Stephen King’s ‘The Stand’ Being Adapted as a Feature Film

Last year an unprecedented movie/TV adaptation of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series was announced, with director Ron Howard onboard and Akiva Goldsman (I Am Legend) writing the script. But if an adaptation of King’s mammoth Dark Tower series wasn’t enough, then how about a big screen version of one of King’s other legendary stories, The Stand?

Heat Vision is exclusively reporting that Warner Bros. has teamed up with CBS Films to bring King’s “magnum opus” The Stand to the big screen. The two companies will co-develop and co-produce the feature film adaptation, with CBS possibly co-financing the film and WB handling worldwide distribution and marketing.

A director, writer or stars aren’t in place (yet) but WB and CBS will reportedly sit down with potentials in the next few weeks in order to figure out what sort of direction to take the adaptation. One of the big decisions to be made at this point is whether to make just one film or spread the story across several films. I’m sure many fans of King’s book will want multiple films in order to see as much of the story brought to life as possible (is another Lord of the Rings-type trilogy in order here?).

CBS has actually held the rights to a film adaptation of The Stand for years but finally decided that the best way to make it a reality was to team up with another production company. WB apparently beat out harsh competition from both Sony and Fox in a “tight bidding war” for the chance to team-up with CBS on the adaptation.

Fans will be glad to hear that King himself will be involved with the adaptation in some capacity. With this being one of his most beloved titles – at one point it was voted by fans as his most popular book – I’m not surprised in the slightest that King wants to be involved.

Originally published in 1978 (and re-released in 1990), The Stand tells the story of a post-apocalyptic world resulting from a virus which wiped out most of Earth’s population. The tale is vast with more characters and story arcs than you could shake a stick at, but the main focus is on a single group of survivors and their good vs. evil battle against Randall Flagg, a demonic figure who wreaks havoc (the character also appears in various other King books).

King fans will likely be aware that this isn’t the first time The Stand has received the live-action treatment. In 1994, a 6-part TV mini-series was made starring Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald, Rob Lowe and Jamey Sheridan (amongst many others). Although well-received critically (it won two Emmys, for Makeup and Sound Mixing), I’m sure fans were expecting more from the rather toned-down version of the original story.

Hopefully WB and CBS respect the original source material and give The Stand the epic and detailed big screen adaptation that it truly deserves.

Source: Heat Vision

View the original article here

Toy Story 3, The King’s Speech & More Ineligible For WGA Screenplay Awards

Dec 29, 2010 by Ross Miller 

Top movie awards contenders like ‘Toy Story 3' and ‘The King’s Speech’ have been deemed ineligible for the Best Screenplay categories at The Writers Guild of America awards.

When awards season rolls around every year there always seems to be a group of films that are tapped to pick up their share of the major awards. 2010 is no exception and this year the likes of Toy Story 3, Inception, The King’s Speech, The Social Network, Black Swan and The Fighter are among those which have won awards already and look likely to pick up some Oscars as well.

However, when it comes to the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the Writers Guild of America (WGA), there are rules which often prohibit certain awards favorites from winning in some of the big categories offered by awards ceremonies.

Following the Oscars deeming the scores for Black Swan, True Grit and The Fighter ineligible for the Best Original Score category, the WGA has deemed some of the biggest awards favorites ineligible for Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay at its annual awards ceremony.

Variety reports that under tough restrictions – requiring that scripts be “produced under WGA jurisdiction and be formally submitted for consideration” – favorites such as Toy Story 3, The King’s Speech and Another Year are now ineligible for the two Best Screenplay categories. Head over to Variety for a breakdown of why these films have been shunned.

Toy Story 3 may do well at the Oscars but it will have to do without a WGA award for its screenplay

Despite the fact that members of the WGA make up a segment of the Academy voters this exclusion doesn’t mean that those films snubbed won’t get nominated for the Screenplay awards at the Oscars. However, an interesting thing to note is that for 11 of the last 16 years, the winners of the WGA awards in the Screenplay categories have matched up with the Oscars. I guess that means this year it will be harder to guess what will win on the big night!

Despite many of the awards favorites being labelled ineligible by the WGA, there are still plenty of big ones left, including Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception and The Social Network. Here’s a complete list of what’s eligible and ineligible:

INELIGIBLE – ORIGINAL AND ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Another YearBiutifulBlue ValentineThe Ghost WriterThe King’s SpeechMade in DagenhamScott Pilgrim vs. the WorldToy Story 3Winter’s Bone

ELIGIBLE – ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY (TOTAL: 43)

All Good ThingsBlack SwanBrooklyn’s FinestBurlesqueCasino JackCity IslandThe Company MenConvictionCountry StrongCyrusDue DateEasy AThe FighterFrankie and AliceFrozenFurry VengeanceGet LowGreenbergGrown UpsHereafterHoly RollersHow Do You KnowInceptionJust WrightThe Kids Are All RightLetters to JulietLife as We Know ItMiddle MenMorning GloryMother and ChildThe Other GuysOur Family WeddingPlease GiveRemember MeSaltSecretariatSolitary ManSomewhereSpliceStoneWelcome to the RileysWonderful WorldYou Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger

ELIGIBLE – ADAPTED SCREENPLAY (TOTAL: 33)

127 HoursAlice in WonderlandThe American Barney’s VersionBarry MundayThe CraziesEat Pray LoveThe Extra ManFair GameFor Colored GirlsHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1I Love You Phillip MorrisIt’s Kind of a Funny StoryJack Goes BoatingThe Karate KidThe Last SongLegend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’HooleLet Me InLike Dandelion DustThe Next Three DaysPercy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning ThiefPrince of Persia: The Sands of TimeRabbit HoleRedShutter IslandThe Social NetworkThe Sorcerer’s ApprenticeThe TempestToday’s SpecialThe TownTron: LegacyTrue GritThe Twilight Saga: Eclipse

It’s rather… unfortunate that films like Eclipse, Alice in Wonderland, Grown Ups and Furry Vengeance are eligible and others like Toy Story 3, The King’s Speech and Winter’s Bone have been given the cold shoulder. But in the end rules are rules and they can’t be broken just so that the awards favorites can get nominated.

I’ll leave it up to you to give your picks for what you think should nominated and ultimately win.

The WGA award winners will be announced on February 5th, 2011.

Source: Variety

View the original article here