Matthew McConaughey Circles "The Stand" & "Gold"

Matthew McConaughey is wanted to play the bad guy in the film adaptation of author Stephen King's "The Stand" says Deadline.

The 1152-page novel, first published in 1978 and then revised in 1990, is divided into three parts and begins with a pandemic that leads to the death of an estimated 99.4% of the world’s human population. The book chronicles the cross-country odysseys undertaken by survivors who are drawn to Boulder, Colo., and Las Vegas, where they end up fighting the Antichrist-like Randall Flagg.

"The Fault in Our Stars", director Josh Boone is the latest to hover around the project after the departure of "Crazy Heart" and "Out Of The Furnace" director Scott Cooper. Cooper vacated the job over "creative differences," after conning on to re-write "The Invasion" and "Blood Creek" scribe David Kajganich's draft--and direct the project earlier this year after Ben Affleck dropped out. Kajganich has also worked on the screenplay for the long thought of-feature film adaptation of King's It. David Yates and Steve Kloves, who worked on the Potter series together attached to the project. Paul Greengrass was even rumored in the mix at one point to put the story on film.

Boone told THR recently that he's writing a part specifically for "Stars" co-star Nat Wolff, making this the third project the duo will have worked on together following "Stars" and the upcoming film adaptation of author John Green's book "Paper Towns" 

Jimmy Miller and Roy Lee are still slated to produce.

There was that six-hour mini-series adaptation in 1994 in which Jamey Sheridan played Flagg. Marvel produced an acclaimed Comic Book adaptation.

McConaughey may also team with "Syriana" writer/director Stephen Gaghan on "Gold".

The true story tale deals with the 1993 Bre-X mining scandal in which large amounts of gold were found in the Indonesian jungle. Paul Haggis, who was previously linked as director, remains involved as producer.