Stephen King - King Wants Gyllenhaal And Thornton For The Stand Remake

The post-apocalyptic story, which sees the United States devastated by a superflu virus, was used as the basis for a 1994 TV miniseries of the same name starring Gary Sinise in the lead role of survivor Stuart Redman.

Movie bosses have now announced plans to bring the tale to cinemas in a new update, and although King is adamant Sinise was the perfect choice to lead the cast, he would be happy to see Gyllenhaal take the main role.

He tells EW.com, "No one will be able to top Gary Sinise, who played Stu Redman in the original ABC miniseries. He was perfect... (But) my runner-up pick would be Jake Gyllenhaal."

King also hopes Thornton will be offered a part in the update, adding, "Billy Bob Thornton would be cool. Billy Bob's always cool."

But the author admits he will have little say in the casting, as he only found out about the movie plans through the web: "I didn't know anything about the remake until I read about it on the internet... Historically speaking, movie studios blow the budget on things like this, so maybe it'll be fun to look at. The dough (money) certainly isn't going to me, although if it is a trilogy, and if it makes a lot of money, I might be able to buy a chicken dinner at Popeye's (fast food chain)."