# The Old 'The Stand' Mini-series casting and a couple of observations **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [March 31, 2020, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-the-stand-mini-series-casting-and-a-couple-of-observations/850717 "2020-03-31T04:04:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-the-stand-mini-series-casting-and-a-couple-of-observations/850717/21 "2020-03-31T15:52:43Z")
King had said in interviews I believe that the footage of Donald Defreeze during the famous bank robbery was his original inspiration for the walking man. [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald\_DeFreeze#/media/File%3ASLA-DonaldD-Hibernia(300).jpg](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_DeFreeze#/media/File%3ASLA-DonaldD-Hibernia(300).jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-the-stand-mini-series-casting-and-a-couple-of-observations/850717/22 "2020-03-31T15:59:03Z")
The [illustration from the book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Randallflagg7.jpg) shows Randall Flagg as white. Stephen King [explained](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_DeFreeze#References_in_media) that by “dark” he didn’t mean African-American, he meant obscure with a mostly concealed face. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-the-stand-mini-series-casting-and-a-couple-of-observations/850717/23 "2020-03-31T16:02:20Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > _Minor_ question about that opening; _immediately_ after being released, the virus killed everyone in that lab _instantly_, where they sat or were standing. Later, though, it was much less deadly and it took people a long time to die. Is that realistic? It was kind of left as an exercise to the reader. I assumed that a different event led to the containment breach and the dead scientists, etc, were killed by the suppression efforts (which, in my thoughts, likely involved some fast-killing gas so nobody could run)… But Campion fucked this up because he was able to run, beating the closing gates by fewer than 30 seconds. He gathers up his wife and kid(s?) and heads to Texas, they growing progressively more sick until he runs into Bill Hapscomb’s pumps at the Arnette Texaco. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-the-stand-mini-series-casting-and-a-couple-of-observations/850717/24 "2020-03-31T16:09:08Z")
> [@solost](#): > > I don’t remember much about the miniseries other than the opening where “Don’t Fear the Reaper” played while the camera panned over all the dead scientists in the secret government lab. I thought that scene was pretty chilling and effective. Is it streaming online somewhere? Wouldn’t mind watching it again. My thoughts exactly, EXCEPT I would have sworn, for all these years since it came out, that the music for the opening scene was Crowded House’s _Don’t Dream it’s Over._. To the point that when I hear that song, I \*picture \*the scenes(pretty accurately too).Was that song featured in some other scene? What a strong, false memory for me. Also, DFTR was an excellent choice at the time but now it’s been forever tainted with cowbell. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-the-stand-mini-series-casting-and-a-couple-of-observations/850717/25 "2020-03-31T16:18:02Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > My thoughts exactly, EXCEPT I would have sworn, for all these years since it came out, that the music for the opening scene was Crowded House’s _Don’t Dream it’s Over._. To the point that when I hear that song, I \*picture \*the scenes(pretty accurately too).Was that song featured in some other scene? What a strong, false memory for me. > Also, DFTR was an excellent choice at the time but now it’s been forever tainted with cowbell. Don’t Dream its Over is used later in the series. On YT…the series is available. Funny enough, the five hour YT video, has NO music over the opening\*. I don’t know if that prevents him from being flagged (heh) or if he pulled it from a DVD that couldnt get the rights. Just letting you know in case you watch a video with no Blue Oyster Cult and feel like you’re going crazy. \*Which [surpisingly works!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e64sPHWnsY&t=2182s) Just silence while the camera pans over the bodies. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-the-stand-mini-series-casting-and-a-couple-of-observations/850717/26 "2020-03-31T16:34:47Z")
> [@pool](#): > > Really? I thought Rob Lowe did a fantastic job as Nick, he doesn’t play him as a frat guy lol. He is a handsome man, but I’m sure there are some handsome deaf guys. > [@Loach](#): > > I hate to break down a character just physical attributes but I can’t help it in this case. It was fundamental to their character. How they are perceived by others molds their character. Corrin Nemec was way too good looking for Harold. **Loach** is writing with regards to the casting for Harold and Nadine, but it’s seems applicable to the casting for Nick. Rob Lowe isn’t just “handsome”, he’s muscular and he also has the body language of a confident person who is used to being well-regarded. Nick needed to be skinny, approaching scarecrow-bodied, and should exhibit a combo of courageous assertiveness and expectation of being BADLY treated. A cautious wariness that Rob Lowe just doesn’t project. