The Stephen King Book Horror Maestro James Wan Wants To Adapt

Since the publication of "Carrie" in 1974, Stephen King has knocked out over 60 novels/novellas and penned over 200 short stories. He has overcome severe substance abuse issues and survived one very gnarly car accident. He directed "Maximum Overdrive." He's hit dizzying peaks and deep, dark valleys, but, through it all, he has never lost his sense of wonder, nor his ability to enthrall readers the world over with his words.

King has been around long enough that he's seen several generations of filmmakers adapt his work. Old masters like Brian De Palma, George A. Romero, and Stanley Kubrick have passed the torch to the likes of Andy Muschietti, Mike Flanagan, and Edgar Wright (whose film adaptation of "The Running Man" is due out this November) — and it feels like subsequent generations will keep tending the flame so long as his work doesn't get banned out of existence. There is so much King out there, and so many ways to approach his material, that we should be getting several new adaptations — of novels and stories previously unproduced — a year.

I would love to see two or three films like Vincenzo Natali's creepy "In the Tall Grass" a year, but when some established directors decide it's their time to take on King, they want to load up on one of his epics. He's got several Mt. Everests out there, some of which have gone before cameras more than once and fallen hideously flat. At a certain point, you figure these books just may be unadaptable. But when a filmmaker as talented as James Wan expresses an interest in succeeding where others have failed, you can't help but take him seriously.

During a recent appearance on The Kingcast, James Wan, who produced Osgood Perkins' upcoming adaptation of King's short story "The Monkey" (from the collection "Skeleton Crew"), was asked if there was another tale by the author that he'd like to tackle. The man who gave us the "Saw" franchise, "The Conjuring," and the "Malignant" franchise (I refuse to believe we're done with Gabriel) said he only has eyes for the 1978 novel that's spawned two terribly unsatisfying miniseries. Per Wan:

"I think the only one maybe left for me that I would love to take, just because I know what an epic movie this could be, is 'The Stand.' I love 'The Stand.' The book is so big, I feel like a longer platform would be the right place for 'The Stand.' If you do a feature movie of 'The Stand,' it's going to be a very long movie. It's going to be over 3-hours long, and maybe there's part 1 and part 2."

Mick Garris' 1994 ABC miniseries version of "The Stand" ran 366 minutes, while the 2020 CBS miniseries came in somewhere under 10 hours. Neither came close to capturing the post-apocalyptic scope of King's novel because they lacked the budget to match his visual imagination. Let's leave aside the fact that "The Stand" contains bizarre tonal swings that, no offense to Wan, I think only a howl-one-second-tear-your-throat-out-the-next daredevil like Bong Joon-ho could conquer; if the practical problem with "The Stand" is that you simply can't afford to realize it to the satisfaction of people who've already imagined their ideal version several times over, maybe leave it be. Some sagas, like "The Dark Tower," belong to the page.

Consider this a provocation, Mr. Wan. Prove me wrong.