The Stand is my all-time favorite book and I’ve read it a few dozen times. I read it now at least once a year. I’d always hoped for a theatrical movie but cringed at the thought too, because they would have to cut out too much. With four movies they might actually be able to scratch the surface. The first movie could be all about The Plague, the second the journey and Meet Ups, the third settling Boulder and Las Vegas, and the last, BOOM. I just want to live long enough to see all four. We probably wouldn’t see the first movie until at least 2018.
Same here, me too, yes yes. I just hope to god they film it all at once so we don’t get one or two parts then it gets dropped and we’re left hanging. I think they’d have to, because even if the first were a smash hit, getting the actors and crew together again every couple/so years would be a logistical nightmare.
When I first heard Matthew McConaughey might be cast in the movie I thought, Yes! He’ll make a great Stu Redmond! Then I found out he’d be playing the Walking Dude and I thought, Yes! He’ll make a great Randall Flagg! He’s such a good actor I could totally see him in either role. The thing that thrilled me the most hearing about Matthew’s possible involvement was that, they’re taking this very seriously. Start with an excellent, well-respected (now) actor and the rest will follow. The only problem with getting any quality actor onboard is that if they do film it all at once it’s a major time commitment. I’d think that anyone would really have to love the book.
Boone’s involvement points to a strong possibility that Shailene Woodley could be cast as Fran. I can’t see it, but she’s good enough to make it work. I’d rather see Jennifer Lawrence as Fran, though she’d also be good as Nadine. I hate speculating on casting though. I’m always wrong.
I want to see The Stand Marathon tomorrow already. Where’s my Lanyard??
I love Sam Rockwell, but I think he’s too old for Larry. Tom Hiddleston would work as Larry for me. I’d switch Rooney for Kate Mara. As frightening as she was as Lisbeth Salandar, she can also do soft and shy with a steel spine (see Ain’t Them Bodies Saints). I’m smitten with Gugu Mbatha-Raw and there’s no reason why Fran has to be white. I’d love to see her as Fran. Arkin is way too gruff for gentle Glen. I’d switch Brian Cox and Alan Arkin. Or Brendan Gleeson for Glen. Gordon-Levitt is perfect for Nick, as is Buscemi. Good call. As much as I like Eisenberg, I’d want a plumped-up Jered Leto for Harold. He’d be good at both vulnerable/hurt and evil. I think it’d be great to see either Chris Hemsworth or Channing Tatum as Tom Cullen. Tom needs to be a sweet blond giant of a guy, big enough to pick up and carry Stu. They’re both fantastic actors and could fit the role perfectly. I don’t know Jonathan Banks.
To me, Sam Worthington is too generic and perhaps a bit too young for Stu. In my miind, Tom Hardy or Ben Affleck would make a good Stu. Maybe Jeremy Renner. Back in the day, long before the bland mini-series, I dreamed of Tommy Lee Jones as Stu. He’s way too old now, but back then I always pictured him when I read the book. Gary Sinise was one of the few good casting choices in the series (along with Matt Frewer as Trashcan Man and Jamey Sheridan as Flagg). After the disaster of Laura San Giacomo, who looked like she was making a completely different movie and wanted to be anywhere but there, they’d better work hard to get Nadine right this time.
I have to stop thinking about this. It’s going to drive me crazy. Casting never turns out the way I think it will or want it to, and I get frustrated. I hope that whoever gets whatever role will be perfect for the role.
Interesting. My take on Sam Rockwell as Larry Underwood is that his success has taken a much longer time to come around. Larry has to be impish - Tom Hiddleston is a good choice, too.
Also interesting - Fran does indeed need to have a good helping of steel spine. Gugu is truly lovely - I don’t know her work, so I trust you that she can handle a character with an “I Want…” line between her eyebrows.
Ah, but he is gruff on the outside with a heart of gold and a twinkle in his eye, like Glen. The real problem with casting Glen is that Ray Walston was so damned perfect - I can’t see anyone else in that role.
