The Dark Tower

[jellydonut25]

I've known about this for a while, but I didn't realize until today there wasn't a thread (a quick search for Dark Tower turned up nothing):

Here's how things shook out.
Some time in 2007, King confirmed that he had sold the rights to a Dark Tower film series to JJ Abrams.
Abrams and Lindelof confirmed they were working on it and filming was likely to begin after LOST.
Towards the end of 2009, Lindelof announced he would in fact NOT be working on the project due to a "fear" of screwing it up.
Concurrent with that, Stephen King announced that he will essentially be compiling three short stories from the Dark Tower universe into a novel that will take place between books 4 and 5.
Then nothing happened for a while.


THEN:
http://www.darktowermovies.com/20100909 ... confirmed/

Ron Howard/Universal/NBC confirmed that they are working on a film to be followed by a TV show to be followed by a film to be followed by more TV to be followed by a final film.
It's being said that this will NOT be a direct adaptation of the books, that King will be writing some new material for the movies himself.
Akiva Goldsman ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akiva_Goldsman ) is working on the script, and Ron Howard has cleared his schedule to begin working on this right away.


Ultimately, I have mixed feelings.
I like the idea of finally getting Dark Tower films but I'm not sure how I feel about the notion that they won't be book-to-screen adaptations...
the Gunslinger comics have been pretty good thus far (i've read the first four series of them) but I just would really like to see stuff like Blaine and the wolves of the Calla on screen...

this has the potential to be really good (Ron Howard and Stephen King working together sounds promising, and you know King will want input considering how strongly he feels about these books so odds are they won't 'ruin' anything) but at the same time I cant help but feel that no matter how good, i wil be disappointed by things that get omitted.

EDIT:
Also, release date for the first film: May 17, 2013 (tentatively of course)

[MouthForWar]

[jellydonut25]

[metal_bryan]

[mr.negativity]

DEADLINE EXCLUSIVE:

[quote="MIKE FLEMING"]
After Javier Bardem's terrifying Oscar-winning turn as the assassin in No Country For Old Men, is there any doubt he'd fit as the gunslinger Roland Deschain in The Dark Tower, the mammoth adaptation of the Stephen King 7-novel series that’ll span three movies and a limited run TV series in between?

I'm told that Bardem has officially been offered the lead role by director Ron Howard and Universal Pictures. While formal negotiations haven't yet begun, there's a high level of enthusiasm internally that they've got their cowboy. Akiva Goldsman has scripted the first movie, and will write the TV component as well. Imagine Entertainment’s Brian Grazer is producing with Goldsman and the author. Universal is financing and distributing the films, and NBC Universal Television Entertainment is backing the TV component, which will either be a limited run series or a miniseries.

It has been a heady week for Bardem. He received a Best Actor nomination for his performance as a terminally ill street hustler in the Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu-directed Biutiful, and Bardem and Penelope Cruz just welcomed their first son into the world. Since Deadline first revealed that King, Goldsman, Howard and Grazer were joining forces on the ambitious project that would tell the story on multiple platforms, speculation has been rampant over who'd play the lead role. Bardem has been mentioned, as has Viggo Mortensen and Christian Bale. Deschain is the last living member of a knightly order of gunslingers, and humanity’s last hope to save a civilization that will fall unless he finds the Dark Tower. At the time, Howard and Goldsman told me they saw the trilogy as their answer to the Peter Jackson-directed adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Ring. Instead of Middle Earth, the venue has an old West feel, which Goldsman described at the time as “an alternate Americana, one part post-apocalyptic, one part Sergio Leone.â€

[jellydonut25]

Thing is, I ALWAYS pictured Roland looks EXACTLY like Clint in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. If time machines existed, I'd go back and abduct young Clint Eastwood.

[MekaGojira3k]

[jellydonut25]

[jellydonut25]

[metal_bryan]

[jellydonut25]

[MouthForWar]

As I said before, the whole plan for this project was dumb to begin with. And it looks like Universal might agree with me.

http://www.rabiddoll.com/node/1791/univ ... tower.html

This could pretty much ONLY be done as a TV series in the vein of the Walking Dead. Anything else they shouldn't even bother TRYING to do with this property.

[jellydonut25]

[metal_bryan]

[MouthForWar]

[metal_bryan]

[MouthForWar]

[king_ghidorah]

[jellydonut25]

[jellydonut25]

and hopes continue to tumble:

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/The-Dark ... 24701.html


http://www.rabiddoll.com/node/1796



in addition to trying to trim the budget (argh) universal has until July to greenlight the thing before the rights revert back...

so in the end, instead of seeing a well-financed, high-budget, high-concept film series by a solid director (like what happened with Lord of the Rings -- and honestly, i personally dont necessarily mind the TV element), we will ultimately get a version that is rushed into production despite being pushed back, and has a trimmed down budget???

that sucks...

i can see blaine the mono now:

[metal_bryan]

[william newell]

Speaking of trains, the small train that he describes in "The Wolves Of Calla" at Gage Park Zoo in Topeka Ks. as looking like Charlie the Choo-Choo actually exists...I've ridden it many times when I was a kid, and as late as 2000, it was still running. As to the series, wolves is as far as I've gotten, I still need to get and read the last 2 books, but I've really enjoyed everything so far. Hopefully they will end up getting a decent treatment from someone...

[william newell]

Behold! Charlie in all his glory!

http://www.travelks.com/s/indexp.cfm?LID=5751

[jellydonut25]

http://www.darktowermovies.com/20110621 ... /#more-500


Highlight of the article:
[quote]Ron Howard still retains his earlier enthusiasm for Stephen King’s DT universe and justifies his involvement saying, “if you’re not out there taking some risks, if you’re just coasting along with your wins, then you’re not really trying.â€

[Shonokin]

As of July 15th the studio decided not to back it. Sorry folks...