With Ben Affleck’s directorial star firmly in the ascendency, it’s no surprise to see him given the option to take charge of one of Warner’s major properties in the form of Stephen King’s The Stand .
However, the projest has struggled to get past the development stage for a reason, and Affleck has admitted that he’s finding it tricky to work out how best the mammoth tome should be adapted.
“Right now we’re having a very hard time,” says Affleck. “But I like the idea - it’s like The Lord Of The Rings in America. And it’s about how we would reinvent ourselves as a society. If we started all over again, what would we do?”
We’re not quite sure how King’s novel compares to Tolkien’s, unless Affleck is referring to the sheer length of the text. That said, both books do deal with a lot of walking, so perhaps the comparisons are more valid than we thought.
At this stage, Affleck is still exploring the possibility of an adaptation, with nothing set in stone just yet. Fingers crossed he can find a way to crack this notoriously cinema-resistant epic…