I think Jared Leto is too pretty for Harold - you couldn’t keep the girls off a guy who looks like that. I’d like to see a real nerd in that role - someone who is off-putting at first, but you can warm up to him.
He was Mike Ehrmantraut in “Breaking Bad” (Gus Fring’s righthand man). He has also played countless thugs and bad guys - he looks just a little bit stupid, but he’s got some serious acting chops - perfect for Floyd.
I had a very hard time thinking of someone for Stu - he’s another one who was so perfectly cast that I have a hard time not seeing Gary Sinise in the role. Stu needs to be a stand-up guy, but not conventionally good-looking - he has to be a natural-born leader, someone that guys want to be like and women want to be with. Tommy Lee Jones would have been perfect - who’s a 35 year old Tommy Lee Jones? (Sam Worthington is actually 38 in real life - I thought he was younger, too.)
So, so much this.
I love trying to figure out casting for books that I really enjoyed. I do get frustrated when they get it spectacularly wrong like Molly Ringwald as Fran, though.
Hmm, that actually is a pretty good look for Harold - dark, greasy hair, overweight, nerdy.
I think Laura San Giacomo actually is a fairly decent actor - I’m not sure why it all went off the rails for her playing Nadine. She just didn’t get a handle on the character, I guess. I thought her look was all wrong, too - she’s a lovely woman, but she didn’t have the look I expected for Nadine.
They can skip all The Kid scenes as far as I’m concerned - I don’t think he added anything to the books except to make me feel uncomfortable because he was so messed up.
Ha! In all honestly I think that was just a knee jerk reaction. I guess if they have to make it as movies, it clearly is too big for one movie. I think two could possibly cover it with a lot cut out, assuming 2:30 hours running time. Three seems ideal (again, if it has to be movies at all):
Movie 1: The plague and immediate aftermath. Ends when the main groups reach Boulder.
Movie 2: The building of Boulder and Vegas. Ends with Harold’s Betrayal.
Movie 3: The Journey to Vegas and The Stand.
Four is just one too many which I suppose is not an unforgivable sin.
But, wasn’t the expanded edition the original draft (-esque, I suppose). I loved the original published edition (I’m with many that it’s probably my overall favorite King book, though I don’t think it’s his best), and I thought the extended edition was what he wrote before an editor took hold and got him down on page count. (Could be totally wrong, of course.)
And, god love him, as much as I do love ‘Uncle Steve’, occasionally I do think “My god an editor needs to make you read Strunk and White again!” Bless him, he bloats. I love every moment of it, but he bloats sometimes.
And, hijack aside, I’m loving the casting thoughts. I kept thinking Jared Leto for Harold? Then I saw those pics from the Mark Chapman thing and I thought, hmmmm.
Sam Worthington can’t act?!? Pistols at dawn, sir!
Nah, I can’t argue too hard. I am quite fond of him, but I haven’t really seen strong acting abilities from him. He does have the quiet strength that a Stuart Redman needs, though. I’m having a very hard time figuring out the casting for Stu - can we just get Gary Sinise again?
Kate Mara is indeed cute, but she held her own in every scene with Kevin Spacey in “House of Cards.” I’d at least let her audition.
Sam Rockwell as Stu? But…Stu is a quiet leader, not the charismatic jokester. You know, Sam Rockwell is a very good actor - maybe he could do strong and quiet.
Brian Cox wasted as The Judge? Yeah, I can see that. He would absolutely kill that role, though.
I can see thinking Jonathan Banks is too on-the-nose for Floyd Henreid. You could also argue that it’s the role he was born to play.
It’s correct that the expanded edition is some old stuff edited back in but it also had some new stuff. References were updated for example from 70s to 80s references.
Too on the nose? He looks like just the kind of guy to pokerize somebody, buddy!
I always pictured Glen Bateman as played by Robert Duvall…folksy, arthritic, and made of sterner stuff.
