As long as Stephen King is cranking out books and avoiding cars, Hollywood will be adapting them. The most recent example of that being Under the Dome, which got a TV series this year. There are a bunch of other films in development hell right now, based on King properties.
And it looks like Paul “Captain Phillips” Greengrass is in the running to adapt one of them.
The Stand is the name of that film, based on a book where humanity finds itself divided after the apocalypse and a viral outbreak has decimated the population and left evil personified as a leader of the remnants. That’s a plot which could play to Greengrass’s strengths, as well as create some new ground for him to explore. According to Badass Digest, Greengrass is the number one choice at Warner Bros to tackle the film adaptation. In the past, directors such as Ben Affleck, David Yates and Scott Cooper were all attached to the project, but they eventually moved on.
What makes The Stand such a great story, is that despite being about the ultimate conflict between good and evil, is that it encompasses a gray area of morality as well. That’s due to the Vietnam War influences that surrounded the book when King wrote it, and could work well with Greengrass blurring those lines.
Whether or not the film could be PG-13 like WB wants it, that’s an interesting discussion, as Greengrass films usually tow the R-rated line.
Last Updated: November 27, 2013
