Summary
- Fans question if Stephen King's lengthy novel, "The Stand," can be adapted into a single movie due to its extensive storyline.
- "The Stand" movie will mark the third adaptation of the pandemic story, highlighting King's popularity in film and TV.
- Given the COVID-19 pandemic's relevance, fans anticipate the release of the new adaptation of "The Stand" for a fresh perspective.
Stephen King has written more than a few beloved horror stories, and his 1978 novel The Stand is one of his most memorable and terrifying. The post-apocalyptic story focuses on a deadly flu that is being used as a weapon and sees characters working together so they can avoid death. While there are many novels and movies about the apocalypse, The Stand is unique as it has all the hallmarks of a good King story, including some relatable and compassionate characters along with some terrible villains.
King fans are enjoying The Life of Chuck, the Mike Flanagan movie adaptation of the 2020 short story that tells one man's sad yet hopeful life story, and The Long Walk is coming out in the fall. There are even more adaptations to come, including a movie based on The Stand. Now that the director has been announced, fans are talking about the film, and they have one question.
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Doug Liman Will Direct Stephen King's The Stand, But Fans Wonder About The Story's Length
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Doug Liman is directing a movie adaptation of The Stand, and it will be released by Paramount Pictures. Tyler Thompson/Cross Creek Pictures and Liman are producing, and as the publication reported, the search is on for a screenwriter.
THR noted that The Stand is the longest book that King has written and has 1,152 pages. This is exactly why fans of the horror author are worried about a movie. Redditor @awildyetti wrote:
"There’s no way you could capture this in even a 3-4hr movie with an intermission. King had to release the novel to include interludes which legitimately added to the story. Dark Tower aside, this is his magnum opus. It’s not a film."
Redditor @Odd-Wrongdoer-8879 added:
"The Stand as a film doesn't work unless split into multiple parts."
While fans are glad that The Long Walk movie has changed the walking speed, which makes it realistic, it's hard to imagine The Stand novel translating as easily to the big screen. The book has more than a few characters, all of them important, and it would be a shame to cut many of them out. It just seems impossible to feature every single person and storyline in the movie. Many fans think that King's stories should always be TV shows, and there's a case to be made for The Stand becoming a TV drama that lasts for at least a few seasons. The movie might combine a few characters into one, which would be disappointing.
At the very least, perhaps the upcoming The Stand movie could have a runtime of at least two and a half or three hours. There's just so much story to tell, and a shorter film doesn't seem possible. However, while Avatar: The Way Of Water is more than three hours and some other recent releases have had lengthy runtimes, not everyone wants to sit through a movie that is more than 120 minutes long. If The Stand movie was that long, it might suffer from some poor publicity. It's easy to imagine that's all that people would focus on and talk about, not the performances or the storytelling.
The Stand Movie Will Be The Third Adaptation Of The Stephen King Story
The upcoming movie adaptation of The Stand will be the third time the pandemic story has been brought to the big or small screen. There are two previous TV adaptations. First came the 1994 miniseries, which has a large cast including Molly Ringwald, Kathy Bates, John Landis, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Sam Raimi. Another The Stand miniseries was released in 2020 and starred Whoopi Goldberg, Amber Heard, Alexander Skarsgård, Greg Kinnear, Odessa Young, Owen Teague, and James Marsden. Several of King's stories have been turned into limited series, including The Outsider, and it makes sense to cover such a long story in that format.
The Stand isn't the only beloved King story that has gotten more than one adaptation. Salem's Lot was turned into a movie and two miniseries, and Mike Flanagan's Carrie series will follow the 1976 and 2013 movies, along with a 2002 miniseries. Several of his classic horror stories have gotten remakes as well, such as Firestarter and Pet Sematary.
Since The Stand is about a pandemic and the COVID-19 virus began circulating in 2020, it makes sense that this story still feels relevant and worthy of another adaptation. In 2020, King conducted a virtual interview for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and said (via Syfy.com):
"I'm still apologizing for [The Stand] 40, 50 years later. People will come along and say through their little masks, 'I feel like I'm living in a Stephen King story.' My response is, 'I'm sorry for that.'"
- Birthdate
- September 21, 1947
- Birthplace
- Portland, Maine
- Notable Projects
- The Shining, Cujo, The Shawshank Redemption, It, Carrie
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