Universal announced today that it had big plans to turn Stephen King's popular Dark Tower series into a theatrical trilogy - as well as a TV series. Ron Howard has been attached to the project to direct the first film and the first season of the TV series. Akiva Goldsman will be behind the screenplays of both ventures.
The Dark Tower series revolve around the quest of Roland Deschain, who is the last surviving member of an organization of knights called 'Gunslingers' who reside in an alternate universe of our own. Deschain has crossed over into our realm, and is searching for the fabled Dark Tower which is supposedly a nexus of all universes in existence.
The stories are an interesting genre blend, given that Deschain and his knighthood have a strong old American West aesthetic and are also gifted with arcane and magical powers. There are currently seven novels in the series, and King has said that an eighth book is underway.
My take? I'm not sure if Howard is really the right director for this project, and Goldsman is just scary. Goldsman is the writer behind such films as I Am Legend, The Da Vinci Code, I, Robot, Batman & Robin, and Batman Forever. Are you cringing yet? You should be. It's appalling to me that the first film and first year of the series is going to be written by a hack. This does not bode well!
Comments
Surprising no-one, this project seems to have been axed.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/dark-tower-crumbles-as-univ...
This will never work theatrically. They need HBO to drop half a billion dollars on it and get a visionary director to bring it to life.
As much as I like GAME OF THRONES that show was directed by HBO's stable of directors that also do their other stuff like TRUE BLOOD. So my one failing with GAME OF THRONES is that it didn't ever really do anything visually spectacular.
THE DARK TOWER needs someone who can combine Sergio Leone's widescreen West with Peter Jackson's epic fantasy scope.
Until they can get all these things then nobody should ever bother attempting it. There's been far too many failed fantasy franchises over the last decade that suffered from half-assed execution.
I recall hearing Howard's name attached to a Lovecraft project a year or two ago - that also seemed like a strange pairing. Haven't heard anything since though.
He was attached to work on The Strange Case of H. P. Lovecraft, a four part horror comic (currently in paperback). Based loosely on events in his life, Lovecraft discovers that he is a gateway for the beings from another dimension. And his dreams of death and revenge become reality in the most horrific ways.
Not really a great story, but fun enough. Sounds like Howard might have put that one on the back burner once The Dark Tower saga became available.
I was reading an article Stephen King didn't want Darabont do it because he "had too much on his plate" with so many King adaptions as it is. He already has retain rights to "The Long Walk". I think Guillermo would of probably made a really good "Dark Tower" series of movies. But ugh at the screenwriter, "I Am Legend" was ok, but no where near the magnificence of the book or the movie "The Last Man On Earth" and well "Batman and Robin" and "Batman Forever" can speak for themselves.
I realllly tried to get through these books to no avail. Maybe I'll enjoy it more in this form.
I can imagine that. I think a lot of casual King fans have never read the DT books. And as much as I love the series they definitely do become a bit of a slog by the end of the third book.
Still, it's an incredibly ambitious plan they have for this. I just hope they don't water it down too much and that they get the perfect cast.
I recall hearing Howard's name attached to a Lovecraft project a year or two ago - that also seemed like a strange pairing. Haven't heard anything since though.
I realllly tried to get through these books to no avail. Maybe I'll enjoy it more in this form.
http://www.movieline.com/2010/09/is-ron-howards-insane-new-dark-tower-plan-the-craziest-hollywood-gambit-ever.php
Is this true? They're going to use the same cast, sets and crew for all movies and TV episodes? Has anything like that ever been done before?
Not that I can easily recollect - at least not in that fashion. Obviously there have been TV series have bridged off into films (the Star Trek series as well as Babylon 5 and Firefly all come to mind), but I'm not sure it's ever been done to the extent that they are talking.
I know I'm hammering this point but it just seems like the wrong team. Like Cash said, the books get really gnarly. Given that Goldsman is writing it, I'm expecting an extreme dumbing down and simplifying of the novels. Remember what he did with Asimov's great writing in I, Robot?
The series veers off into such bizarre realms of meta-nonsense that to translate the majority of the last three books into films would be an unwatchable mess.
All I'm saying is that some major re-working needs to be done to maintain a compelling cinematic narrative if they want to go beyond 'Wizard and Glass', the fourth book in the series.
The actual conclusion of the series is brilliant, but would have the majority of the mainstream audience wanting to set fire to the screen. The finale of LOST would seem like a masterstroke by comparison.
http://www.movieline.com/2010/09/is-ron-howards-insane-new-dark-tower-pl...
Is this true? They're going to use the same cast, sets and crew for all movies and TV episodes? Has anything like that ever been done before?
You're right, it does not bode well having Goldsman writing the screenplay. Also, I don't think Howard is the right director. He's good, but I don't think he has the vision to pull off a movie of this scope.
I don't like this at all. I like Ron Howard, Apollo 13 is brilliant, but The Dark Tower? Just doesn't seem right. And Akiva? Don't know about that either although I suppose it might be better than King himself writing the screenplays.
I would have no worries with Darabont behind it. I also wonder what Guillermo could have done with it. I think he's got the right kind of imagination for this not that I want him to stop working on At the Mountains of Madness.
I've always felt this should be animated.
Ron Howard is a dependable journeyman director but a project like this need someone brilliant and passionate about the material, in the way that Peter Jackson was about LORD OF THE RINGS.
If anyone was to do it it should have been Darabont.
I couldn't agree more. Given Darabont's successful King adaptations in the past, it's surprising to me that his name wasn't attached; though, maybe he's just really tied up with The Walking Dead.
So far Howard is only attached to the first film - maybe Darabont can step in for the second.
Ron Howard is a dependable journeyman director but a project like this need someone brilliant and passionate about the material, in the way that Peter Jackson was about LORD OF THE RINGS.
If anyone was to do it it should have been Darabont.