The adaptation of Stephen King's post apocalyptic epic The Stand has been getting a ton of coverage lately. While rumors as of late have revolved around supposed casting choices, the ending of the original draft of the script has been surfaced. The film, which was originally written by David Kajganich, is now being reworked by the director Josh Boone. Badass Digest recently released a spoiler heavy (seriously, don't read if you have any intentions of reading the novel) ending that was in the original script:
In this version, from last year, the good guy survivors from Boulder get together in an army and march on Las Vegas to kill Randall Flagg. Flagg’s headquarters is, of course, the Luxor Pyramid. The Boulderites invade the city while, off to the east, a squad fights at the Boulder Dam – which Trashcan Man explodes, killing Larry Underwood and sending a deadly flood to Vegas. In the city Flagg squares off against hero Stu Redman… who now has the power of God, and they have an Akira-like battle on the Las Vegas Strip, with Flagg trying to take Stu’s magic. Cars are thrown, Excalbur’s turrets are tossed, the people of Vegas are used by Flagg as disposable cannon-fodder. Meanwhile Nick Andros sacrifices his life taking out a howitzer. The Boulder forces, while armed, try to only take prisoners and rescue people from being under Flagg’s evil spell. It all comes down to Flagg and Stu, and whether or not Stu will absorb Flagg’s evil magic.
Well... that's interesting? While King's ending was beautiful in print it was a bit hard to pull off on screen in the miniseries that aired in the early 90's. I can understand making some changes, but completely changing the course that certain characters take is a bit much for me. According to this original ending, Nick Andros survives the bomb set by Harold and Nadine, Stu Redman develops supernatural powers and there is an all out war between the Boulder Free Zone and Flagg's new Vegas homestead.
I really hope this is another fruitless rumor. While I agree that some things should probably be changed to make it more film friendly, but this is just a bit much for me. What say you?
Recently I've had some time on my hands, so I've decided to go through my never ending stack of unread Stephen King novels and start powering through them. The one on top, The Stand, had been sitting there for some time as it just never sounded all that interesting to me. Oh was I wrong, I now consider that book to be one of my all time King favorites, and I was very excited to read this tidbit of news that was apparently released a few days ago.
I had heard rumors of a motion picture adaptation, but it all seemed to be a bunch of whisper. Apparently not. This shit is goin' down, and Josh Boone is leading the way. While I don't enough about Boone to say that he would be wrong for the project, his ideas for casting are making my knees weak and that alone makes me think he may be right for the project.
It was originally reported that Matthew McConaughey was being pursued to play the role of Randall Flagg. In more recent news, later the same day, Josh Boone took to Twitter to present a very tasty bit of news refuting that.
Holy shit. I don't even know what to say.
When I first read that McConaughey was being considered for Flagg, my thoughts immediately were "That's interesting, he may be a better Stu, but he would still be phenomenal Flagg". Seeing Boone's tweet made me want to cry.
McConaughey would not only be a magnificent Stu Redman, but Bale as Flagg, I never would've thought of and I love it. While the miniseries was fun, it neutered a large part of the fear that King's novel goes into gory detail to impart. It's understandable, but this is being said to be a 3 hour, rated R, epic saga closely mimicing the vibe of the novel. Yes and Yes.
Now I pray to the Gods of Hollywood and pray that this works out.
