Doug Liman Is Directing ‘The Stand,’ But Is He The Right Fit?

Stephen King’s ‘The Stand’ is going to be remade again, this time as a feature, with Doug Liman at the helm. Here’s why it shouldn’t see the light of day.

(Left) Director Doug Liman attends Apple Original Films’ world premiere of 'The Instigators' at the Jazz at Lincoln Center. 'The Instigators' opens in select theaters on Friday, August 2, 2024, before streaming globally on Apple TV+ on Friday, August 9, 2024. (Right) 1994's 'The Stand'. Photo: ABC Television.

Preview:

A new version of Stephen King’s ‘The Stand’ is in development as a feature film, with Doug Liman on board to direct.
Liman has directed hits like ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith’ and flops such as ‘Chaos Walking.’
‘The Stand’ has already been adapted twice as limited series, and it’s not clear how the massive book could be boiled down to a single feature film.

Stephen King’s massive post-apocalyptic novel ‘The Stand,’ first published in 1978, chronicles an epic battle between the forces of good and evil in an America where most of the population has been wiped out by a deadly virus known as Captain Trips. It remains one of the author’s most popular books; he published an uncut version in 1990 that restores some 300 pages to the text, bringing its length from 823 pages in its original publication to a hefty 1,152.

The Stand

"The end of the world is just the beginning."

TV-141 SeasonsMay 8th, 1994

Watch The Stand Online

The book has been adapted twice for television, first in 1994 as a four-part, eight-hour (with commercials) miniseries for ABC-TV, and then as a nine-part, nine-hour limited series in 2020 for CBS All Access, the forerunner of the current Paramount+ service. And now director Doug Liman is reportedly teaming with Paramount Pictures to bring ‘The Stand’ to the big screen.

Although other filmmakers have tried squeezing the novel into a theatrical film (or films), no one has been able to pull it off. And frankly, Liman shouldn’t bother trying either. He’s the wrong director for this and -- from what we understand -- he’s got the wrong take on the material.

‘The Stand’ cannot fit into a feature film format

(L to R) Jovan Adepo and James Marsden in the CBS All Access series 'The Stand.' Photo: Robert Falconer/CBS ©2020 CBS Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

‘The Stand’ is one of Stephen King’s most revered works, not to mention one of the most influential post-apocalyptic novels of the last five decades. King’s book is wide-ranging and complex, full of intersecting narrative threads and dozens of characters, and its sheer size has made it a daunting prospect for a film version from the start. Directors like John Boorman (‘Excalibur’) and George A. Romero (‘Creepshow’) couldn’t pin it to the mat in the 1970s, while the 2010s saw David Yates (the ‘Harry Potter’ franchise), Ben Affleck (‘The Town’), Scott Cooper (‘Black Mass’), and Josh Boone (‘The New Mutants’) all take a crack at it.

The first adaptation of ‘The Stand,’ the 1994 miniseries starring Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald, Ruby Dee, Rob Lowe, and others, was a tremendous ratings success for the network. Directed by Mick Garris and adapted by King himself (who also executive produced), the project cost $28 million – a fortune back then for a TV miniseries – and, while hampered in some ways by the format and budget, is considered largely faithful in both tone and narrative to the book.

The second limited series, produced in 2020, was an outgrowth of Josh Boone’s proposal to adapt the novel as four films. The 2020 series, developed by Boone and Benjamin Cavell (‘The Institute’), also had a good cast – including James Marsden, Amber Heard, Alexander Skarsgård, and Whoopi Goldberg – but was fatally injured by the inexplicable decision to tell the story out of order, ruining the flow of King’s narrative and making the series nearly incomprehensible. ‘The Stand’ is structured like a modern version of an epic quest – joining the quest halfway through and then flashing back to the beginning was a catastrophic mistake.

Even after the mixed results of the two TV series, one thing seems clear: it’s not possible to boil ‘The Stand’ down to a single film. Scripts for even a three-hour feature – a risky, costly bet to begin with, especially for a movie that would almost certainly be rated R – have existed since the 1970s, and none have been workable. But Doug Liman is going to try, even though he shouldn’t.

Doug Liman’s ‘The Stand’ is wrong for all kinds of reasons

(L to R) Casey Affleck, director Doug Liman and Matt Damon on the set of 'The Instigators'. Photo: Apple TV+.

Doug Liman allegedly has “a particular take” on ‘The Stand’ that doesn’t involve making multiple films but would somehow fit into a “one-off” movie. But there is no way that the book, whether it’s 800 pages or 1,100 pages, can be shrunk down into a two-to-three-hour movie without losing a great deal of its essence and texture. Whatever Liman’s “take” is, we fear it would render ‘The Stand’ almost unrecognizable (see the dismal 2017 movie version of King’s other epic, ‘The Dark Tower,’ for proof of that).

The other aspect of all this is that Liman, who started out directing quirky, crackling indie films like ‘Swingers’ and ‘Go,’ has garnered a very mixed track record with bigger Hollywood productions. While he’s helmed successes like ‘The Bourne Identity’ and ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith,’ he’s also shepherded debacles like ‘Jumper’ and ‘Chaos Walking’ to the screen. And most of the bigger movies he’s completed – even the well-regarded ones like ‘Bourne’ and the 2014 Tom Cruise action/sci-fi thriller ‘Edge of Tomorrow’ – have been marred by reports of extensive reshoots and reworking in post-production.

Owen Teague as Harold Lauder in the CBS All Access series 'The Stand.' Photo Cr: Robert Falconer/CBS ©2020 CBS Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The larger the production, the more involved the VFX, the action, and the world-building, Liman seems to lose control of the project, often needing to find the movie he wants to make either through reshoots, re-editing, or both. It’s an expensive, wasteful way to work, and it’s another reason why a complex narrative like ‘The Stand’ might collapse under his supervision.

Liman is far from untalented – he’s made some fine movies, his methods notwithstanding – but his improvisatory style seems ill-suited to this. And that’s even before the challenge of trying to squeeze it into one film – imagine if Peter Jackson had tried that with ‘The Lord of the Rings.’

Our hope? That ‘The Stand’ joins films like ‘Gambit’ and ‘Justice League Dark’ as Doug Liman projects that never saw the light of day. If anything, Liman needs to go back to the smaller, spunkier films of his early days where his style of directing works best. In the meantime, let ‘The Stand’ rest. It’s only been five years since the last attempt, and there are plenty of other books out there – by Stephen King and countless others – to adapt.