September 2010

Universal's film and TV divisions are joining forces to adapt Stephen King's epic fantasy series "The Dark Tower."

The companies will produce three films and a TV shows based on King's seven "Dark Tower" novels, short stories and comic books.

Ron Howard will direct the first film and first season of the TV show, which will be written by Oscar winner Akiva Goldsman. The project has been in development for awhile, with Universal considered the likely home.

The heavy hitting producer lineup includes Goldsman, Howard and Brian Grazer. Kerry Foster will executive produce the first film with Todd Hallowell and Erica Huggins.

The books chronicle the mysterious The Gunslinger as he travels across a desolate and vaguely post-apocalyptic landscape in his quest for a black tower. Portals along the way eventually allow contact with our own modern world.

"I've been waiting for the right team to bring the characters and stories in these books to film and TV viewers around the world," King said. "Ron, Akiva, Brian along with Universal and NBC have a deep interest and passion for the 'The Dark Tower' series and I know that will translate into an intriguing series of films and TV shows that respect the origins and the characters in 'The Dark Tower' that fans have come to love."

Howard, Grazer and Goldsman plan first film in the trilogy to be immediately followed by a TV series that will bridge the second film. After the second film, the TV series will show the adventures of The Gunslinger as a young man as a bridge to the third film and beyond.

"The worlds of Stephen King's 'The Dark Tower' series are richly detailed, inter-locking and deeply connected," Goldsman said. "By telling this story across media platforms and over multiple hours--and with a view to telling it completely--we have our best chance of translating Roland's quest to reach 'The Dark Tower' onto screen. We are proceeding with tremendous excitement, fidelity to the source material and, quite frankly, no small amount of awe at this opportunity."

The books have sold more than 20 million copies in 40 countries.

http://www.hollywoodrepor.../index.jsp

So many people have been waiting for this for so long. Count me as one of them. I think it's possible that it COULD work the way they're tackling it. So long as they don't try to cram it all in one film I'll be interested. But if the first film fails I wonder if the rest of the project will get dropped? And I gotta say, Akiva Goldsman and Brian Grazer?! Oh nohs! That does not instill me with confidence.

Also, as much as I love the first four books, I hate large portions of the final three. Not sure I'll ever crack the cover on book seven again. So it will be interesting to see how much of the nonsense from those books they include in the adaptations. Like, will King play himself.

No, No, Noooooo Ron Howard can eat dick for directing this amazing epic novel!! This guy is soooo boring and he ruined Angels and demons (one of my favourite books)

The dark towers Series would be so tough to directed, i was hoping J.J. Abrams would step forward as he is a big fan and also stated he wanted to direct it.

Lets hope that is project works!

Hopefully it will work out great...

From stephenking.com: http://www.stephenking.co...s_tracker/

(yeah, I'm a Stephen King geek... )

i'll be there!

So...what actors do you think should play the main characters? Here are my initial thoughts:

Roland - Hugh Jackman

Eddie Dean - Leonardo DiCaprio

Susannah - Jada Pinkett Smith

andykeen said:

No, No, Noooooo Ron Howard can eat dick for directing this amazing epic novel!! This guy is soooo boring and he ruined Angels and demons (one of my favourite books)

The dark towers Series would be so tough to directed, i was hoping J.J. Abrams would step forward as he is a big fan and also stated he wanted to direct it.

Lets hope that is project works!

JJ Abrams can suck it. He's ruined everything he's ever touched, imo. He has no idea how to end a good idea, which The Dark Tower series already suffers from. So, no - keep him away.

Ron Howard doesn't bug me so much. He's made some good, and some GREAT films. But I don't have as much faith in his writing and producing partners. The work they've done together is EXTREMELY hit and miss.

why a movie AND a tv series?

Cerebus said:

. Like, will King play himself.

I hope they get rid of that part altogether!

CallMeCarrie said:

So...what actors do you think should play the main characters? Here are my initial thoughts:

Roland - Hugh Jackman

Eddie Dean - Leonardo DiCaprio

Susannah - Jada Pinkett Smith

Besides the fact that the drawings of Roland have always reminded me of Clint Eastwood, I can't picture anyone in the roles.

I think it'd be nice to cast some unknowns in the roles, because they could play the parts without distracting us with "themselves".

I am curious... why Jada Pinkett Smith?

I love the Dark Tower series. It was an awesome read and I could hardly wait for each new book to be released.

I'm not sure this will be successful as a movie or series though. The new show called Haven is based on an SK story and it absolutely sucks. I started watching the show and got through about 4 shows and gave up. It was awful.

Having said that. SK is a great writer. I love his style and most of his books have been amazing.

SK movies have been very hit & miss. This series is so vast, it is a huge undertaking.

I still have to read #7, I hope it is better than #6

NDRU said:

SK movies have been very hit & miss. This series is so vast, it is a huge undertaking.

I still have to read #7, I hope it is better than #6

Don't get your hopes up too high. In fact, it would probably be better if you just assume it's completely awful. That way, if you don't hate every page you might actually have a chance to enjoy it.

chocolate1 said:

CallMeCarrie said:

So...what actors do you think should play the main characters? Here are my initial thoughts:

Roland - Hugh Jackman

Eddie Dean - Leonardo DiCaprio

Susannah - Jada Pinkett Smith

Besides the fact that the drawings of Roland have always reminded me of Clint Eastwood, I can't picture anyone in the roles.

I think it'd be nice to cast some unknowns in the roles, because they could play the parts without distracting us with "themselves".

I am curious... why Jada Pinkett Smith?

Not a Jada fan, huh? I just think she's got spunk....like Susannah.

Don't you think Clint might be getting a little too old for Roland?

CallMeCarrie said:

chocolate1 said:

Besides the fact that the drawings of Roland have always reminded me of Clint Eastwood, I can't picture anyone in the roles.

I think it'd be nice to cast some unknowns in the roles, because they could play the parts without distracting us with "themselves".

I am curious... why Jada Pinkett Smith?

Not a Jada fan, huh? I just think she's got spunk....like Susannah.

Don't you think Clint might be getting a little too old for Roland?

Oh yeah.... I was just pointing out that Roland has been drawn to look like the Clint from the westerns.

No, not feelin' Jada. She's just, just.... ugh.