Greg Kinnear On CBS All Access' 'The Stand': 'It's A Dark Ride, But It Has A Certain Amount Of Hope'
(CBS Local)-- "The Stand" is now streaming on CBS All Access and the new series based on the Stephen King novel about a flu epidemic spreading throughout the entire world couldn't have come out in a more fitting year. The show features a strong cast with names like Whoopi Goldberg, Alexander Skarsgård, James Marsden, Heather Graham and Greg Kinnear.
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Kinnear remembers reading King's book "The Stand" when he was in high school and is really excited for people to check out the series during this unprecedented year.
"I read Stephen King's book The Stand and I was so proud when I got through all 1,207 pages or whatever it was back in high school," said Kinnear, in an interview with CBS Local's DJ Sixsmith. "It really stuck with me and had an indelible impact. The book is fantastic. It's an epic novel and captures all the best that Stephen has to offer. It was great fun to play this character who is a worldly and wise philosopher. He has a few and outlook for every scenario. I could actually use a guy like this in my own life."
The actor says that it is crazy irony that the shows deals with a pandemic and we are living through one right now. The first episode of the series is streaming now and new episodes will drop every Thursday for the limited nine part series.
"This show could go on for 30 years and I don't think you could capture every tiny detail of that book, which is so rich and so layered," said Kinnear. "I do think we got a great overview of what this book is and what the characters are. It's a dark ride, but it has a certain amount of hope to it. It is a very expected story."
Filming for the show finished three days before the NBA shutdown its season and many began working from home after that in March. While streaming television is a competitive landscape these days, Kinnear thinks "The Stand" has a great shot to cut through because of the depth of its characters.
"The characters feel very real. Stephen has the incredible ability to create and write characters that feel honest and true, so as an actor when you're looking for that, it's a pretty deep well. In this particular show, you have a well that's extraordinary. There are 15 characters or something and they're all doing their own thing. They all have their completely different agendas. That's no small feat."
Watch episode one of "The Stand" on CBS All Access right now.