It's always sort of baffling when film productions that are adapting novels don’t include the book’s author in the process. Peter Jackson not including J.R.R. Tolkien is excusable because, well, he’s dead, but apparently Warner Bros. is ramping up for a production of Stephen King’s The Stand, and the legendary author is not involved at all.

EW asked King his thoughts on the upcoming shoot and, always the comedian, he had a few interesting things to say, first being that his choice to play the lead role of Stu Redman, previously played by Gary Sinise in the 1994 mini-series, would be Jake Gyllenhaal. With Jake seemingly finding his way to the top, this isn’t a very outlandish request/prediction, but don’t take this as anything but, “HEY STEPHEN KING SAID THAT!”

The rest of the article, written in list form, is basically just King saying that none of the original actors from the mini-series will be back because they are simply too old. One thing I do want to address though is that King mentions the 1997 mini-series adaptation of The Shining, saying that most people don’t like it, even if they haven’t seen it. Well, I have seen it, and it’s great and more accurately represents the book than Kubrick’s attempt. You should really check it out. Plus, it’s got that guy from Wings in it. Win-Win.

Anyway, news of King being omitted from the crew list is sad, but kind of expected. As King says, don’t expect this to be worth a damn if they make it a two-hour film, but it could work as a trilogy. We’ll keep our ear to the ground and see if Warner Bros. heeds his advice.