M-O-O-N, That Spells "Eh, I Guess So"

For the past five years now, I've been occasionally blogging about the Hollywood film adaptation of The Stand, based on the Stephen King book of the same name.

You can read those previous posts here, if you've a mind to:
M-O-O-N, That Spells "I've Got A Bad Feeling About This"
M-O-O-N, That Spells, "I Have A Slightly Better Feeling About This"
M-O-O-N, That Spells "Oh For Cryin' Out Loud!"
M-O-O-N, That Spells "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off!"
M-O-O-N, That Spells "I'm Cautiously Optimistic"

See, The Stand is my all time favorite book, and I've probably read it twenty or thirty times over the years. So naturally I have a vested interest in a new film adaptation, and want the producers to do justice to the story.

Unfortunately, each update on the production has been more appalling than the last, and it was finally shelved in 2016.

But wait! Apparently the project's back on! It's now reportedly going to be a ten episode miniseries on CBS: All Access, the fine folks who've brought us two miserable seasons of Star Trek: Discovery, aka STD. Um... hooray, I guess?

Earlier this year CBS announced they'd cast James Marsden as main character Stu Redman, Odessa Young as his love interest Fran Goldsmith, Greg Kinnear as retired sociologist Glen Bateman, Amber Heard as the shifty Nadine Cross, Henry Zaga as deaf-mute Nick Andros, Nat Wolff as ex-con Lloyd Henreid and Whoopi Goldberg as the 108 year old Mother Abigail. 

So far I have no particular opinion one way or another about any of these people. Hopefully they'll all surprise me once I see them in action.

In the past couple weeks CBS has announced two more cast members.

First up is shock-rocker Marilyn Manson (aka Brian Warner) in an "undisclosed" role. Interesting! OK, now they've got my attention! 

I'm a bit puzzled as to why they're being so secretive about who Manson's playing though. He's wayyyy too old to play unhinged teen Harold Lauder, so that's out. My money's on the pyromaniac Trashcan Man. That's a role that calls for someone with an unsettling, disturbing look to them, and can play batsh*t crazy without even trying. Manson definitely fills the bill there.

CBS also revealed they'd finally found their Randall Flagg, the Big Bad of The Stand. Flagg, aka The Dark Man, aka The Walkin' Dude and many other monikers, will be played by actor Alexander Skarsgard.

Eh. I guess so. I think most fans were picturing someone who can be menacing and charming at the same time, like Matthew McConaughey, Sebastian Stan or Tom Hardy.

Skarsgard just seems like... I dunno, a cipher to me. I was underwhelmed by his casting, but then I realized I'm really not that familiar with Skarsgard's work. I've heard of him of course, but a quick look through IMDB shows I've seen exactly three of his sixty three film credits: Zoolander, Battleship (oy) and the title role in The Legend Of Tarzan (oy gevalt!).

I'm sure he's done actual impressive work, but you'd never be able to prove it by those three examples! Hopefully he'll surprise me and be able to pull off the "friendly but creepy" vibe that Flagg needs.

Hey, his brother's Bill Skarsgard, aka Pennywise The Dancing Clown! Maybe Bill can give him some pointers on how to be reeeally scary?