At one point in its recent development history, The Stand was planning on sending the Harry Potter team of Steve Kloves and David Yates to a cornfield in Colorado to write and direct the incredibly difficult source material. With that team passing on Stephen King‘s novel, Ben Affleck picked it up for a directorial project, and Vulture is reporting that Affleck has hired screenwriter David Kajganich to provide the blueprint. The only problem here is Kajganich’s track record. It’s always difficult to assign blame/credit to writers for a finished film because of the labyrinthine group effort the art demands, but so far his two biggest features have been the flat Invasion (starring Nicole Kidman) and the nasty horror flick Blood Creek. Neither inspires much in the way of optimism for an adaptation that even the most talented writer would struggle to make sense of. According to the report, Warners was impressed with Kajganich’s draft for a feature film version of It and decided that he was fit for crowing King again. What’s more, he’s also the writer of the Pet Sematary remake at Paramount, which means the studio system only knows of one guy who’s interested in writing these things for some reason. The question here is why Affleck would pass off writing duties (although the answer may be that he just doesn’t have the time to deal with a tome of that size). The silver lining, of course, is that Affleck so far has proven himself to be a [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

We’ve all heard the grumblings and complaints over the prospect of a new remake of Brian De Palma‘s adaptation of Carrie. What’s to care about with this remake? We’ve already got a pretty perfect adaptation. But now some of us can care, with the news that Kimberly Peirce could possibly be at the helm. Peirce is both an odd and kind of perfect choice for this project. Her acclaimed Boys Don’t Cry and lesser acclaimed but still pretty good Stop-Loss are both what one could call psychological horror movies, and Carrie very much is that. Peirce seems adept crafting films that chronicle young people going through a tough time, so she makes for an oddly suitable fit, really. MGM and Screen Gems are supposedly interested in a “gritty” take, despite the story involving a girl using psychic powers. Peirce, clearly being a lover of making all things gritty and realistic, could probably give them the realism they (oddly) want. Deadline Hermon is currently reporting she’s “in talks” to direct, and I certainly hope that deal goes through.

As all things go in cycles, we’re headed toward the apex of the Stephen-King-Movie-Go-Round. And, yes, I know carousels don’t have apexes because they spin horizontally, but just go with it. Some projects, like The Dark Tower still have a question mark hanging over them, and others, like remakes of Carrie and Pet Sematary, are simply ideas in the minds of executives. Today we can add another project to that pile, and take one out as well. According to /film, the proposed Showtime series adapted from “Under the Dome” is moving forward with Lost writer Brian K. Vaughan sitting down at his typewriter for the program. The story focuses on a town in Maine (surprise!) that’s sealed off from the rest of the world by a mysterious force field. Kind of like a supernaturally powered island. Adding to the prospective pile, Variety is reporting that Palomar Pictures has secured funding for two foreign remakes and an adaptation of King’s “Rose Madder” – the novel about a woman who leaves a dreadfully abusive husband and discovers a painting that she can travel into. The bottom line? Either get ready for a lot of Stephen King or get ready for Stephen King to receive a bunch of checks for movies that never get made.

At this rate, the saga of bringing Stephen King‘s The Dark Tower series to the big screen will be almost as harrowing as the book (but only about 1/100th as long). The earliest I remember hearing about it was back in 2008 when J.J. Abrams kept having his name pop up everywhere. Of course, things didn’t seem really concrete until Ron Howard saddled up to ride, but then he backed out after everyone ever laughed at his budget and vision of 30 movies and 200 television miniseries. None of that has fazed Brian Grazer. The shrewd producer told The Playlist that he, Howard, and writer Akiva Goldsman did some reworking on both the script and the numbers, and came up with something even more destined to get made than the previous incarnation was supposed to be. The money quote: “We found a way to cut out $45m out of the budget without changing the scope and actually giving it a good ending. In the $140m draft, the ending wasn’t quite as satisfying. Now, we’ve got $45m, $50m out of the way and a really satisfying ending. It’s gonna get made.” Fingers tightly crossed that “really satisfying ending” doesn’t equal Roland riding off in the sunset. On that front, it’s unclear whether or not Javier Bardem is still interested in the main role or the dusty trail to get this thing in the can, but with Goldsman and Howard still on board (again), it’s still a shadow of the project that [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

