Cooper is best known, so far, for writing and directing Jeff Bridges to an Oscar win for 2009’s drama Crazy Heart. December will see the release of his follow-up, the revenge thriller Out of the Furnace, which stars Christian Bale, Casey Affleck and Zoe Saldana.

PHOTOS: 11 Biggest Book-to-Big Screen Adaptations

Cooper clearly can attract actors, and The Stand will have plenty of them.

The book is a story of good vs. evil after a virus wipes out most of the American population. It features dozens of characters (including such memorable one as the Trashcan Man and Mother Abigail) and overlapping story lines running over many years as it tells a group of survivors fighting the Antichrist-like Randall Flagg.

The novel did post-apocalypse before it became a trope for YA novels and has influenced artists and media, be it the Lost TV show or music groups such as Anthrax.

The novel was originally published in 1978, but by the time it was re-released in 1990 with King adding and revising portions of the story, it had achieved cult-like status.

David Kajganich wrote the original script for Warners and CBS Films' adaptation.

If a deal makes, the project would mark a big jump up in terms of budget and scope for Cooper, who is repped by CAA and attorney Darren Trattner. And it is a big bet on a rising talent by the new regime at Warners.

E-mail: Borys.Kit@thr.com

Twitter: @borys_kit

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