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-the-stand-mini-series-casting-and-a-couple-of-observations/850717/27 "2020-03-31T19:02:39Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > The [illustration from the book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Randallflagg7.jpg) shows Randall Flagg as white. > > Stephen King [explained](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_DeFreeze#References_in_media) that by “dark” he didn’t mean African-American, he meant obscure with a mostly concealed face. I never thought he meant a black guy although I believe that’s what some of the criticisms were at the time. I got the impression the character was racially ambiguous. Just to pull a name out of a hat let’s say Jesse Williams. But that’s just an impression I got from a book I haven’t read in years. > [@AHunter3](#): > > **Loach** is writing with regards to the casting for Harold and Nadine, but it’s seems applicable to the casting for Nick. > > Rob Lowe isn’t just “handsome”, he’s muscular and he also has the body language of a confident person who is used to being well-regarded. Nick needed to be skinny, approaching scarecrow-bodied, and should exhibit a combo of courageous assertiveness and expectation of being BADLY treated. A cautious wariness that Rob Lowe just doesn’t project. I would never describe the Rob Lowe of the 80s and 90s as muscular. Most of the time he was pretty scrawny. He’s a lot more muscular now in his 50s than he was then. I think he did very well in the role despite the horrible handicap of being very handsome. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-the-stand-mini-series-casting-and-a-couple-of-observations/850717/28 "2020-03-31T19:11:52Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > I do like the unabridged version King released later. Me too, except for the updated time period (which was hit-and-miss at best). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-the-stand-mini-series-casting-and-a-couple-of-observations/850717/29 "2020-03-31T19:57:42Z")
I liked just about all the cast of the original except the guy who played Randall Flagg. Flagg always seemed cheesy and not nearly scary enough. Here’s more on the upcoming remake: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Stand\_(upcoming\_miniseries)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stand_(upcoming_miniseries)) > **[The Stand (TV Mini Series 2020–2021) ⭐ 5.7 | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1831804/)** > > 57m | TV-MA > [@ivylass](#): > > …I do like the unabridged version King released later. We got the Kid who hooked up with Trash Can Man and a horrible series of vignettes of people dying of misadventure, not because of the flu. There was a young boy who fell down a well and a wife and mother who accidentally locked herself in the meatlocker where she stored the bodies of her husband and son. Yes, agreed. Those are some darkly funny chapters. He also makes mention of The Shop, the supersecret U.S. Government agency responsible for scientific research and related dirty tricks, tying the book in with _Firestarter_ and some other King works: [The Shop | Stephen King Wiki | Fandom](https://stephenking.fandom.com/wiki/The_Shop) ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-the-stand-mini-series-casting-and-a-couple-of-observations/850717/30 "2020-03-31T21:56:00Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > Me too, except for the updated time period (which was hit-and-miss at best). I’m re-reading the extended edition for the first time since right after it came out. I must be more discerning now because I don’t remember noticing the terrible job of resetting the time period. It’s all I notice at this point. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-the-stand-mini-series-casting-and-a-couple-of-observations/850717/31 "2020-03-31T22:08:10Z")
Stephen King was once quoted as saying he thought Robert Duvall would have made a splendid Randall Flagg. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-the-stand-mini-series-casting-and-a-couple-of-observations/850717/32 "2020-03-31T22:09:53Z")
> [@solost](#): > > I don’t remember much about the miniseries other than the opening where “Don’t Fear the Reaper” played while the camera panned over all the dead scientists in the secret government lab. I thought that scene was pretty chilling and effective. Is it streaming online somewhere? Wouldn’t mind watching it again. > [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > On YT…the series is available. Funny enough, the five hour YT video, has NO music over the opening\*… I found another youtube upload of the movie in two parts that retains the song in the opening. [Part 1 here.](https://youtu.be/ARCdN-Z2tIQ) Interesting Rob Lowe/Don’t Fear The Reaper connection–he used Reaper as the theme song for his “unsolved mystery” type show, The Lowe Files. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-the-stand-mini-series-casting-and-a-couple-of-observations/850717/33 "2020-03-31T22:12:44Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > It was kind of left as an exercise to the reader. I assumed that a different event led to the containment breach and the dead scientists, etc, were killed by the suppression efforts (which, in my thoughts, likely involved some fast-killing gas so nobody could run)… > > But Campion fucked this up because he was able to run, beating the closing gates by fewer than 30 seconds. He gathers up his wife and kid(s?) and heads to Texas, they growing progressively more sick until he runs into Bill Hapscomb’s pumps at the Arnette Texaco. That’s what I’ve always thought myself. As for Rob Lowe playing Nick, nowadays they’d use a genuine deaf actor IMHO. I also don’t understand why Ray Flowers, the talk-show host who told the truth on the air and paid for it with his life, as did several soldiers who refused to order to shoot him, was changed to “Rae Flowers”, although Kathy Bates did a great cameo. ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-the-stand-mini-series-casting-and-a-couple-of-observations/850717/34 "2020-03-31T23:48:09Z")
According to the Wikipedia article they are NOT using a deaf actor for Nick. This apparently has caused some controversy, but the defense is that since Nick speaks in Tom’s dreams that it’s acceptable to use a hearing actor and let him play deaf the rest of the time. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Stand\_(upcoming\_miniseries)#Controversy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stand_(upcoming_miniseries)#Controversy) ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-the-stand-mini-series-casting-and-a-couple-of-observations/850717/35 "2020-04-01T00:32:02Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > Stephen King was once quoted as saying he thought Robert Duvall would have made a splendid Randall Flagg. That certainly would have been interesting and probably amazing. > [@Zakalwe](#): > > According to the Wikipedia article they are NOT using a deaf actor for Nick. This apparently has caused some controversy, but the defense is that since Nick speaks in Tom’s dreams that it’s acceptable to use a hearing actor and let him play deaf the rest of the time. > > [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Stand\_(upcoming\_miniseries)#Controversy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stand_(upcoming_miniseries)#Controversy) It’s not just a defense it’s a valid reason. In those scenes he should sound like a hearing actor. That’s the key part of his story. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-the-stand-mini-series-casting-and-a-couple-of-observations/850717/36 "2020-04-01T00:59:07Z")
Dang I wish I could have seen Robert Duvall as the walking dude that would have been truly awesome. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-the-stand-mini-series-casting-and-a-couple-of-observations/850717/37 "2020-04-01T01:10:44Z")
Not much to add except Stu, who is my favorite Stephen King character, was perfectly played by Gary Sinise. And this thread made my bored quarantined day :). ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-the-stand-mini-series-casting-and-a-couple-of-observations/850717/38 "2020-04-01T05:37:35Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I liked just about all the cast of the original except the guy who played Randall Flagg. Flagg always seemed cheesy and not nearly scary enough. I disagree. Jamey Sheridan played Flagg, and he is introduced to us as a harmless-looking guy. Jeans, demin jacket with a few buttons on it (peace signs, happy faces, etc.). Likely a laborer of some kind, but friendly, and seemingly trustworthy and honest, in spite of a few inexplicable powers. The kind of guy who might help you change a tire, or help shovel your snow. He’s got a bright smile, and a reassuring manner. Until he doesn’t. Sheridan can take Flagg from good to evil and back again in the blink of an eye; and he does, as it serves Flagg’s purposes. When Sheridan’s Flagg becomes evil, it is it truly scary, because he was just such a nice accommodating and friendly guy a few seconds ago. Recall the scene in the penthouse, when Dana plots to kill him: he basically says, “Hey, you wanna go back to Boulder and tell them what we’re doing here, I’ll make it happen. You can leave anytime,” and he does so in a way that we really believe that Dana will be given well-wishes and an escort out of Las Vegas. Then, just as Dana is leaving the penthouse suite, he pulls a Colombo, and says, “But first, can you tell me…?” before going full-on Satan. Robert Duvall is an excellent actor, but I doubt that he could have pulled this off the way Sheridan did. Sheridan going from friendly and affable and accommodating, to pure Satanic evil that quickly, is quite the acting accomplishment, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![GoodOldKJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc79bd/32.png) [@GoodOldKJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoodOldKJ)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-the-stand-mini-series-casting-and-a-couple-of-observations/850717/39 "2020-04-01T11:45:27Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I’m a little surprised they went Nordic for the Dark Man. In the back of my brain I seem to remember some criticism at the time that they cast a white guy in the role originally. I’m trying to remember how Flagg was described. I think it was intentionally ambiguous. Many of the others I don’t know. Flagg was seen as a black man to the Panthers he manipulated but also seen as a white man to the clan members as they hung their victim. The Walking Dude could become what he needed to be to do his wicked ways. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-the-stand-mini-series-casting-and-a-couple-of-observations/850717/40 "2020-04-01T12:08:52Z")
> [@GoodOldKJ](#): > > Flagg was seen as a black man to the Panthers he manipulated but also seen as a white man to the clan members as they hung their victim. The Walking Dude could become what he needed to be to do his wicked ways. In the extended Dark Tower canon, Flagg is the son of Maerlyn and the Crimson King’s right hand, and is one of the most powerful wizards to have ever lived, so it makes sense that he’d be a master of illusion. That being said, I’ve always imagined that he felt most comfortable as a white guy with long wavy brown hair, dressed in denim, with a light Southern accent. It’s a shame that Matthew McConaughey didn’t get to play him in a _decent_ Dark Tower movie. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-the-stand-mini-series-casting-and-a-couple-of-observations/850717.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-the-stand-mini-series-casting-and-a-couple-of-observations/850717.md?page=3)