Well, huh. Warner Bros. has reportedly “chosen” (appropriate wording)Ben Affleck to adapt from the source material and direct The Stand, their crack at making a feature (or two…or three…) out of Stephen King‘s massive novel about a post-apocalyptic America, decimated by a government-designed super-flu. The book was previously turned into a somewhat lackluster television miniseries back in 1994 (and I do say “somewhat,” because there are things I liked about it, namely the casting of Jamey Sheridan as King’s constant character, the wicked Randall Flagg). I’m not generally a huge fan of King’s work, but I love The Stand because, it’s late on a Friday so I can work a little blue here, I fucking love post-apocalyptic fiction, and The Stand is a big, sweeping, totally awesome specimen of the genre. The studio reportedly picked Affleck for the job because they “love” him and because he’s “become a cornerstone director” for them. Of course, this film is a huge undertaking for any director, as the book is sprawling and layered and deep and really wonderful, but it’s also, again sprawling and layered and deep. Even King himself has doubted that the book could be made into a feature film. Affleck is turning into a great director, and he’s proven himself able to adapt material (all three of his features, including the currently-shooting Argo come from previously written material, including books and articles), but this is something else. The Stand is, again, a massive undertaking, and I cannot wait to see how this pans out, [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

Stephen King has been a pop culture icon for several decades now, but it’s starting to look like in 2011 he’s heating up hotter than ever. Even though the world of Stephen King film adaptations took a bit of a hit when Ron Howard’s proposed Dark Tower movies got nixed, just recently it was announced that the Harry Potter super-team of David Yates and Steve Kloves are going to be doing a series of films adapting King’s post apocalyptic tale The Stand. And now comes the news that The Silence of the Lambs director Jonathan Demme is making a deal to adapt a King novel that hasn’t even been published yet.

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.

You wouldn’t expect that a movie about an Indian burial ground that brings dead pets back to life in rabid, vicious zombie form could be considered an untouchable classic, but horror fans are very protective about what they like. And Stephen King, while a horror icon on the literary shelf, has a much spottier record when it comes to film adaptations. That 1989’s Pet Sematary turned out to be one of the best King adaptations adds to its status as modern classic meant to be cherished. By now it should be clear though that nothing is sacred in Hollywood, especially horror properties. So of course a remake of Pet Sematary has been in the works for a while. The last time we heard about the project, Paramount had hired Matt Greenberg to write a script for a remake. He already had some experience adapting King work with 1408, so I guess the choice made sense. And it turns out Greenberg took Paramount’s request pretty seriously, this isn’t a goof, the man has now turned in his script. So the next step toward getting this thing off the ground is finding a director. Enter Piranha and The Hills Have Eyes director Alexandre Aja. Twitch reports that Aja is close to taking on the job. Paramount is actively pursuing him, and while Aja has a project called Cobra: The Space Pirate he’s looking to do, that film has yet to find adequate funding, and isn’t scheduled to start shooting until 2013. A [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

With Javier Bardem officially being cast in Bond 23, the actor he secured a job just as his old application was being buried under the rubble of a failed project. The Ron Howard-directed Dark Tower project (which almost demands a different word considering how Cyclopean that damned thing was) is now too hefty for Universal to support. Too hefty, and too much of a gamble. According to Deadline Cressia, the studio has passed on what would have been a three film, two television mini-series deal to bring the Stephen King epic to life. Sadly, these things happen. In fact, this situation isn’t at all surprising. Committing to that much money and that many films is a gargantuan gamble that might have seen Universal not only lose big, but also find themselves unable to put more funding into other projects. In short, it would have consumed them. The good news is that the project is free to go to another studio that might be a good home for it. Or it might just remain a pipe dream. The bigger question here is – why not do it the old fashioned way where you make a movie, plan for a sequel and create something the audience will lovingly support?

