My two cents about The Stand remake-Part One

I have been reading a lot lately about the decision to remake The Stand. Some say the miniseries was great so why mess with it. I say that the miniseries was okay and it could do with a better adaption.

First, I will discuss the good about the miniseries.
1) The opening with the Don't Fear the Reaper song playing over the camera panning through the dead bodies in the lab.
2) Gary Sinise and Adam Storke as Stu and Larry. They were both perfect for the roles.
3) It was long enough to do justice to the story if they had chosen to.

Now the bad.
1) The casting of Molly Ringwald and Laura San Giancomo. This was abysmally bad casting decisions.
2) Leo was regulated to a bit part and he never spoke throughout the movie. He was so important in the book. Also, Kojak's importance was minimized too much as well. I didn't like that they combined Rita and Nadine. Rita was important to Larry's growth as a character.
3) It was way cheesy and a little boring.

The Stand is a very layered story. The characters and their development is integral. It needs to be long, otherwise there is really no point in doing it. But, I will watch it just the same. Now after reading so many other peoples suggestions I thought I would make some of my own casting choices and why. So here goes:

 Stu Redman- He is a handsome man in his mid to late thirties. Quiet and unassuming but tougher then nails and smart. Because of these traits I think that physically Joshua Jackson would be a good fit. He is also a very good actor and can bring real depth to the role.

Frannie Goldsmith-Beautiful all-American girl in her early 20's. Resourceful, silly at times and tough. It needs an actress who can bring these qualities to the fore. Two Actresses could potentially play this role. Emma Stone and Eliza Dushku.

Larry Underwood-Rocker whose character changes the most in the course of the story. Handsome, in his late 20's and talented. I always imagined him as dark haired and a little scruffy. An Irish actor, Aidan Turner, from the BBC show Being Human would be really good.

Nick Andros- The barely out of his 20's deaf mute heart of the good guys. To me, someone with a sensitive face would be perfect, one where you can see the kindness and intelligence in the eyes. Like Frannie there are two candidates I could see in this role. Sam Huntington from the SyFy version of Being Human...

...and the young English actor who was in the movie Kick Ass, Aaron Johnson.







To be continued. I have an updated list with new additions added on 8/8/2011.