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I never thought I'd see the words "Bourne Identity" and "The Stand" in the same sentence, but here we are: The Bourne Identity director Doug Liman will helm an adaptation of Stephen King's seminal novel, The Stand, for Paramount Pictures, as per The Hollywood Reporter. 

The Stand is a beast of a book. The complete and unabridged version of the novel comes out to around 1,150 pages, reflective of Stephen King's immaculate attention to detail and character. It follows an ensemble cast of characters as a "super-flu" plague spreads across the country, decimating the population. The survivors band together and head towards the source of visions they've been experiencing: Nebraska. As it turns out, the super-flu was only the beginning of their troubles. 

The story has been adapted twice for the screen as a television mini-series, the first being released in 1994, and the second in 2020 (eerie). The book is considered one of King's best works, and The Hollywood Reporter notes that everyone from George Romero, to David Yates, to Ben Affleck have tried to adapt it. To be utterly clear, part of what makes The Stand such a monumental story is its pacing. We fall in love with the characters and their families and environments before the superflu even comes to their doorstep. The country falls apart not all at once, but through a series of vignettes that I'm still haunted by. I have no idea how, or even why, you would approach compressing all of that into a single feature film. 

Let's also remember that Stephen King's other massive tome of a novel, It, was adapted into two films. I wouldn't be surprised if Paramount decided to do something similar here. That said, there are quite literally scores of characters in The Stand (like George R.R. Martin level of characters), so I wouldn't be surprised if Paramount decides to axe a dozen or so. Now, I am left to wonder how Doug Liman will bring Larry Underwood's song, Baby, Can You Dig Your Man? to life on the screen.

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