Fresh off ending his run as the defacto director of the once hot potato Harry Potter series, David Yates has suddenly gone from being a little known TV director to becoming a giant name in the industry. What he does next will probably be the subject of a lot of attention, and Vulture is reporting that he already has three potential franchises on his plate. Feeling a little bit jealous of Universal’s prospective Stephen King mega-franchise The Dark Tower, Warner Bros. is looking to get into the King business themselves. To that end they are looking to do a new version of one of King’s most famous novels, The Stand, which is likely to be stretched out into three films. Being the guy who made them a bajillion dollars with these last four Harry Potter movies, Yates would get first dibs on the new trilogy if he wants it. It’s a big commitment to make, and reportedly he has the next two weeks to decide.

Not too long ago there were reports floating around that some corporate reshuffling over at NBCUniversal was probably going to lead to their gigantic Dark Tower project being cancelled. Originally, the Stephen King novels were set to be adapted into three feature films and two series of television specials by director Ron Howard and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, but in trying economic times putting so many eggs into one risky basket started looking like not so great an idea. Or maybe it didn’t. In an interview with Inside Movies, Howard is saying that the project just got pushed back a bit, but it’s still going to happen. He explains, “We had to pull back to our September start date due to budget delays and ongoing story development and logistical issues, but Dark Tower is moving forward.” So, at least according to the director, this project is still moving forward, but in what form? One thing that we can probably forget about is all of the casting rumors we’ve heard so far. Putting the project off makes it hard to predict whose schedule will be able to sync up with such an expansive project. Howard said, “We’re thinking of starting in early spring now. I can’t really say who’ll be in it yet, but Javier Bardem has shown a great deal of interest. We’ll know by the end of the summer… “

Stephen King’s “Dark Tower” series of novels is like a nerd dream come true. There are so many books, so many characters, and so much story that you could spend countless hours getting lost in them. But what makes them such a beloved set of novels also makes them a hugely daunting task for a film adaptation. Despite the popularity of the series, and the name brand value of Stephen King going back for decades, in order to present the “Dark Tower” series in any sort of respectable light it would take countless millions of dollars and who knows how much screen time. When Universal green lit the series for production and announced that it would become not just a trilogy of films, but instead a trilogy of films with two television series sandwiched in between their releases, it seemed too good to be true. Never before had we seen that level of commitment to a source material or that amount of ambition put into a project. But now there are rumblings that this whole scheme might not come to pass after all. You see, that plan was made back before there was a bunch of big corporate shakeups in the world of NBCUniversal and Steve Burke was named the new CEO of the company. Such is life when the biggest movie studios are one and the same with the biggest corporations. Now everything that costs big bucks is being looked over with a new set of eyes and a [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

It seems monumental to devote your life and career to one role for the better part of a decade. With The Dark Tower, it was bound to be someone, and according to Deadline Destry, it looks like Javier Bardem is going to be the one to say “I do” to what might be the commitment of his career. With three planned films and two television movies, this project is unheard of, but it’s nice to see an Oscar-winning actor with such force play Roland Deschain. The deal being worked out currently will apparently cover the first film and the first television movie with options on two sequel films. The second television movie will be a prequel and, understandably, not feature Deschain at that age. It’s still so tough to know what to make of all of this. The project is a dream come true for King and “Dark Tower” fans alike, but it’s also a skulking behemoth being directed by Ron Howard, who’s famous for being good but not great, and written by Akiva Goldsman, who’s famous for not even coming close to good. The big question there is whether Bardem can affect that creative world. He’s not some puff player, and he’s worked with better storytellers, so there’s a chance that his inclusion in this project might shave some of the expositional excess off of the script. Bardem is about to sign away a big chunk of his life. He’d better have a say in that destiny. I realize [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

