Unsurprisingly, the big screen adaptation of The Stand has once again been delayed, but it thankfully sounds as if the project is far from dead. Josh Boone (The Fault In Our Stars) has been attached to direct for some time now, but after writing X-Men spinoff New Mutants for Fox – which he’s also expected to helm – he’s now turned his attentions to another novel.
That is Stephen King’s Revival, the 2014 bestseller which is described by Deadline as revolving around a charismatic preacher who loses his faith when his wife and child are killed in a tragic accident. However, as with all of King’s work, things take an interesting turn:
“Unhinged from the religion that grounded and gave him a conscience, the preacher becomes ruthless in his experimentation into the healing but dangerous power of electrical current, positioning him to act as God-like faith healer and opening a terrifying Pandora’s Box. Intertwined with the preacher is a young man with demons of his own, who has benefited from the preacher’s talents and becomes a reluctant accomplice to his deadly obsession.”
Boone has written the screenplay, and he’s apparently hoping to make it next movie.
Talking in detail about what drew him to Revival, the filmmaker described the story as “powerhouse stuff” with ” two of the best characters [King] has written since Annie Wilkes.” As for the stand, he then went on to promise: “I still intend to make The Stand, but I need more time, and when I asked Steve about Revival, he put me together with Mike De Luca.”
Things are looking good for fans of King’s work then, especially as the cast of The Dark Tower is also slowly coming together. For now, we’ll have to wait and see how The Stand develops.
