Collider reported an update on Ben’s film The Stand based on the Steven King Novel.

A few months ago Affleck was chosen by Warner Bros. to direct their big-budget adaptation of the Stephen King novel The Stand. While it’s been a while since we’ve heard any movement on the project, it now appears that Affleck has now set a screenwriter on the pic. After apparently wowing the studio with an adaptation of King’s It, David Kajganich (The Invasion) has been tapped to handle scripting duties. Hit the jump for much more, including news concerning the untitled drama that Damon was previously set to direct.

When we first reported on Affleck’s involvement with the project, we had no official confirmation that he was attached. With this news, courtesy of Vulture, it seems like he’s 100% onboard for the pic. A multi-film adaptation was being eyed when David Yates was flirting with the project, but here’s no word on whether or not that’s still the plan. It may be a while before Affleck moves onto The Stand full time, as he’s currently in post-production on his most recent directorial effort, Argo. In addition to directing, Affleck stars in the period/political drama alongside Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, and Michael Parks.

People.com did a feature on their Celeb Baby part of their site which featured this article about Ben’s wife Jennifer and how she shared their daughter’s picks for baby names for Affleck Child #3 during her interview with Jay Leno.

Older siblings often want to help with baby names, but their choices sometimes aren’t the most desirable.

Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck are learning this as they prepare for their third child — and are getting an avalanche of suggestions for names from daughters Violet, 6, and Seraphina, 3.

“Our girls are working on names. At first they were definitely Disney. It was like, Donald Duck, Minnie Mouse Affleck,” the Butter star, 39, said Wednesday on The Tonight Show.

“And then they’ve moved on. Then it was Peter Pan, Captain Hook, Smee.”

With those character names not really cutting it, the girls moved on to other strategies.

“They’re coming up with lists, and coming in and saying, ‘Let’s have a baby-naming contest! Let’s have a baby-naming poll!’” Garner, who’s due in the spring, says. “They ask everyone, cause they just want to know. But we’re not telling.”

Garner knows the sex of the baby, but declined to reveal it on the show. Asked if her husband wants a boy, Garner — who has said she wants a third girl — said she actually didn’t know.

“I would have thought so. At first I think I really thought so,” she said. “And then he kind of said, ‘Well, we have girls. We know how to do girls. My girls love me. I’m the big guy in the house.’ So, now I’m not sure.”

Time did a cover of 20 films they are looking forward to this year. Argo is one of the films listed.

Argo (Sept. 14)
Hopefully it’s clear by this point that Ben Affleck is a good director. It would be better if he didn’t also star in his own movies, but whatcha gonna do? Argo, his third film after Gone Baby Gone and The Town, stars Breaking Bad‘s Bryan Cranston and John Goodman in a story about the real-life operation to rescue six Americans who escape the U.S. embassy in Iran just before it is taken over by militants as part of the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis.

To read the entire article go here.

The Daily Mail did a story about the interest in the story of James ‘Whitey’ Bulger … Ben & his friend Matt Damon are said to already be in the early stages of doing a film with Warner Brothers.

The fight is on among some of Boston’s biggest stars to secure the film rights to the story of mob boss James ‘Whitey’ Bulger.

Even though Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are already in the process of developing a Bulger movie with Warner Brothers, fellow Beantown-native Mark Wahlberg announced that he plans to visit the man himself in an effort to sway him.

Mr Wahlberg said he is thinking about going to Plymouth House of Corrections to speak to Bulger about a potential film, but this plan has been met with harsh criticism from victims families.

Bulger was arrested in August after a 16-year manhunt and was booked with 19 murders and several charges relating to organized criminal activity.

Mr Wahlberg said that the mob boss actually reached out to him and now the actor and producer is considering visiting, though he knows it may cause some controversey.

‘Maybe he’ll give me the exclusive rights to tell his story, ’cause he knows, you know, we can do it better than anybody else,’ Mr Wahlberg told a local radio show.

‘I mean listen, first and foremost I really feel and my heart goes out to the victims of anybody who was, you know, hurt or, you know, anybody who lost loved ones in any of that stuff.

In October, actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck said that they would be teaming up with Warner Brothers to create a film about the man’s life.

The production company even released a press statement confirming the two stars’ involvement, showing how far along in the development process their picture stands.

‘We’ve heard about Whitey Bulger since we were kids. We are excited by the prospect of putting it on screen,’ Mr Affleck said in the statement.

Mr Affleck will direct the film- something he has done in Boston with his previous films The Town and Gone Baby Gone- and Mr Damon will star.

Mr Affleck and Mr Damon have teamed up a number of times in the past, most famously on their breakout hit Good Will Hunting, which earned them both Academy Awards.

No matter which of the actors take the story to the big screen first, Massachusetts legislators are hoping to ensure that the mobster does not profit in any way.

‘There’s a log of mayhem in this world because of the actions of Jimmy Bulger. If there are profits to be derived, it ought to go to the victims,’ state senator Stephen Brewer told The Boston Herald.

MTV.com interviewed Ben’s co-star Taylor Schilling and asked her about what it was like working with Ben as a director on their film “Argo”.

MTV: You also have “Argo” coming out this year. What is Ben Affleck like as a director?

Schilling: It was one of the easiest experiences I’ve ever had on a set, and it was one of the happiest sets I’ve ever been on. He’s incredibly smart, and he kind of made me as an actor — I never felt left behind. It’s like he knows what it’s like and he’s there with you every step of the way. It’s pretty incredible, that whole experience.

MTV: I have to imagine some of that comes from his background as an actor.

Schilling: Absolutely. Absolutely. He just really knew how to articulate what he wanted, and then I felt really safe and free because I think that when a director has been an actor, he really understands the vulnerability of sort of being in front of the camera and has the ability to make the set very safe. He completely understands what that process is like. So that’s rare.

To read the entire article go here.

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