Stephen King’s epic post-apocalyptic masterpiece, The Stand, might finally be heading to the big screen, with Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) now attached to direct a feature film adaptation for Paramount Pictures.
This is huge news. The sprawling novel— a hefty 1,153 pages in its unabridged version—has famously eluded a successful cinematic adaptation for decades. Paramount is apparently treating this as a priority. It is pushing forward aggressively to make it happen, with Cross Creek Pictures’ Tyler Thompson on board to produce.
A History of Challenges
The Stand, first published in 1978, tells the story of good versus evil. It is set against the backdrop of a cataclysmic pandemic that wipes out 99.4% of humanity. It spans many years and countless characters. This has been a significant hurdle for previous attempts to turn it into a single movie. Directors like Ben Affleck, Scott Cooper, and Josh Boone have all been attached to the project at various times. However, they have all stepped away.
So far, the story has only been adapted into a television miniseries: first for ABC in 1994 (starring Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald, and Rob Lowe) and again for a Paramount+ series in 2020 (featuring James Marsden, Odessa Young, and Alexander Skarsgard).
Liman’s New Challenge
While the project doesn’t have a script yet, meaning development will take some time to condense King’s massive novel, Liman is no stranger to ambitious projects. This will be Paramount’s first collaboration with Liman, who has recently directed films for streamers such as Apple TV+ (The Instigators) and Amazon Prime Video (Road House). He previously collaborated with producer Tyler Thompson on the 2017 Tom Cruise caper American Made and the 2014 sci-fi epic Edge of Tomorrow, starring Cruise.
The Hollywood Reporter was the first to break the exciting news of Liman’s involvement. Could this finally be the cinematic adaptation of The Stand that fans have been waiting for? We’ll have to stay tuned! In the meantime, head over to Paramount+ and watch the 2020 series now.
There has been no shortage of King adaptations released over the past two years. And there are more on the way. You can find details about many of them here.
