Summary
Stephen Kinghas written more than a few beloved horror stories, and his 1978 novelThe Standis one of his most memorable and terrifying. Thepost-apocalyptic story focuses on a deadly flu that is being used as a weaponand sees characters working together so they can avoid death. While there aremany novels and movies about the apocalypse,The Standis 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 enjoyingThe Life of Chuck, the Mike Flanagan movie adaptationof the 2020 short story that tells one man’s sad yet hopeful life story, andThe Long Walkis coming out in the fall. There are even more adaptations to come, includinga movie based onThe Stand. Now that the director has been announced, fans are talking about the film, and they have one question.
Doug Liman Will Direct Stephen King’s The Stand, But Fans Wonder About The Story’s Length
According toThe Hollywood Reporter,Doug Liman is directing a movie adaptation ofThe 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.
THRnoted thatThe Standis 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 @awildyettiwrote:
“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 Toweraside, this is his magnum opus. It’s not a film.”
Redditor @Odd-Wrongdoer-8879 added:
“The Standas a film doesn’t work unless split into multiple parts.”
While fans are glad thatThe Long Walkmovie has changed the walking speed, which makes it realistic, it’s hard to imagineThe Standnovel 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 thatKing’s stories should always be TV shows, and there’s a case to be made forThe Standbecoming 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 upcomingThe Standmoviecould 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, whileAvatar: The Way Of Wateris more than three hoursand some other recent releases have had lengthy runtimes, not everyone wants to sit through a movie that is more than 120 minutes long. IfThe Standmovie 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 ofThe Standwill bethe 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.AnotherThe Standminiseries was released in 2020and 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, includingThe Outsider, and it makes sense to cover such a long story in that format.
The Standisn’t the only beloved King story that has gotten more than one adaptation.Salem’s Lotwas turned into a movie and two miniseries, andMike Flanagan’sCarrieserieswill follow the 1976 and 2013 movies, along with a 2002 miniseries. Several of his classic horror stories have gotten remakes as well, such asFirestarterandPet Sematary.
SinceThe Standis 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 forThe Late Show with Stephen Colbertand said (viaSyfy.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.'”
