Stephen King Story Hollywood Can't Get Right, But James Wan Thinks He Can
The Stand has already been adapted twice, but neither adaptation was successful – James Wan wants to right that wrong. Here's what the director had to say about one of King's most iconic novels.
James Wan, one of the most successful horror filmmakers, scared us with the creepy doll Annabelle, a demonic nun, and deadly survival games.
His recent hit is The Monkey, an adaptation of the Stephen King story of the same name by Osgood Perkins. While working as a producer on The Monkey, Wan admitted that he would sit in the director's chair to film an adaptation of another King work.
James Wan Wants to Adapt Stephen King's 'The Stand'
In an interview with The Kingcast, Wan revealed:
“I think the only one maybe left for me that I would love to take, just because I know what an epic movie this could be, is The Stand. I love The Stand. The book is so big, I feel like a longer platform would be the right place for The Stand. [...] It's going to be over 3-hours long, and maybe there's part 1 and part 2.”
What Is 'The Stand' About?
The Stand is a serious, multilayered novel. The US military created a virus in one of their secret laboratories and could not protect themselves from their own creation.
The virus escaped and, within weeks, wiped out 99% of the Earth's population. The military deliberately infected other continents in an attempt to conceal their involvement in the disaster.
The few survivors divided into two groups: some remained loyal to the ideals of the past, while others joined the mysterious Dark Man, who sought world domination.
Both Adaptations of 'The Stand' Were Far From Perfect
The Stand is one of Stephen King's stories that received two film adaptations, in 1994 and 2020. However, neither became a worthy successor.
The 2020 project never came together as a coherent story, despite having all the aces in its hands: a great novel that has stood the test of time at its core, and a PR manager in the form of the pandemic, adding ominous relevance to the text.
The CBS adaptation by showrunners Josh Boone and Benjamin Cavell is lackluster, both stylistically and ideologically.
As a result, The Stand received far from the most positive reviews: it got 57% from critics and 25% from viewers on Rotten Tomatoes and a 5.7/10 score on IMDb.
While The Stand released in 1994 is more successful in capturing the atmosphere of the original novel, it greatly simplifies the plot due to its four-episode runtime and rushes forward at tremendous speed.
The show received 70% from critics and 73% from viewers on Rotten Tomatoes, as well as a 7.1/10 score on IMDb.
