there are changes they may be more of a mild or thematic nature.
On the opposite end of the scale, Bad Ass Digest reports that Josh Boone's upcoming, three-hour, R-rated adaptation of Stephen King's novel "The Stand" will be VERY different in its final act from the work. Looking at an earlier draft of the script, they describe the new ending as follows:

"In this version, from last year, the good guy survivors from Boulder get together in an army and march on Las Vegas to kill Randall Flagg. Flagg's headquarters is, of course, the Luxor Pyramid. The Boulderites invade the city while, off to the east, a squad fights at the Boulder Dam - which Trashcan Man explodes, killing Larry Underwood and sending a deadly flood to Vegas.
In the city Flagg squares off against hero Stu Redman... who now has the power of God, and they have an Akira-like battle on the Las Vegas Strip, with Flagg trying to take Stu's magic. Cars are thrown, Excalbur's turrets are tossed, the people of Vegas are used by Flagg as disposable cannon-fodder. Meanwhile Nick Andros sacrifices his life taking out a howitzer. The Boulder forces, while armed, try to only take prisoners and rescue people from being under Flagg's evil spell. It all comes down to Flagg and Stu, and whether or not Stu will absorb Flagg's evil magic."
​

That is a marked change from the whole 'Hand of God' sequence in the novel which was portrayed in the previous mini-series adaptation of the work.

 

[DarkKnight88]

One can only hope nothing of this is true, because it sounds like something out of a stupid superhero-movie:

The article forgot to mention this important part. If they actually clicked on the BadAssDigest article from which their information comes from they'd see that this draft was before Josh Boone signed on:

How will the movie end? I don't know! Josh Boone, who directed The Fault in Our Stars, is reworking the script right now. But I do know how the draft before Boone ended, one written by David Kajganich. It's not great.

 

[Octoberist]

Yeah, that's the thing that most articles don't get. Badass Digest made it clear-ish that it was from a previous draft, not the current.