Were you surprised by the news that a big-screen version of “The Stand” was in development?
So was author Stephen King.
The best-selling author said he wasn’t aware of the potential film until he read the news on the Internet earlier this week.
“Historically speaking, movie studios blow the budget on things like this, so maybe it’ll be fun to look at,” King tells Entertainment Weekly. “The dough certainly isn’t going to me, although if it is a trilogy, and if it makes a lot of money, I might be able to buy a chicken dinner at Popeye’s. Great slaw!”
As for casting, he argued that “no one will be able to top Gary Sinise,” who played central character Stu Redman in the 1994 ABC miniseries.
“He was perfect,” King said, although he suggested Jake Gyllenhaal as his “runner-up pick.” He added that Billy Bob Thornton would be “cool” as the Trashcan Man.
King also predicted that Molly Ringwald won’t be reprising her character from the mini. Nor would she be playing the Trashcan Man, he quipped.
The horror maestro — a noted music junkie who sprinkles his books with lots of song references — also urged filmmakers include “a lot of heavy-metal for the soundtrack.”
How the hell did our man SK not know that someone was making a movie of his story?! As a writer, that terrifies me… so does rejection, so…. guess I’m scared all of the time.
Writers need to be extremely cognizant of the rights they give away. He doesn’t seem too broken up about it, but he probably didn’t negotiate it properly to expect residuals from any resulting film. I mean, he probably sold the rights for bank back in the day. God knows he’s sold a lot of rights in his time! But it’s a cautionary tale for the rest of us writers to be careful of the terms we receive.
Or,….knowing Stephen he is laughing all the way to the bank and pulling everyone’s leg to keep prying minds away from those massive $$$ signs.
I’m guessing that when he sold the rights for the miniseries, it was an all-inclusive deal and they could’ve made a movie back then if they’d really wanted to. The idea of granting rights on a medium-specific basis is a very new one in intellectual property law. One that, practically speaking, is still developing as more and more media for such things emerge.