Fault in our Stars Director's Kingly Next Project: The Stand!

Don't be too quick to dismiss The Fault in our Stars. Despite the Young Adult trappings, this story of two young people who meet and fall in love at a cancer support group is adapted from a highly regarded novel, and the movie is well-positioned between summer tentpoles to have a massive breakthrough opening. But perhaps even more noteworthy, the film's director, Josh Boone, is preparing to undertake a monumental work of long-anticipate genre filmmaking - Stephen King's The Stand.

It sounds like Boone has the combination of fondness for the material and genuine caring that could make him the perfect man for the job. He sure makes it sound so: “We’re gonna do one three-hour, R-rated version with an amazing A-list cast across the board. Every single one of those characters will be somebody you recognize and somebody you relate to. And it’s gonna be awesome. I’m really excited. It’s the most exciting thing I’ve ever got to do in my entire life. If 12-year-old me had ever known that one day I’d be doing this, to even just go back and look at that kid, I’d be like, Keep doing what you’re doing! It’s just crazy. I’ve met so many actors over the years, and like, when I met Stephen King, I hugged him with tears in my eyes. He meant that much to me when I was young. I still say everything I learned about writing I learned from Stephen King. I don’t read screenplays. I don’t read screenplay how-to books. It’s always just, establish the character. Establish the character.”

The Stand’s journey to film has been a long one, and it’s hard not to cheer for Boone to pull it off, given how big a part King played in his youth:

“The short of it is that my parents were born-again Baptists and I wasn’t allowed to read Stephen King. I had to rip the covers off of Christian books and glue them to Stephen King books, so that I could read them. I remember reading The Stand under my bed when I was 12, and I hid the book in the box springs under my bed, and my mom found it and burned it in the fireplace. I wrote him a letter when I was 12, just to tell him how much I loved his books and how much I wanted to be a writer when I grew up and that he was my idol. I sent him a couple books, hoping that he’d sign them. I came home from school one day and my dad said, ‘There’s a box here from Stephen King.’ He had written me this beautiful letter in the front covers of each of the books. My parents were just so moved by the generosity, that he was willing to take the time to do that, that they lifted the Stephen King ban. So, to be able to go back to him, all these years later, and just hug him and thank him so much for being such a big part of my childhood, meant so much to me. To have him be part of the movie meant so much. I was just trying to honor him and what he meant to me, when I was that age.”

I have a feeling Boone’s about to have a massive opening weekend, which can only provide that much more support and studio confidence to let him fully do justice to King’s vision.