August 11, 2011 12:44

'Harry Potter' director to tackle Stephen King's 'The Stand'

David Yates is on board for the adaptation

The director of the final four Harry Potter films, David Yates, has been chosen to helm the adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand. As reported by Hitflix, Warner Bros have signed Yates along with Steve Kloves, the writer of all eight films (from seven books) in the series.

The Stand, written by legendary horror writer Stephen King, tells of a post-apocalyptic world where a superflu pandemic has wiped out 99% of the population.

The 823-page novel has previously been made into a TV mini-series in 1994, starring Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald and Rob Lowe.

Since helming Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part Two, now the third most successful movie of all time, David Yates has been rumoured to be developing the World War II drama, St Nazaire.

Before taking on the Potter gigs Yates had made a name for himself in television, directing the mini-series State Of Play, and one-off TV movies, Sex Traffic and The Girl In The Cafe.

Earlier this month, Universal ditched plans to adapt another Stephen King tome, The Dark Tower, which Ron Howard was due to direct.