Ben Affleck Contracts Captain Trips - Exits The Stand

As much as I dig the revelation of Ben Affleck as the new Batman, this means there will be casualties. His directing career (the driving force behind his comeback that led to the Oscar-winning Argo and his being Christian Bale's successor in talking in a growling voice) gets put to the side-burner, like Live By Night intended as his Argo follow-up. It will still happen. It just won't shoot early next year as originally planned.

Such a move also forces his hand in exiting other projects penciled on his To Do list, in this case The Stand. Affleck has reportedly parted ways from the Stephen King novel, which he has been involved with for the last year or so. Unfortunate because he seemed like the right guy to properly adapt the post-apocalyptic virus thriller-turned-battle over good and evil to the silver screen.

In his place, Warner Brothers has assigned the job to Scott Cooper, writer-director behind Crazy Heart, a film primarily known for Jeff Bridges' Overdue/Career Win Oscar victory, and the forthcoming Out of the Furnace, a revenge incidentally starring Christian Bale and Casey Affleck.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter