While his most recent directorial effort, Argo, is beginning to generate well-deserved Oscar buzz, Ben Affleck spoke briefly about some of his upcoming projects that are sure to attract a lot of interest. When last we reported on Affleck collaborating with Matt Damon, it was to shed some light on the details of their Whitey Bulger picture. The rise-and-fall biopic of the Boston-area crime boss is apparently still in development, but Affleck did give a quick comment on it.

A bigger picture is Affleck’s adaptation of Stephen King’s The Stand, a long-gestating picture that has fans hoping for some good news. Unfortunately, it’s proving to be an unwieldy bit of source material as Affleck admits to struggling with it. Struggling, not giving up. Hit the jump for more quotes from Affleck. 

We’ve got a couple updates on the latest projects from Oscar-winning screenwriting duo Ben Affleck and Matt Damon (yes, they act too). A few months ago Affleck was chosen by Warner Bros. to direct their big-budget adaptation of the Stephen King novel The Stand. While it’s been a while since we’ve heard any movement on the project, it now appears that Affleck has now set a screenwriter on the pic. After apparently wowing the studio with an adaptation of King’s It, David Kajganich (The Invasion) has been tapped to handle scripting duties. Hit the jump for much more, including news concerning the untitled drama that Damon was previously set to direct.

The Harry Potter film franchise came to an end this summer with director David Yates’ brilliant concluding chapter Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.  As an avid fan of the books, I thought the film hit all the right notes and Yates captured our farewell to these beloved characters with nuanced grace.  I’m currently in Orlando, Florida at Universal’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter for the Blu-ray/DVD release of the franchise’s final installment, and got the chance to sit down with Yates for an extended conversation.

The director talked about what he’s been doing since the last film hit theaters, his impressions of Universal’s Harry Potter theme park, his reaction to Warner Bros.’ decision to pull all Harry Potter DVDs from the shelves after the end of this year, his opinion on post-converting past Harry Potter films to 3D for their eventual theatrical re-release, and he also revealed why he decided not to take on the feature film adaptation of Steven King’s The Stand, and gave an update on his Al Capone biopic. Hit the jump for more.

In a bit of a head scratcher, Warner Bros. has chosen Ben Affleck to write and direct their adaptation of Stephen King’s The Stand. The reason that this news is confusing is that just a couple months ago, it was reported that Warner Bros. was in negotiations with director David Yates to reunite with his Harry Potter scribe Steve Kloves for a multi-film adaptation of King’s novel. Deadline has the Affleck news, and their report has no mention of Yates. The Potter director was in high demand after helming the last four films in the beloved franchise, and it seemed as though he’d be tied up with The Stand for a few years before being able to take on any other projects. Now it looks as though Yates is free to choose another film as his follow-up. Hit the jump for more.

While Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 brought the most successful film franchise in history to an end this summer, it appears that the two most influential creatives involved will be reuniting once more. Screenwriter Steve Kloves (who wrote every Harry Potter film except Order of the Phoenix) and director David Yates (who helmed the final four Potter films) are apparently teaming up to tackle a multi-film adaptation of Stephen King’s novel The Stand. Hit the jump for the details.

The most successful franchise in film history comes to an end with tonight’s midnight opening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. Director David Yates has been at the helm of the last three (or four, if you count Deathly Hallows as two films) Harry Potter entries, and he’s done a remarkable job bringing the series to a close. Now that the director is out of Potter books to adapt, everyone wants to know what he’ll be doing next. Given his great success with the franchise, he’s pretty much got his pick of the litter.

When Steve recently sat down with Yates, the director stated his intention to make a really small film next year before diving back into big-budget studio fare. What might that big-budget studio fare be? Well reports have surfaced suggesting he’s eyeing an adaptation of Stephen King’s The Stand as well as an Al Capone origin story called Cicero to possibly star Tom Hardy, in addition to a number of other projects on the director’s radar. Hit the jump for the details.

Earlier in the week, we reported that CBS Films and Warner Bros. were teaming-up to bring Stephen King’s 1978 post-apocalyptic classic The Stand to the big screen.  With one of his most well-known properties getting its shot at cinemas, King recently divulged a tidy list of ten things he knows about the adaptation.  Here’s an example of some of the knowledge dropped by the author in said list:

1. No one will be able to top Gary Sinise, who played Stu Redman in the original ABC miniseries. He was perfect. When he says “You don’t know nothing” to the soldiers who are putting him under mandatory quarantine, you believe his contempt completely. My runner-up pick would be Jake Gyllenhaal.

Hit the jump to check out the full list of things King claims to know about The Stand film adaptation (Hint: it also includes ringing endorsements of both Billy Bob Thornton and Popeye’s slaw).

Stephen King first published the sprawling post-apocalyptic horror/fantasy novel The Stand in 1978.  Since then it’s been turned into a television miniseries and a Marvel comic book, but not a feature film despite various attempts in the 80s.  (The sheer length of the novel apparently conquered George A. Romero.)  CBS has owned the film rights for many years without a workable idea of how to approach an adaptation.  Universal threw down the gauntlet with the announcement they would turn King’s seven-book series The Dark Tower into a trilogy of films and a TV show.

CBS Films has risen to the challenge and partnered with Warner Bros. to tackle a feature adaptation.  As the studios begin to meet with writers and directors, they will decide whether to write as one film or a series.  More, including the book synopsis, after the break: