Josh Boone's THE STAND Will Now Be Four Movies Instead Of One

  Josh Boone ("The Fault In Our Stars"), was a recent guest on Kevin Smith’s Hollywood Babble-On podcast. During the conversation, Boone was asked about his adaptation of Stephen King's good vs. evil novel, The Stand, which Boone has been writing the script for and will direct. First he addressed the issue of compressing King's 1000 page book into a single, three hour movie. Boone accomplished this feat by utilizing a non-linear (out of chronological order) narrative technique. Boone went on to explain, "You open with Mother Abigail dying and sending the guys off, and then you jump back in time."

Boone says it took him five months to finish the script. Everyone loved it. The studio estimated that it would cost $87M, which is a lot of money for a film with no set pieces and falls into the horror-drama genre. You would think Warner Bros. might have been skittish about making the film once the budget was figured out but they surprised Boone with a more ambitious suggestion.

"They came back and said “would you do it as multiple films?” and I said “[frick] yes!” I loved my script, and I was willing to drop it in an instant because you’re able to do an even truer version that way. So I think we are going to do like four movies. I can’t tell you anything about how we’re going to do them, or what’s going to be in which movie. I’ll just say we are going to do four movies, and we’re going to do THE STAND at the highest level you can do it at, with a cast that’s going to blow people’s minds. We’ve already been talking to lots of people, and have people on board in certain roles that people don’t know about. We’re looking to go into production next year, maybe in the spring." - Josh Boone
 

 

One man escapes from a biological weapon facility after an accident, carrying with him the deadly virus known as Captain Tripps, a rapidly mutating flu that - in the ensuing weeks - wipes out most of the world's population. In the aftermath, survivors choose between following an elderly black woman to Boulder or the dark man, Randall Flagg, who has set up his command post in Las Vegas. The two factions prepare for a confrontation between the forces of good and evil.