By Don Kaye, Source: Blastr.com
It’s been kind of quiet on the Dark Tower scene in recent months, leading to speculation that the mammoth project had fallen into development hell. But now there are signs that Roland the last gunslinger might be coming to a theater near you after all.
When we left off, Universal Pictures had nixed the idea of adapting Stephen King’s mammoth, seven-book (soon to be eight-book) fantasy/sci-fi hybrid as three movies and two linking TV series, claiming that the project was just too expensive. Although the filmmakers involved, including director Ron Howard, vowed to press on and find a home for the project, Howard himself said back in November that it might be a long time before The Dark Tower finally went into production—if at all.
Now, however, Deadline has reported that Warner Bros. Pictures is “very close” to bringing The Dark Tower back to life, with Howard still signed to direct at least the first film, Javier Bardem still attached to play Roland, and the trio of Akiva Goldsman (who also wrote the script), Brian Grazer and King himself all on board to produce.
If the deal goes through, Howard could begin rolling cameras on the first movie as early as the first quarter of 2013. Goldsman is doing some fine-tuning on the screenplay in preparation for that. As previously reported, HBO is apparently still going to carry the TV component—which is convenient, since it’s part of the same conglomerate as Warner Bros.
If this all comes together, this is great news for fans whose dreams of seeing The Dark Tower on the screen were nearly dashed last July when Universal pulled the plug. Frankly, Warner Bros. seems to make more sense as a home for the thing—after all, the studio has experience with making movies out of multibook series, with The Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter franchise among its accomplishments.
Do you think we’ll get to see the Dark Tower movie/TV series come to fruition at last? Or do you refuse to get your hopes up until you’re actually in the theater hearing Bardem say, “Long days and pleasant nights”?