The easiest thing for Paramount to do would be to take a copy of Mary Lambert’s 1989 adaptation of Pet Sematary, bury it in an old Native American graveyard, and wait for the new version to emerge from the dirty depths. Instead (according to the LA Times), they’ve hired 1408 writer Matthew Greenberg to start on a script for a remake. They’ll probably also find a director and a crew and film it when they’ve got perfectly good, perfectly cheap voodoo magic that could make the movie for them. On second thought, they’ll probably be using voodoo magic, too. Stephen King is a ridiculously prolific writer, but he also has an uncommon amount of his work adapted for screen. It’s unclear why the world needs another Pet Sematary, especially when Lambert and company did it so well, and especially when there are tons of other King properties out there that need some movie love. This move is most likely part of the King re-invigoration seen with the massive Dark Tower project and continued by word that The Stand will also be a feature film. In other words, this might not be the last King adaptation we see go into development. Anyone out there want to make “Strawberry Spring” or “The Man Who Loved Flowers”?

Back during the early days of Hollywood the studios existed as movie making factories. In charge of the operation were the studio heads who oversaw everything from production, to distribution, to running the theaters. In modern times the big studios are small aspects of corporate conglomerates and the decisions made for them are probably coming from an ancient computer spitting out ticker tape in a dark room somewhere, or an ape who knows sign language, or who knows what. With all of the acquisitions and mergers and whatnot going on every day nobody has had a chance to look into it. Under these conditions, it’s not that surprising that the best mainstream Hollywood can do when it comes to developing new projects is to take something that already exists in the world and tack “The Movie” on to the end of its name. And so we find ourselves looking towards an adaptation of a wildly popular Stephen King novel that has already been adapted into both a comic book series and multiple TV miniseries over the past few decades. This project got started when one huge corporation acquired the rights to the material and then it auctioned off the rights to distribute the material to some other huge corporation, who was probably doing it under the name of some smaller sub corporation, etc… until it was finally decided that enough faceless Incs and LLCs had put their names on legal papers and “The Stand” was officially going to become a [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

When the calendar page turns to October, we Rejects have only one thought: horror. To celebrate this grandest and darkest of months, we’ll cover one excellent horror film a day for the entirety of the month. That’s 31 Days of Horror and 31 Films perfect for viewing on a dark, chilly, October night. If you, like us, love horror and Halloween, give us a Hell Yeah and keep coming every day this month for a new dose of adrenaline. Synopsis: A small lakeside town in Maine sees their world turn inside out when a strange fog moves into the area. As if the lack of visibility wasn’t nightmare enough, the mysterious mist also appears to be filled with… creatures straight out of hell. A small group of survivors consisting of friends, neighbors, and acquaintances alike holes up in the local supermarket where they discover not all the threats are locked outside. The best and worst of humanity face off against mankind’s greatest threat and one father’s worst nightmare.

It was almost five months ago that we first reported the heartbreaking news that the film rights to Stephen King’s epic seven book series, The Dark Tower, had slipped into the hands of pure evil mediocrity. The details hadn’t been worked out yet, but the core piece of information was Ron Howard and Akiva ‘The Hack’ Goldsman being named as director and screenwriter for the feature film adaptations. We followed this news a few days later with our list of twelve writers and directors far better suited for the material. Not surprisingly, our voices were ignored and Hollywood chose to stick with the Howard/Goldsman team. And while that news still sucks we can’t help but be intrigued, interested, and possibly even impressed with the just revealed details of that arrangement. Stephen King’s The Dark Tower is coming to the big screen… and the small screen. Before returning to the big screen. Then back to the small screen… then, well, you get the idea.

There was a time when Rob Reiner’s name being mentioned meant that there was a project we should watch out for; in a good way. Stand By Me is one of the big reasons that was so and is one of the best films of its kind, no matter what kind of film you categorize it as.

Unhappy with the team taking a crack at Stephen King’s beloved epic, Rob Hunter tosses out a dozen names that would be better at bringing the gunslinger to life.

Has there ever been a better example of a good news/bad news situation?