plot elements likely not following practices, such as the use of a mummified child doll, a man on a cross wearing a crown of drug needles with the sign "Drug Addict" on his neck, and open-eyed corpses. A lot of these, however, were kept in the final product because of expectations from fans of The Stand. While ABC and Rubinstein suggested Brian De Palma to direct The Stand, King chose Mick Garris after viewing his work for Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990) and the 1992 film version of King's Sleepwalkers. King thought the director was good at just being a "medium" that did not alter the story's original message. King told Garris about the project while both were on the set on Sleepwalkers, and Garris signed on due to the content's unusual fantasy elements and the large scale of the production he would be dealing with, such as in effects, outdoor locations, action sequences, and the number of extras. Casting Despite the script's 125-plus speaking roles, casting for The Stand was very easy except for one character: Randall Flagg. While Miguel Ferrer, who played Lloyd Henreid, was interested in the part, Garris and King had other plans, searching for any A-list Hollywood actor they thought was suitable for the part, such as Christopher Walken, Jeff Goldblum, Willem Dafoe, James Woods, Lance Henriksen, and David Bowie; none of them were available. Steve Johnson recalled Garris' ideas of a possible Flagg actor to be "a bit against normal kinds of view points in casting." King himself had suggested Robert Duvall in his introduction to the novel. Ultimately, after seeing a lesser-known Jamey Sheridan as a psycho killer in Whispers in the Dark (1992), King considered him for the part. As King explained, "when he came into readings, he said, 'Flagg is really a funny guy, isn't he?' And I was sold." Moses Gunn had originally been cast as Judge Farris, but shortly after filming had commenced his health declined, and he died shortly after that. Ossie Davis, who was present at the filming because his wife, Ruby Dee, was playing Mother Abagail, took over the role of Judge Farris. Whoopi Goldberg was approached by the casting team for Mother Abagail, but couldn't take the role as she was working on Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993). Goldberg would later play Abagail in a 2020 web miniseries version of The Stand.