Posted on 05/13/2010 8:42:31 AM PDT by Hoodat
EXCLUSIVE: In a whopping deal coming together quickly, Stephen King, Imagine Entertainment and Weed Road are in discussions to make a screen trilogy and TV series out of King's epic novel series The Dark Tower. Akiva Goldsman will write the script, Ron Howard will direct it, and his Imagine Entertainment partner Brian Grazer will produce with Goldsman and King.
Universal is in talks to acquire a package that included the books, and the attachment of the team behind the Oscar-winning film A Beautiful Mind and The Da Vinci Code. Both Universal where Imagine is basedand Warner Broswhere Goldsmans Weed Road banner is housedhave been vying for the project.
The Dark Tower is Kings answer to JRR Tolkiens The Lord of the Rings, and the author will get his own screen trilogy. Like Tolkien, King's epic novel series is set in an otherworldly but familiar world, and involves a quest to save the world. The series spanned seven novels that involved Roland Deschain, the last living member of a knightly order of gunslingers who exists in a world that has an Old West feel, but which is infused with magic. He is on a quest to find the Dark Tower, a structure that holds the key to the nexus of all universes. He encounters many allies and enemies along the way, as the world crumbles around him.
The book series was once developed by JJ Abrams and his Lost cohorts Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, but they never cracked it. Goldsman, who has become a prolific producer, was the catalyst for securing the rights from King, and he brought it to Howard and Grazer. It was not immediately evident how large the transaction was, but King has often optioned his works for little . . .
(Excerpt) Read more at deadline.com ...
Roland needs to look older than any of them. Truthfully if he could be talked out of retirement Eastwood is the perfect one, he played the character Roland is most based on, and has the worn look of the Roland we see.
If you condensed “The Gunslinger” and “The Drawing of the Three” into one movie, “The Wastelands,” “Song of Susannah” and “Wolves of the Calla” into the second (Hell, “Song” and “Wolves” were fairly close to each other, anyway), made the final book — “The Dark Tower” — into its own movie and scattered flashbacks from “Wizard and Glass” through all three, it might be a doable series.
Sorry... Animated GIF of Gene Wilder / Willy Wonka hacking through the door (per The Shining) and screaming “You get nothing!” through the hole... you may have seen it on FR before.
Yep. That may have been one of the worst adaptations that I have seen. The book was excellent though. It was very smartly written I thought. It had a good science fiction element to it. It was in a book called Four Past Midnight I think.
‘The Stand’ is my favorite King novel.
Hugh Jackman please. I’d hit it like Britney Spears eats Cheetos.
It is about time.
Jackson is way too pretty looking.
I have always been a huge Johnny depp fan despite his political leanings.
Thinking of the scouring of the shire is making me want to read the lord of the rings again. I have only read it once, and I thought it was wonderful, although not the easiest of reads.
Luckily, I have not read The Cell, although I can see where King might come up with a premise such as that.
I agree - he has always done that, but it seemed he went out of the way to praise the director’s re-write, and I faintly remember there was some stories in the media of King telling people and news outlets not to give away the ending.
It wouldn’t have sucked so bad if the story (from Skeleton Crew) was one of, if not my favorite, story of his. I was thrilled when I heard they were making a movie of it. The ending of the story, I thought, was perfect and defined “hope”.
However, the movie tosses that out the window with the ending.
PING!
That was the third King movie that director had made, maybe he really did like it. Maybe King’s idea of what his ending meant is different than yours, or maybe he was just in a worse mood and didn’t feel like defining hope anymore. But the book still exists.
Eastwood 20 years ago would have been perfect but Roland is lean and mean, tall and straight. Eastoowd has too much age on him now. His posture alone is worng for the part. (Wathc him in his recent movies. He is getting that Old Man "stoop" in his posture:
Jackman Owen and Depp could pull of the look easily:
A couple months on the treadmill during preproduction can fix that right up. I never liked that Roland picture, too young and spry, by the time the books start Roland is beat up and tired, he’s been walking for hundreds maybe thousands of years. And it becomes even more so in the later books when he starts with the hip problems and the guilt of the friends he’s let die and the knowledge he’ll let more die. Roland is an old man, nobody with an apparent age under 50, preferably 60, can do it the way it’s written.
The old Mickey Rourke would have made a great Walter; the “new” Mickey Rourke...wrong for the part. Julian Sands or even David Bowie would be closer to the way I envisioned him.
Not a big fan of his politics, but Kevin Costner could do Roland.
Ian Mcshane or Timothy Dalton could also be interesting Rolands....
The Man in Black - Jeremy Irons or Anthony Hopkins
Jake - the boy from “Signs” (don’t know his name)
Eddie - I don’t know who could play a convincing heroin addict that isn’t already dead.
Young Roland (don’t blast me!) - Leonardo DiCaprio
Roland - Timothy Olyphant (or Jim Caviezel as above post)
Eldred Jonas from Wizard and Glass - Ian McShane
Still thinking on more.
Only problem with that is Hopkins played Ted Brautigan in "Hearts In Atlantis." If the character is reintroduced in the Dark Tower movies (as he is in the book), I'd like to see Hopkins stay in the role.
If you read anything else in your life, make it the Dark Tower Series :)
I had forgotten about that. I knew he played him, but never saw it. Okay, Jeremy Irons.
And I definitely agree as upthread - Roland, Eddie, Susannah and Jake are absolutely key to making the whole thing work.
Thandie Newton is a good thought for Susannah, but she’s very delicate of face. Susannah, with her split personality merging into one sensitive yet mean-ass black woman would have to have stronger features.
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