By now everyone knows the big news from last night as it was announced that Ben Affleck would be playing Batman in Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel sequel. While I don’t have much of an opinion on the big casting news, the only thing I was truly concerned about was what will happen with Affleck’s directing career. He has completely reinvented himself over the years and taking a seat in the director’s chair was a big part of that. Less than 24 hours after the announcement of Affleck taking on the caped crusader, news has come in that Warner Bros. has already replaced him for the directing gig on the adaptation of Stephen King’s The Stand.
Warner Bros. decided to go with a lesser known but very capable director to step behind the camera. Crazy Heart helmer Scott Cooper is now your new director of The Stand. While Cooper may not have that many films under his belt, he’s definitely an exciting choice because he focuses a lot of his attention on character development — something that King’s novel does brilliantly. His upcoming thriller Out of the Furnace also looks pretty damn solid with one hell of a cast behind it. Not only will he be directing but he’s also currently rewriting the script that David Kajganich recently worked on.
This could very well be a blessing in disguise, but for now we’ll just have to wait and find out as this one is long from finished. For quite some time now it has been known that the studio was aiming to bring the novel to life with multiple films but with a new director in charge a lot is still unknown. I’ll be sure to clue you guys in on this one as it comes together.
themissingreel.com 
Ben Affleck, as sexy as he is, directs much better than he acts and should stay behind the camera more often. I wouldn’t mind seeing more of Casey Affleck though. Obviously not as Batman, either of them.
Casey Affleck is great, he’s just in enough movies! I really dig Affleck’s work behind the camera too. He has yet to disappoint which is why I’m pretty bummed to see him out of The Stand.
I’m with you man. I like Affleck as an actor, more than most people. But he has so far been incredible as a director, so would much rather see that take precedence. Hopefully not too much gets put on the backburner.
Exactly man. And it’s worrisome that he probably signed a contract to keep him with the character for multiple films. I just hope everything he built up doesn’t come crashing down just to play Batman. Not worth it imo.
” the only thing I was truly concerned about was what will happen with Affleck’s directing career. ” DITTO!
I hope that being Batman doesn’t sidetrack him or anything. 😦 Maybe The Stand wasn’t the right project for him anyways, but it sure seemed like a match of great material and a great director 😦
Exactly man. Not to mention he’s locked up for multiples films so he could put directing on the back burner for a while. Considering he’s 3 for 3 in my book, I would have LOVED to have seen him take on The Stand.
I hope they can come close to the intensity how Steven Kings writes in his novels. The “Stand’ was the first Steven King book I ever read of his back in 1978 or 1979.
It left a powerful impression on me til this day. Movies some times do not get the plot across as intended.
If they can make the movie riveting, then we are all in for a classic for years to come.
I agree completely. The novel is perfectly paced and just absolutely brilliant. A movie version will be very hard to pull off but if done right it could no doubt be one for the ages.
Hmmmmmmm… still lamenting the latest choice for Batman… oh well… let’s hope The Stand is a success, hang in and see.