David Yates explains why he passed on the adaptation of Stephen King’s The Stand

Last Updated on July 23, 2021

So by now you should all be aware that Ben Affleck is being eyed to helm the upcoming adaptation of Stephen King’s hit novel THE STAND. While we haven’t heard much from Affleck, or anyone for that matter, since that announcement what we do have for you today is David Yates talking a bit about the project.

You may remember that David Yates was originally attached to direct the adaptation for Warner Bros. So what happened? Well the guys over at Collider were wondering the same thing so when they had a chance to chat with Yates about a couple of his upcoming projects they couldn’t help but ask what happened with THE STAND.

“I was offered The Stand. I love The Stand, I read it when I was a kid, it was one of my favorite books when I was growing up, I love Stephen King, I think he’s a remarkable writer. And coming out of Potter, you wanna work with an author who has the same reach as a Jo Rowling, and frankly Stephen King does. My issues though were about the adaptation. I wanted to work with Steve Kloves, Steve Kloves wanted to work with me, we were both committed to doing it, but in that time it took to let go of Potter and to think about how we would tackle the adaptation, we both decided that it wasn’t for us, so we left it. We sort of withdrew basically.

What I love about King’s work and what I love about The Stand is the fact that Stephen King really puts you into these people’s lives, and you see the world from a very intimate human level, which normally is something I love. But we felt this pressure to make these super tentpole movies with this material, and the things that you get in Potter—which are these extraordinary episodes of action—they didn’t exist in the material, and I was worried I wouldn’t be able to deliver the kind of movie that ultimately the studio was hoping to get from this material. I could see making a miniseries from it, a really interesting, intricate, layered, enjoyable long-burn of a miniseries, I could see that, but what was missing for me were the big movie moments in the material, the big set pieces.”

So there you have it folks. There’s a reason behind the man’s madness. It’s not like Yates will have trouble finding work. Hell I literally just got finished telling you all how Yates was planning a franchise based on the popular BBC show “Doctor Who.” So theres that.

Now you can bet we’ll keep our eyes open for anything regarding THE STAND, like perhaps if Affleck is going to accept the gig or not? As soon as the goods spill our way we’ll pass that shite right along to all of you.