Stephen King's THE STAND on CBS All Access (2020) 1 1

[Bosco685]

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In this age of the Stephen King renaissance, a few King projects which have languished in development hell are finally moving forward. One of those is an adaptation of "The Stand," the best-selling post-apocalyptic novel which takes place in a world which has been decimated by plague and embroiled in an elemental struggle between good and evil. After many years of flip-flopping between feature film and/or TV series, CBS All Access green-lit a 10-episode series which will come from Josh Boone (THE FAULT IN OUR STARS and Ben Cavell (SEAL Team).

 

Casting on the series is kicking off and it seems that James Marsden (SONIC THE HEDGEHOG) is in talks to play Stu Redman, "a former military man who is immune to the virus. He found patient zero in the original quarantine zone but never got sick so the government was precious with him in order to try to find a vaccine from his blood." In the 1994 mini-series adaptation, Stu was played by Gary Sinise. Collider also has a few more details on just who may be joining Marsden in The Stand. Amber Heard (AQUAMAN) is reportedly in negotiations to play Nadine Cross, a private-school teacher who is drawn to the evil Randall Flagg, with Whoopi Goldberg (NOBODY'S FOOL) also in talks to play Mother Abagail, the leader of the "good" survivors who also claims to be a prophet of God. Other actors apparently in talks to join The Stand include Greg Kinnear (The Twilight Zone) as Glen Bateman, Odessa Young (ASSASSINATION NATION) as Frannie Goldsmith, and Henry Zaga (THE NEW MUTANTS) as Nick Andros. We'll have to wait until something more official is announced to see if these pan out.

 

"I’m excited and so very pleased that The Stand is going to have a new life on this exciting new platform," said Stephen King in a statement when the project was announced earlier this year. "The people involved are men and women who know exactly what they’re doing; the scripts are dynamite. The result bids to be something memorable and thrilling. I believe it will take viewers away to a world they hope will never happen."

 

Ben Cavell and Josh Boone will both write and executive produce the series with Boone serving as director. Josh Boone has been attached to write and direct the project since 2014, and after numerous delays and frustrations, Boone's time has finally come.

 

I read The Stand under my bed when I was 12, and my Baptist parents burned it in our fireplace upon discovery. Incensed, I stole my Dad’s FedEx account number and mailed King a letter professing my love for his work. Several weeks later, I came home to find a box had arrived from Maine, and inside were several books, each inscribed with a beautiful note from god himself, who encouraged me in my writing and thanked me for being a fan. My parents, genuinely moved by King’s kindness and generosity, lifted the ban on his books that very day. I wrote King a cameo as himself in my first film and have been working to bring The Stand to the screen for five years. I’ve found incredible partners in CBS All Access and Ben Cavell. Together with Stephen King, Owen King, my longtime producing partners Knate Lee and Jill Killington, we plan to bring you the ultimate version of King’s masterwork.

 

CBS hasn't revealed a premiere date just yet, but it's likely that we'll get to see Stephen King's post-apocalyptic tale play out in 2020.

 

[Straw-Man]

it is my favorite non-literature [whatever that means] book.

Edited June 22, 2019 by Straw-Man

[Bosco685]

 

[Bosco685]

 

[Bosco685]

 

[mattn792]

I’ll make you a deal @Bosco685 - if they pick up the Gunslinger series, I promise I’ll subscribe to All Access.

[Bosco685]

6 hours ago, mattn792 said:

I’ll make you a deal @Bosco685 - if they pick up the Gunslinger series, I promise I’ll subscribe to All Access.

I have all of the original Dark Tower books. So I can see why you'd say that.

[mattn792]

3 hours ago, Bosco685 said:

I have all of the original Dark Tower books. So I can see why you'd say that.

I'm long overdue to finish my re-reading of the series, still in the midst of book 7.  Its incredible the subtle new things you notice on the second reading.

Maybe after that I'll finally read The Stand...  

[piper]

On 11/17/2020 at 6:46 AM, mattn792 said:

I'm long overdue to finish my re-reading of the series, still in the midst of book 7.  Its incredible the subtle new things you notice on the second reading.

Maybe after that I'll finally read The Stand...  

I think The Stand is King's best work!

[Spawnfreak]

3 minutes ago, piper said:

I think The Stand is King's best work!

Wizard And Glass,  book  lV of the aforesaid Dark Tower, is far and away the best thing Mr. King ever wrote, IMHO! EVER!

[Bosco685]

12 minutes ago, Spawnfreak said:

Wizard And Glass,  book  lV of the aforesaid Dark Tower, is far and away the best thing Mr. King ever wrote, IMHO! EVER!

So not 'Stephen King On Writing' where in one chapter he notes an author should not try to over-explain a scene as then the story gets excessive and I looked over at my 690-page 'Desperation' where he excessively described every scene?

