Filed away under 'S' for shocking developments comes word that Ben Affleck has become Warner Brothers' guy to direct an adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand. Surprising, even though Affleck has taken a turn for larger films with his hostage flick, Argo, it's still such a huge project that it'd be difficult even for more experienced directors. You'd expect The Stand to go to someone with tons of franchise experience, like say....David Yates?
Oh yeah, that's right. Back in August, Warner Brothers actually selected the Harry Potter director, along with Potter screenwriter Steve Kloves, to adapt The Stand as a potential trilogy. So what happened? Deadline doesn't have any answers, but I'm going to assume Kloves' script will still be in effect. It may just be that the final numbers couldn't be worked out, and since Affleck has a pretty good working relationship with the studio(The Town was through them), they may have jumped at the opportunity to strengthen the union. My hope now is that Yates will finally...FINALLY...get to work on adapting Bill Willingham's amazing Vertigo comic series, Fables. Considering the currently popularity of fairy tale adaptations, Fables, which features famous fantasy characters living in the modern world, would fit right in. If you haven't read any of them, you should start here.
The Stand chronicles a fierce war between good and evil in the wake of a super-virus that kills 99% of the world's population. It's been adapted before, with the relatively decent 1994 TV mini-series, although the content was heavily edited due to strict television guidelines back then. Shouldn't be a problem for the big screen version, though.
I told a colleague of mine that Warner Brothers doesn't really do small films anymore, only major tentpoles. Add The Stand to that list, although I wouldn't expect it to kick off until early 2013, or maybe late 2012 depending on when Argo wraps.
