‘The Stand’ To Be Stood Up For King’s ‘Revival’

They say a little bit of good always goes with a little of bad- this might be the king of that.

According to Deadline, Director Josh Boone (The Fault in Our Stars, Stuck In Love) , who has written a treatment for King’s iconic novel The Stand, is moving from one King novel to the next and will now be taking on the reigns of the big-screen adaptation of Revival.

Written on spec and produced by power-player Michael De Luca (American History X, The Social Network) as a first-look deal with Universal (with the mega-million making studio getting the first crack at the property), Revival is based on King’s 2014 bestseller of the same name.

The synopsis for Revival, per Stevenking.com, reads as such:

“A dark and electrifying novel about addiction, fanaticism, and what might exist on the other side of life.

In a small New England town, over half a century ago, a shadow falls over a small boy playing with his toy soldiers. Jamie Morton looks up to see a striking man, the new minister. Charles Jacobs, along with his beautiful wife, will transform the local church. The men and boys are all a bit in love with Mrs. Jacobs; the women and girls feel the same about Reverend Jacobs—including Jamie’s mother and beloved sister, Claire. With Jamie, the Reverend shares a deeper bond based on a secret obsession. When tragedy strikes the Jacobs family, this charismatic preacher curses God, mocks all religious belief, and is banished from the shocked town.

Jamie has demons of his own. Wed to his guitar from the age of 13, he plays in bands across the country, living the nomadic lifestyle of bar-band rock and roll while fleeing from his family’s horrific loss. In his mid-thirties—addicted to heroin, stranded, desperate—Jamie meets Charles Jacobs again, with profound consequences for both men. Their bond becomes a pact beyond even the Devil’s devising, and Jamie discovers that revival has many meanings.”

As for Boone’s The Stand adaptation, which you can track via Bloody-Disgusting, the director has made verbal commitments with actors and still plans to make the film eventually. With Warner’s option already reached its limit, and the rights reverting back to CBS Films, The Stand is going to take even longer to get off the ground, and thus, Boone is moving forward with Revival.

Boone wants to make both films though, with the director being a huge fan of King’s work, and plans to etch out his future in the lands created by the much-celebrated author.

Boones love of King apparently runs extremely deep, with the filmmaker saying:

"“I’ve read every book Stephen King has written, multiple times; he taught me how to write characters,” Boone said. “When I read The Stand, it was literally from under my bed. I was raised by evangelical Christians, who believed in The Rapture. I wasn’t allowed to read Stephen King books for a large part of my childhood. I ripped the cover off this Frank E. Peretti book This Present Darkness, a Christian bestseller, and put it on The Stand, because they were roughly the same size. I would read these books under the bed and hide them in the box spring, like normal kids stashed their pornography. My mom found my King stash and they burned the books in the fireplace. I still have a picture in a photo album of this giant pile of ashes in my parents’ fireplace."

The director continues:

"“When I read Revival, I was like, man, did you write this for me? I’d been on both sides of that pendulum. I call myself a non-believer, now, and when I moved to LA, it was like Neo being pulled out of the Matrix. Oh, my god, none of that stuff is true! But it was what I’d been taught and what I believed in since childhood. I believed in the devil, in Jesus, and even now as a non-believer, I’m still fascinated by that world and Revival is the scariest thing he’s written since Pet Sematary. He tricks you, drawing you in gently, with that narrator’s voice and a long time span that reminds you of The Shawshank Redemption or The Green Mile, and then he pulls that rug from under you in that last act and you’re like, oh my god, what have I gotten myself into? The secret of electricity starts as this wonderful thing and it gets progressively darker. Jamie calls Charles on it, but sticks around, because he, like the rest of us, wants to know what’s on the other side. It’s powerhouse stuff, and two of the best characters he has written since Annie Wilkes [played by Kathy Bates in an Oscar-winning turn in Misery]. I still intend to make The Stand, but I need more time, and when I asked Steve about Revival, he put me together with Mike De Luca.”"

Boone finishes by saying:

"“The thing about Stephen King is, if he gets you young, if you’re at the right age when you start picking up his books, you will travel with him and his will be the voice you most like to hear when you open a book.”"

Looks like the director has his work cut out for him. I highly anticipate seeing what the burgeoning filmmaker brings to the table and how he looks to make the horror genre stronger with a meld of brilliant King concepts and (hopefully) astute filmmaking instincts both in The Stand and Revival.

Check back with 1428 for more on this story as it develops.