The musician will appear in the epic post-apocalyptical novel about a virus that wipes out 99 per cent of the earth
Marilyn Manson has revealed that he has been cast in an upcoming television reboot of writer Stephen King’s epic post-apocalyptic novel The Stand.
Speaking to Revolver, the musician confirmed his appearance in the CBS adaptation of King’s book, but gave no further details as to his as-of-yet unnamed role. He also revealed a cover of The Doors’ haunting “The End” with country musician Shooter Jennings which has been recorded specially for the miniseries.
First published in 1978 and expanding on his short story Night Surf, the huge, 1,100-page novel – King’s fourth book and longest across his expansive oeuvre – follows the outbreak of a drug-resistant Influenza made for biological warfare accidentally released in the US, which wipes out 99 per cent of the planet. The book chronicles the lives of small groups of survivors who come up against evils traversing horror and the supernatural.
A synopsis of the series via Deadline reads: “The Stand is King’s apocalyptic vision of a world decimated by plague and embroiled in an elemental struggle between good and evil. The fate of mankind rests on the frail shoulders of the 108-year-old Mother Abagail and a handful of survivors. Their worst nightmares are embodied in a man with a lethal smile and unspeakable powers: Randall Flagg, the Dark Man.”
A TV miniseries adaptation written by King first debuted in 1994, but was criticised for constraints on production and budget that failed to do the sprawling novel and its multiple stories justice. This new 10-episode long series is due to debut in 2020, written and directed by The Fault in Our Stars filmmaker Josh Boone. James Marsden, known for Westworld and appearing in the new Netflix series Dead to Me, is reportedly playing the lead role of Stu Redman, with Amber Heard as Nadine Cross, and Assassination Nation actor Odessa Young as Frannie Goldsmith.
Manson has held a number of TV and film roles over the years, first appearing onscreen in David Lynch’s Lost Highway as a porn actor, and has acted as club kid Christina Superstar in Party Monster, sociopathic barber/surgeon in witch trial-era set series Salem, and as white supremacist Ron Tully in Sons of Anarchy. He will also appear in the Jude Law and John Malkovich-starring Young Pope sequel on HBO The New Pope.
“I read The Stand under my bed when I was 12, and my Baptist parents burned it in our fireplace upon discovery," Boone said in a previous statement, when the series was first announced. “Incensed, I stole my Dad’s FedEx account number and mailed King a letter professing my love for his work. Several weeks later, I came home to find a box had arrived from Maine, and inside were several books, each inscribed with a beautiful note from god himself, who encouraged me in my writing and thanked me for being a fan. My parents, genuinely moved by King’s kindness and generosity, lifted the ban on his books that very day. I wrote King a cameo as himself in my first film and have been working to bring The Stand to the screen for five years. I’ve found incredible partners in CBS All Access and Ben Cavell. Together with Stephen King, Owen King, my longtime producing partners Knate Lee and Jill Killington, we plan to bring you the ultimate version of King’s masterwork.”
King himself has also spoken about his excitement for the forthcoming series, speaking on the Post Mortem podcast, he said: “I like Josh Boone’s work, I actually worked with him on his first feature, and then he did The Fault in Our Stars, which I thought showed his grasp of the medium. And I like him a lot. I like his reach… his ambition for (The Stand)… really the thing I’m most excited about is, first of all, we’ve got two more hours to tell the story. And second, we’re free of all those things that held us back with (the original TV series). Not only is the budget bigger… we’re free in terms of language, in terms of violence, in a way that we weren’t with the original.”
The Stand will premiere on CBS in 2020