Stephen King's THE DARK TOWER (28 July 2017) Directed by Nikolaj Arcel

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Whether this will get made into a movie or tv series is yet unclear. As the writers off 'Lost' tv series want to focus everything on finishing 'Lost' which comes to an end in 2010, before undertaking this adaptation off Stephen King's epic seven-book series, which incorporates themes from multiple genres, including fantasy fiction, science fantasy, horror and western elements, with the character The Gunslinger, Roland, and his companions as they are inexorably drawn towards the titular Dark Tower.

A while back J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof reportedly purchased the rights to the entire Dark Tower series from King himself for $19.00, unique because the number 19 recurs throughout the novels. The scope off the film/s would be on par off 'The Lord of The Rings' movies, say the filmmakers. No doubt fans choice for the role The Gunslinger, Roland, would have been a younger Clint Eastwood.

King has already turned down Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Mist), who was interested in adapting the series himself. In the film adaptation off King's - 'The Mist', the main character, David Drayton (Thomas Jane), can be seen painting a picture with Roland in the center, standing in front of a trans-dimensional Ghostwood door, with a rose and the dark tower to each side.

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YouTube - JJ Abrams Talks Dark Tower

YouTube - Dark Tower Comic Trailer
 
Sounds interesting and have to be honest, will always find time for anything Abrams does. Anyone here read the series?
 
very ambtious. the books are great but there are seven of them and if i remember correctly they are all big like lord of the rings big. if it was done faithfully could well be a real classic.
 
i read the first four... I had a lot going at the time so I think it stopped due to me having more interesting things in my life to deal with rather than the books being dull. The first three for me were an incredible read. I'd certainly go and see them in the cinema...maybe I'll pick the others up now I have renewed interest. Actually, I'd love to read the first two again.

As I remember the first book was quite small (wikipedia says 224 pages). The others were large paperback but I wouldn't say lotr big. I read The Stand at a similar time which was one of the LOTR books big but I don't remember the Dark Tower books being anywhere near that size. Although as a fan I think I'd like to see the first book fleshed out to make a 2hr movie and give more detail about Rolands world :D ...just watched the cartoon trailer and that's exactly what they're doing...cool.

Would have to be a Clint Eastwood type actor...but please not Clint. I wouldn't want to see Clint crawling around on the floor naked in the second (?) book...enough to put you off your dinner. :)
 
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Viggo Mortenson should be Roland The Gunslinger (Aragorn from LOTR):smashin:

The budget of a film would be great, but I think this would be more suited to a miniseries, Band of Brothers kinda thing.
 
Read all the books so hoping they can do a good job here! Books are fantastic! :smashin:
 
i know i've read at least some of the book (a good few years ago now!!)and they're not kidding when they say this will be on par with lord of the rings....this could be massive if done right
 
J.J. Abrams says he can't do justice to Stephen King’s Dark Tower

Abrams has now decided he can no longer move forward in trying to adapt the epic book series.

“The Dark Tower thing is tricky,” he explained in an interview. “It’s such an important piece of writing. The truth is that Damon and I are not looking at that right now.”

This only confirms what Abrams previously said to USA Today in an October interview. "You'll be hard-pressed to find a huger fan of 'The Dark Tower' than me, but that's probably the reason that I shouldn't be the one to adapt it," he revealed. "After working six years on 'Lost,' the last thing I want to do is spend the next seven years adapting one of my favorite books of all time. I'm such a massive Stephen King fan that I'm terrified of screwing it up. I'd do anything to see those movies written by someone else. My guess is they will get made because they're so incredible. But not by me."
 
I started reading these from when the first one was published, and used to snap up the next part as soon as it arrived.

To be frank, what started out as asomething absolutely wonderful, and worthy of a LOTR-scale film project, the latter parts simply didn't keep to the same standards.

Steve W
 
It's a shame this isn't going to happen (in the nearfuture anyway) but I can't help feeling it would have been a let down.

The first 4 or 5 books were brilliant, especially book 4 which could probably be made into a standalone movie.
 
Ron Howard to attempt The Dark Tower...

J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot includes 'Lost' exec producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, which has long sought to crack Stephen King’s “The Dark Tower” book series as a television series. Last year they said they could not do the adaptation justice, now they no longer have the rights to one of the author’s biggest properties which have been returned back to King.

According to reports Ron Howard, Brian Grazer and Akiva Goldsman are in negotiations to tackle the fantasy Western. It is not clear what form it will take, either still a tv series or a movie that leads to a tv series, it's still being discussed. Howard to direct who will work from a script by Akiva Goldsman ("A Beautiful Mind," "The Da Vinci Code"). Brian Grazer would produce with King and Goldsman.
 
Curiously I enterd into a conversation with someone at my local Sainsbury's today who was a big Stephen King fan and he recommended these books. I'll have to give them a looksee now.
 
Ron Howard to Direct 'The Dark Tower' Film Trilogy & TV Series*

Universal Pictures and NBC Universal Television have made a deal to adapt Stephen King's beloved sci-fi/fantasy behemoth "The Dark Tower" into both a feature film trilogy and a network TV series.

*Howard has committed to direct the initial feature film, as well as the first season of the TV series that will follow in close proximity. Akiva Goldsman will write the film, and the first season of the TV series. Howard's Imagine Entertainment partner Brian Grazer will produce, with Goldsman and the author.

Ron Howard was inspired by Peter Jackson's history-making approach to the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy;

“What Peter did was a feat, cinematic history,” Howard said. “The approach we're taking also stands on its own, but it's driven by the material. I love both, and like what's going on in TV. With this story, if you dedicated to one medium or another, there's the horrible risk of cheating material. The scope and scale call for a big screen budget. But if you committed only to films, you'd deny the audience the intimacy and nuance of some of these characters and a lot of cool twists and turns that make for jaw-dropping, compelling television. We've put some real time and deep thought into this, and a lot of conversations and analysis from a business standpoint, to get people to believe in this and take this leap with us. I hope audiences respond to it in a way that compels us to keep going after the first year or two of work. It's fresh territory for me, as a filmmaker.”
 
Hmmm, I love these books but i have concerns with the team of Howard, Goldsman and Grazer. I mean lets look at Akiva Goldsmans CV for a moment Batman and Robin, Lost in Space, The Da Vinci Code to name but a few the real highlights probably are Cinderella Man and A Beautiful Mind. Brian Grazer has both Film and TV producing credits so should be a pair of fairly safe hands. Then the is Ron 'Richie Cunningham' Howard the last adaptions he did were the 2 Dan Brown books, which were fair to middling, IMO. Apollo 13 is pobably the stand out film for him, but he certainly has never done anything on this scale before, Far and Away being the closest and look what a pile of tripe that was.
But i am for turning, i just think that if Frank Darabont was snubbed then they missed a trick.

It also looks like Akiva Goldsman is in with the King family as it also looks like he is adapting Heart Shaped Box too.
 
Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men) has been offered the lead role as gunslinger Roland Deschain in Ron Howard's The Dark Tower, the epic adaptation of the Stephen King 7-novel series that'll span three movies and a limited run TV series in between. No negotiations have began with Bardem. Just recently both Viggo Mortensen and Christian Bale's names had been mentioned.
 
Damn I really wanted Viggo in the role, I thought he was perfect:(
 
think bardem will be good, i usually like bale but not sure this one was right for him
 
I've never read the books but didn't the story end up turning into one big metaphysical mess? Just like IT.
 
I tried to read the series some time ago because I'm a great SK fan. Loved the first book, however after this I found it very heavy going and didn't finish them all. I usually can't put down one of his books, but simply ran out of steam reading the Dark Tower series. Story was just too rambling.
If a film series was made I may watch to see how it turned out.
 

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