Let the hyperventilation begin. As if manna from Heaven being tossed down upon a weary people who didn’t want to see Akiva Goldsman and Ron Howard build The Dark Tower, Hitfix is reporting that screenwriter Steve Kloves and director David Yates are close to making a multi-film deal happen for The Stand over at Warners.
As that sinks in, think of the success Kloves had writing the Harry Potter series, and the level of craftsmanship that David Yates brought to the table. It’s no doubt that Potter was a unique sort of lightning – given most of its energy from an unthinkable popularity around the world – but the movies had to deliver, and they most certainly did.
Now, this pair has a chance to take (perhaps) Stephen King’s most iconic work and deliver it the way it deserves – on the big screen. Mick Garris did as fine a job possible with a television mini-series format (and the smoldering tones of Gary Sinise), but it’s time to shift this story about a spiritually-prophesied viral outbreak that kills just about everyone into R-rated territory and make Randall Flagg a truly devastating villain.
It was only back in February that we reported interest in making a feature film version of the giant novel, and it was just last month that Yates’s name was first brought into the picture with the claim that he had first dibs on it. Looks like he exercised those dibs. Now the big question is whether Warners will allow something that will need a hefty budget and three films to complete to be as dark and violent as it needs to be. It’s great that it will have the scope needed for the story, but that sort of money screams PG-13, and it will be a shame not to take it to the brink and back. On the other hand, Kloves and Yates did pretty well turning Potter into the most intense kind of PG-13 out there, so maybe that’s just another reason they’re a solid choice for the job.
My life for this movie.
What say you?
