Hollywood had a problem. Stephen King’s epic novel The Stand has been hot property for a long time. It’s a massive, sprawling story involving dozens of characters, so how can it be squeezed into a feature film, and who is the man for the job? Apparently, Warner Bros thinks it’s Ben Affleck.

According to Deadline, Affleck has pretty much agreed to make the book adaptation, and just has to sign on the dotted line. But is he the right choice? Gone Baby Gone and The Town both received positive critical reception, and the latter was an immense box-office success. But, the former couldn’t handle its small set of characters and its gritty portrayal of Boston came across as cluttered and pretentious. And The Town couldn’t even develop its two main characters well. Perhaps his next film, Argo (about the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis), will instill enough faith, but surely there must be better directors. Frank Darabont has already adapted King’s novels quite well (AND was involved in post-apocalypse series The Walking Dead). Or what about John Hillcoat or Duncan Jones?

For those interested, The Stand deals with the world after a devastating virus kills most human and animal life on the planet. Survivors wander in groups in an attempt to find a new home, but mysterious forces appear. Groups must decide whether to join the seemingly benign Mother Abagail or the tyrant Randall Flagg. The novel has already been adapted into a 1994 mini-series. Making it a single feature film is an almost impossible task, though many suspect it could become a trilogy of films.