Stephen King has some rabid fans, so logically his opus, The Stand has
some rabid fans as well. I’ve never read The Stand but I do know the
book itself traveled a rocky road in the past. Originally published as
King’s fifth book, Doubleday thought King’s manuscript for the novel
was too long and would intimidate readers and in turn cut out hundreds
of pages. When King’s popularity reached new heights at the end of the
80’s the novel was finally released in its original form. Well, sort
of. King took the opportunity to change the setting to 1990 (In the
original release it was 1980, then 1985 in the paperback edition) as
well as some of the pop culture references.

A film version languished for many years with George Romero connected
as director and King as the screenwriter. Due to the length of the
novel, a movie script proved a tough nut to crack, eventually King
allowed another writer to take a stab at it and managed to cut it down
to what would be a three hour film. Executives liked the script but
for some reason Warner Brothers pulled out before things were set to
get moving.

Eventually ABC released an eight hour miniseries in 1994 that was
obviously toned down a bit for network television.

In 2011 Warner Brothers announced that there was a new feature film in
the works. Numerous writers and directors have been attached in that
time. Most notably, Harry Potter chums, David Yates and Steve Kloves,
then Ben Affleck who dropped out after signing on to play Batman and
finally Scott Cooper who left over “creative differences.”

Which brings us up to date. Currently, The Fault of our Stars director
Josh Boone is signed to direct. He recently spoke with The Vulture
about the project and shed some new light on what the intentions are
for the project:

“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! It’s just crazy. I’ve met so
many actors over the years, and like, when I met Stephen King, I
hugged him with tears in my eyes. He meant that much to me when I was
young. I still say everything I learned about writing I learned from
Stephen King. I don’t read screenplays. I don’t read screenplay how-to
books. It’s always just, establish the character. Establish the character.”