By: Kelly West
Whether or not a film and/or TV adaptation of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series ever actually happens remains to be seen, but if it doesn’t it certainly wouldn’t be due to lack of interest from the fans, nor effort or determination from Ron Howard, who is still apparently looking to get a movie made.
As of last year, it was looking like Universal was planning to bring King’s fantasy/horror/western series to both the big and small screens with numerous movies and then also TV series to fill the gaps between films. But then Universal decided to walk away from the project, and last we heard, Warner Bros. was showing interest. When we shared that update back in March, it sounded like Javier Bardem was still on board to play the role of Roland Deschain. Whether or not that’s still the case is unclear. In fact, the only update we have comes in the form of a tweet. But it’s a good tweet. Or a positive one, at any rate.
Ron Howard shared the following update on his Twitter this week:
Spent day today in a story session on…Dark Tower :-)Terrific meeting w/ Akiva Goldsman & Erica Huggins. No timetables but very positive
— Ron Howard (@RealRonHoward) May 6, 2012
The March update suggested that things could get rolling on the film as early as first quarter 2013, but Howard’s Tweet suggests that early 2013 might be a bit too optimistic. I think “no timetables” seems to imply that any kind of prediction as to when the project could begin production might be a bit too optimistic. With that said, they’re still talking about it and things sound “very positive,” so that’s something, right?
Source: Cinema Blend
I genuinely hope they make a film version of this, but if they do, they need to do it properly, with a big budget. If not the fans might get disillusioned with some half-arsed TV series (The Stand TV series was pretty awful, let’s not beat around the bush here!) However, if it was more along the lines of a true epic, a la Lord of the Rings, then maybe, just maybe, it could work!! I’m imagining Blaine screaming across The Wastelands just now… it would be fantastic!! Talking of Lord of the rings, I think that Viggo Mortensen would also be a strong candidate for Roland!