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First Look! Alexander Skarsgard as Randall Flagg in ‘The Stand’

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The book to television adaptation of The Stand penned by Stephen King moves forward! Vanity Fair released the first pictures of the CBS All Access mini series of Randall Flagg, the story’s demonic and sweet tongued villain.

Initial speculation predicted the role was going to land actor Matthew McConaughey as ‘The Man in Black.’ After all, McConaughey did portray the character in 2017’s film The Dark Tower , also penned by King. However, it has recently been revealed that Alexander Skarsgard will be beckoning the somewhat misfit cast of characters to the dark side in the new adaptation of the 1978 novel.

Alexander Skarsgard as Randall Flagg in ‘The Stand.’ Picture by Robert Flaconer/CBS

For many, the 6’4 Swedish actor was first noticed as vampire Eric Northman in HBO’s True Blood. The suave and powerful vampire had just as much a pull over the fans as he did his victims in the 6 season series. Some of that charm will certainly be used in his new role.

When reflecting on the character of Randall Flagg, executive producer Taylor Emlore told Vanity Fair;

“[Flagg is] so charming and he’s so handsome, and so powerful – I mean genuinely powerful, able to perform these sorts of miracles where he could levitate himself and he has these actual powers… and yet he needs this adulation and this kind of worship from these people whom he’s summoned to him. He needs to have them make a show all the time of how grateful they are to him.”

Benjamin Cavell, executive producer with Elmore, boldly added. “And there’s something fundamentally weak about that. Does it remind you of someone you know?”

Alexander Skarsgard as Randall Flagg and Nat Wolff as Lloyd Henreid in ‘The Stand.’ Picture by Robert Flaconer/CBS

There are indeed many similarities to our current world situation. The novel begins with a man made virus being accidentally released onto the world, killing 99% of the population. Those who survive are left to choose their path in their new, dystopian world. They can either follow Randall Flagg into darkness as well as the indulgences of the present, self, and sin, or they can rise above and walk a more righteous path with Mother Abigail (portrayed by Whoopie Goldberg) and start to build a world together for the benefit of each other as well as for the future of civilization.

Whoopie Goldberg as Mother Abigail in ‘The Stand.’ Picture by Robert Flaconer/CBS

Goldberg speaks to Vanity Fair of her own character, Mother Abigail;

“She is very, very righteous and very good. But really flawed I feel. I’ve been fighting with not making her the Magic Negro, because she’s complicated.”

While we are nowhere near that amount of human lives lost and world devastation, nor was our own pandemic made in a lab, we are facing a virus that is ravaging our country and the world at large. We are being forced to make choices we never thought we would have to in our lifetime. We are fighting and carving out paths we didn’t initially think we would take ten years ago. Many of us are being brave and making a stand in our beliefs of how we will live day to day, as well as move forward in this quickly and ever changing world.

Owen Teague as Harold Lauder and Odessa Young as Frannie Goldsmith in ‘The Stand.’ Picture by Robert Flaconer/CBS

Much like the characters in King’s book, we are in a world we were not prepared for. This is not the world we were promised as children. This is not a world we were expecting to enter upon leaving college. However, we have to be strong and stand together, and while the irony is strong that the CBS All Access miniseries is coming out during our own real life pandemic, perhaps there is no better time for The Stand.

 

Soon the ‘The Commpany of the Mad: The Stand Podcast’ will be debuting a six part series discussing the book.  Every episode Jason Sechrest, Mike Flanagan, Tananarive Due, and Anthony Breznican will discuss a 200 page installment of the book.  The show will begin May 29, so get reading!  Read more about the podcast event here!

Read Vanity Fair’s article here

Be sure to read more about CBS All Access remake of The Stand on iHorror as more is to come!

 

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‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

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Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.

Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.

Happy Sad Confused

Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.

Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.

The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.

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Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date

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Jake gyllenhaal presumed innocent

Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.

These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:

According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”

Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.

Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.

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Trailer for ‘The Exorcism’ Has Russell Crowe Possessed

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The latest exorcism movie is about to drop this summer. It’s aptly titled The Exorcism and it stars Academy Award winner turned B-movie savant Russell Crowe. The trailer dropped today and by the looks of it, we are getting a possession movie that takes place on a movie set.

Just like this year’s recent demon-in-media-space film Late Night With the Devil, The Exorcism happens during a production. Although the former takes place on a live network talk show, the latter is on an active sound stage. Hopefully, it won’t be entirely serious and we’ll get some meta chuckles out of it.

The film will open in theaters on June 7, but since Shudder also acquired it, it probably won’t be long after that until it finds a home on the streaming service.

Crowe plays, “Anthony Miller, a troubled actor who begins to unravel while shooting a supernatural horror film. His estranged daughter, Lee (Ryan Simpkins), wonders if he’s slipping back into his past addictions or if there’s something more sinister at play. The film also stars Sam Worthington, Chloe Bailey, Adam Goldberg and David Hyde Pierce.”

Crowe did see some success in last year’s The Pope’s Exorcist mostly because his character was so over-the-top and infused with such comical hubris it bordered on parody. We will see if that is the route actor-turned-director Joshua John Miller takes with The Exorcism.

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