Horror Doug Liman to direct Stephen King’s The Stand

[Fincher]

I don't know, I've only seen the actor in the first two seasons of True Blood, but I can dig it. It still should have been Aaron Taylor-Johnson.

 

[FunkMiller]

Good, because the original ending is terrible.

You no likee the

Spoiler

GLOWING HAND OF GODDDDDD????

Hate to tell you though... it’s an extra ending tacked into the end, not a new climax.

But hey, it can’t be worse than a snitch chucking Santa Claus going ‘EEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!’ can it?

 

[Brother Jack]

Everything in Las Vegas.

I view it as a Tolkien-esque resolution.

Spoiler

Evil is defeated in a way by its own evil. Trashcan Man playing the part of Gollum in how his love and devotion to Flagg is what makes him bring the nuke to Vegas, which is then detonated by Flagg's own magic. Yes, there's the whole "hand of God" thing, but if you read the text it's actually the magic Flagg used to kill his dissenting follower that transforms and causes the nuke to explode. The characters describe it as looking like the hand of God, but it's not 100% clear if the big G is directly behind it. It might come across that the heroes were irrelevant to that happening, but the whole populace of Vegas (people were deserting) and Flagg himself (he was prone to disappearing) would not have been congregated in that one place if they had not given themselves up as lambs to the slaughter, so to speak. It ties in directly with the thematic ideas about power in the book; the most powerful man left in the world after the superflu (itself a weapon created by the former most powerful entity, the U.S. government) is defeated through self-sacrificial non-violence.

That's my take on it anyway. I love the ending.

 

[DarkKnight88]

We all know it should take a queue from Stephen King’s ultimate classic The Langoliers and end with the survivors celebrating in freeze frame.

 

[OtherwiseKnownAs]

Everything in Las Vegas.

Oh man, the climax of The Stand is my favorite part of the book.

 

[Lighthouse]

Well, I guess it's just me but I feel like thematically and dramatically the whole "Stand" part of the story is a huge letdown.

 

[Brother Jack]

Well, I guess it's just me but I feel like thematically and dramatically the whole "Stand" part of the story is a huge letdown.

You're definitely not the only person who feels that way. King has a reputation for not ending his books well, to the point that the new It movie goofs on him repeatedly for it. But this is one ending that I think many are wrong about. For me, I can't imagine that some epic, literal battle between Vegas and Boulder would have worked better. There is a battle between good and evil, but it takes place within each of the characters.

 

[FunkMiller]

You're definitely not the only person who feels that way. King has a reputation for not ending his books well, to the point that the new It movie goofs on him repeatedly for it. But this is one ending that I think many are wrong about. For me, I can't imagine that some epic, literal battle between Vegas and Boulder would have worked better. There is a battle between good and evil, but it takes place within each of the characters.

Personally, I’ve never really felt his endings to be bad... more that they tend to go off in directions that are not expected. His endings tend to be quite esoteric, which a lot of people struggle with.

His only truly terrible endings are the final confrontations in The Dark Tower. What he does with Walter and The Crimson King is so universally terrible that I’m still stunned to this day that he went ahead with both. The twist right at the end makes up for it a bit, but in terms of awful conclusions between protagonist and antagonist, The Dark Tower is a crowning turd in the waterpipe.

 

[OtherwiseKnownAs]

Personally, I’ve never really felt his endings to be bad... more that they tend to go off in directions that are not expected. His endings tend to be quite esoteric, which a lot of people struggle with.

His only truly terrible endings are the final confrontations in The Dark Tower. What he does with Walter and The Crimson King is so universally terrible that I’m still stunned to this day that he went ahead with both. The twist right at the end makes up for it a bit, but in terms of awful conclusions between protagonist and antagonist, The Dark Tower is a crowning turd in the waterpipe.

Yeah, it was pretty painful reading Walter getting Worf’d by a Spider-Baby

 

[Art Vandelay]

For me, the problem is the entire final chapter(?) of the book, where Stu and the gang spend the whole time walking to Las Vegas. The best parts of the book involved everything up until the characters getting to the "Free Zone". Once settled, the book becomes stagnant, which is why King chose to dramatically kill off some of the characters as a way of kick starting the narrative.