[Galen130]

Great to know this.  I don't have CBS All Access but I still have my 1st print hardback copy of The Stand somewhere in a box.  It was read so many times, the spine is weak.  Used to get in trouble in English class reading Steven King books.  I had my new copy of IT taken away from me by my English teacher one day in class, when I was a sophomore (I'm dating myself now), but she then asked me if I'd read The Stand yet.  I had, before I got IT for Christmas.  I'll keep an eye out for the show anyway.  Funny thing is, I still have The Stand with Gary Sinise on DVD somewhere.  I thought it was pretty good. 

On 11/16/2020 at 8:40 PM, mattn792 said:

I’ll make you a deal @Bosco685 - if they pick up the Gunslinger series, I promise I’ll subscribe to All Access.

 

On 11/17/2020 at 3:33 AM, Bosco685 said:

I have all of the original Dark Tower books. So I can see why you'd say that.

LOVED the Dark Tower books...refused to see the Idris Alba movie.  Being a long time Stephen King fan, I've been disappointed with some of the book to movie adaptations.  This movie just didn't feel right.  Lol

[mattn792]

1 hour ago, Galen130 said:

LOVED the Dark Tower books...refused to see the Idris Alba movie.  Being a long time Stephen King fan, I've been disappointed with some of the book to movie adaptations.  This movie just didn't feel right.  Lol

That movie is truly atrocious. However, it’s kind of Plan Nine from Outer Space atrocious.  It’s possible you’d get a decent laugh out of watching it, assuming you accompany it with some alcohol.

[Galen130]

7 minutes ago, mattn792 said:

That movie is truly atrocious. However, it’s kind of Plan Nine from Outer Space atrocious.  It’s possible you’d get a decent laugh out of watching it, assuming you accompany it with some alcohol.

A movie can't properly tell a Stephen King story like that, so I stayed away.  I'm hoping someone does something with the Dark Tower like they did with the new IT movies...which I thought were pretty decent with today's technology.  I never saw the first made for TV attempt either because I knew it wouldn't live up to the book...IMO.

[Bosco685]

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Review: A new version of The Stand has been in development for almost a decade. From Ben Affleck to Scott Cooper, Paul Greengrass, and eventually Josh Bone, Stephen King's epic pandemic novel has been bandied as everything from an R-rated feature film to a movie franchise before eventually becoming the CBS All Access event series premiering next week. This new adaptation of The Stand comes with an all-star cast that rivals the 1994 version. In a year ravaged by a far different virus, The Stand carries a different significance as it closes out a year terrifyingly similar to the story on screen. Told over nine episodes, including an all-new ending written by Stephen King and his son Owen, this new version of The Stand is a very uncomfortable story to watch while the world is mired in a real pandemic but still manages to be a faithful adaptation of King's masterpiece with timely updates that more or less work.

 

Like Andy Muschietti's It duology, The Stand has the challenge of not only adapting a thousand-page novel but also distinguishing itself from a successful adaptation from the 1990s. The 1994 version of The Stand starring Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald, and Rob Lowe was already a critically well-received mini-series that condensed the book into a six-hour series. Josh Boone's new take covers nine hours and does not need to abide by network television limitations for language or violence. This is definitely the equivalent of an R-rated film with characters dropping the f-bomb in almost every scene. Plus, the make-up effects on the infected will turn your stomach. I highly recommend you don't eat while you watch this series. These changes all come on a limited budget but they work for the scale of this story. That makes this adaptation closer in tone and style to King's source material while taking an unconventional approach to the format of the narrative.

 

Rather than begin when the disease escaped a military facility and then rampaged across the globe, Josh Boone takes a non-linear approach to his adaptation. With a massive cast spread across the United States, the first episode of The Stand opens with the characters already in their final destination before flashing back to how they got there. Each episode gives us time with a couple of the characters and their journey to either Boulder or Las Vegas as they draw their allegiances to either Randall Flagg (Alexander Skarsgard) or Mother Abigail (Whoopi Goldberg). In an interesting choice, our entry to the apocalypse is Harold Lauder (It: Chapter One's Owen Teague) and Frannie Goldsmith (Odessa Young) before we even meet Stu Redman (James Marsden). Subsequent episodes introduce us to Larry Underwood (Jovan Adepo), Lloyd Henreid (Nat Wolff), Julie Lawry (Katherine McNamara), Nick Andros (Henry Zaga), and many more. Ezra Miller's appearance as Trashcan Man is one of several cameos and characters who are much better takes than in the mini-series version.