I don't hate the ending, but it does feel a tad weak. Particularly when Flagg is shown in the epilogue to be alive, to cause more mischief (albeit, possibly in a different world than the one we had grown to know).

 

[Sawyer]

Really thought we’d have to wait longer for this, since the new miniseries was just in 2020, but…

Doug Liman to Tackle Stephen King Epic ‘The Stand’ For Paramount (Exclusive)

Liman is attached to direct the feature and will produce along with Tyler Thompson of Cross Creek Pictures.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

Not sure Liman’s the right guy for the job, though.

 

[Pennywise]

Doug Liman to Tackle Stephen King Epic ‘The Stand’ For Paramount (Exclusive)

Liman is attached to direct the feature and will produce along with Tyler Thompson of Cross Creek Pictures.

t.co

 

[Sawyer]

Sources say that Liman and the studio have a particular take and that the feature would be a one-off, not a multi-movie endeavor.

Okay, yeah, now I’m really not sure about this.

 

[Fincher]

The Stand: The Incomplete and Cut Edition

 

[Sawyer]

Even with a Brutalist-length runtime (which I doubt Paramount would give them), there’s just no way.

Needs way more room to breathe. At least make it a two-parter.

 

[Fincher]

My best guess is they'll cover the ending and make the rest exposition and maybe the occasional flashback. Should be quite the dumpster fire.

 

[Spider-Fan]

If they're doing just 1 movie, my best guess is there will be a lot of deviations. I don't think this will try and cram as much book as possible. Probably is going use the same base story and do it's own thing

 

[Lily Adler]

Even with a Brutalist-length runtime (which I doubt Paramount would give them), there’s just no way.

Needs way more room to breathe. At least make it a two-parter.

My best guess is they'll cover the ending and make the rest exposition and maybe the occasional flashback. Should be quite the dumpster fire.

If they're doing just 1 movie, my best guess is there will be a lot of deviations. I don't think this will try and cram as much book as possible. Probably is going use the same base story and do it's own thing

Ooooor we can make it a pseudo-sequel taking place after the book while also retreading it.

 

[Spider-Fan]

Ooooor we can make it a pseudo-sequel taking place after the book while also retreading it.

I think that'd be the worst route. It's a popular book and all, but not like all the finer plot points are known outside whoever watched a 90s TV movie or the few that streamed the new series. Lord knows kids today don't read, lol! Point being, it being a sequel means having an understanding of the story that I think the general audience wouldn't have

 

[Pennywise]

There’s no way this could be one film. Nope.

Wouldn’t be surprised if Liman eventually exits as there have been so many directors attached to this.

 

[Sawyer]

The Kingcast did an episode awhile back on one ****ty attempt to condense the book into one film in the late 80s/early 90s.

Granted, from the sound of it, that script had more problems than just trying to fit too much into a certain timeframe, but still… ill advised.

 

[Lily Adler]

The Kingcast did an episode awhile back on one ****ty attempt to condense the book into one film in the late 80s/early 90s.

Granted, from the sound of it, that script had more problems than just trying to fit too much into a certain timeframe, but still… ill advised.

Giant spiders and polar bears?

 

[Sawyer]

Giant spiders and polar bears?

Misogyny and cocaine-addled screenwriting.

 

[OtherwiseKnownAs]

They’re doing this in just one film??

lol, wasn’t that series a few years back bad enough? Like how do you even do this in one book? And if you’re just gonna do an adaptation that’s “based” on the world of the Stand, why even adapt it at all instead of just doing a new post-apocalyptic setting. Like, the Christian motif and the battle between good and evil is kinda the whole point of the narrative.

 

[Sawyer]

My opinion has long been that his needs to be an HBO limited series and I stand by it. Second best option is a two-part film bc I really don’t see a way to split that book into three in a way that actually entices film audiences.

They haven’t batted a thousand, but they’re the only ones I trust with this. Putting it on a streaming service that was basically just CBS with a slightly larger budget was the wrong move and condensing a story this epic into one film feels like the wrong move as well.