 

While Mick Garris' mini-series was written by King himself, this new take feels more faithful to the book even if things are changed up. Here, Nadine Cross (Amber Heard) and Rita Blakemoor (Heather Graham) are two distinct characters whereas the '94 series combined them. There is significantly more backstory to everyone which informs their present-day decisions and makes the repercussions of their choices far more impactful. Marsden is a highlight here and outshines Gary Sinise's far more reluctant take on Stu. Ezra Miller and Fiona Dourif improve as Trashcan Man and Rat Woman over Matt Frewer and Rick Aviles before them. But, this version hinges on both Alexander Skarsgard and Whoopi Goldberg. While I love Jamey Sheridan and Ruby Dee in the original series, Skarsgard does for Randall Flagg what his brother Bill did for Pennywise. This Randall Flagg is the force of evil that Matthew McConaughey failed to evoke in The Dark Tower. This Flagg is more than a monster but a true force of evil. Goldberg was also born to play Abigail Freemantle and brought me to tears during this series.

 

The direction on this series is split amongst several helmers led by Josh Boone (The New Mutants) but also includes Tucker Gates and Vicenzo Natali. The writing is also shared amongst creators Boone and Benjamin Cavell alongside Jill Killington, Knate Lee, as well as Stephen King and his son, Owen. I thoroughly enjoyed their novel Sleeping Beauties and look forward to seeing how they changed the ending of this new series. With only the first six episodes made available for this review, I cannot say for certain if the changes to the coda work or not, but what comes before it certainly feels more epic than it did in 1994. That being said, if you are familiar with the first mini-series, there are a lot of scenes that looks eerily similar in the new iteration, but there is so much more. Those that have read the novel will find this adaptation does better justice to the massive cast of characters. But, you may not like all of the changes.

 

In regards to COVID-19, many scenes through this series may rub people the wrong way but they are not the focus of this story. The Stand is a massive tale about humanity facing the forces of evil and how they get there. There does feel like something is missing in this new take and that could be due to the unconventional narrative. The flashbacks take some of the cinematic scope out of the story and lend a much more episodic feel. Josh Boone's plans for a big-screen adaptation are evident here but the final structure left me wondering what could have been. The Stand is certainly an improvement over the original mini-series from a technical standpoint even if it doesn't quite come together as well as it could have. Still, I am invested enough in the chapters I have seen to wait with bated breath for the apocalyptic conclusion.

The Stand premieres December 17th on CBS All Access with new episodes premiering weekly.

 

Overall: 7.0/10

 

[Bosco685]

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To call Stephen King's The Stand both epic and iconic is not hyperbole. From its release in 1978, the novel has frequently appeared on best of lists and impacted popular culture and beyond with its post-apocalyptic, dark fantasy tale of the collapse of human civilization and the battle between good and evil. It's also a substantial book, well over a thousand pages in its "complete and uncut" edition making adaptation a massive undertaking and while it's been done before with ABC's 1994 miniseries, CBS All Access is approaching the novel again in its own, nine-part series event that kicks off on Thursday, December 17th and while this adaptation makes some changes and shifts its approach in telling the story, it may just be the most spiritually faithful adaptation yet.

 

In broad strokes, The Stand tells the story of the survivors of a world in collapse. A weaponized strain of influence (called "Captain Trips") is accidentally released from a secret U.S. Department of Defense lab in California and quickly decimates nearly the entirety of the human population. The few survivors who remain find themselves being drawn to either Mother Abigail, an elderly woman whom God speaks through or the Dark Man, Randall Flagg, a mysterious figure who pretty quickly feels like the representation of evil. The story is, at its core, less about the pandemic and more about that final stand of good versus evil in a battle for the very soul of humanity and is told through a large cast of characters, each one with a unique role to play.

 

That isn't to say that every performance in The Stand is perfect. Ezra Miller's Trashcan Man is almost too cartoonish and a little underdeveloped (at least in the episodes provided for review). Amber Heard's Nadine Cross is a performance that may take some time to fully settle for viewers. She captures the complexity of the character very well, but there are times when the performance feels uneven and some of the chemistry between her Nadine and Jovan Adepo's Larry Underwood is a bit lacking. There are also some spots in which the overall thrust of the story feels just a little bloated, despite the careful and skilled ways the novel's often-rambling prose has been trimmed but those are surprisingly few and far between in the series.

 

Overall, like all adaptations, this one's not perfect and there will likely be plenty of viewers who will point to various changes or omissions as shortcomings of the overall project. That's to be expected, perhaps even more so with a story as beloved as The Stand. However, between smart updates, stellar performances, and incredibly well-thought out cinematography, sets, truly chilling moments, and other fine details that tread into the space of spoilers, this version of The Stand comes across perhaps most true to King's book. The Stand has never been a pandemic story and this adaptation gets that right in the best ways possible. This is a story about humanity that happens to have a pandemic running through it and, as is the case with actual humanity, it's the little imperfections that make it so relatable, so admirable, and ultimately beautiful. Simply put, this adaptation gets it right.

 

Overall: 4.0/5

 

[Cozmo-One]

This is probably my all time favorite fiction book.  Debating getting a trial to CBS all access to watch this, but I typically don't like ultra-violent movies, so I'm not sure based on that first review.  This is the full book as a limited series, right?  Not like Under the Dome which they decided to stretch into several seasons?