The future of Ron Howard’s massive three-film, two-season TV show adaptation of Stephen King’s multi-volume The Dark Tower series is beginning to look, well, dark. Despite having a hotshot director like Howard attached, and Javier Bardem in talks to play the lead, Universal has passed on the ungainly production.
With the news that Javier Bardem is essentially locked down for the main character of The Dark Tower, the three-film, two-TV series adaptation of Stephen King’s mammoth seven volume tale of gunslingers, alternate realities, an entire universe within a rose in New York, and a gigantic tower that acts as a lynchpin holding all of reality together, maybe it’s time director Ron Howard got some people together to write the thing. And, as /Film reports, he finally has.
Remember back in March when we reported that Javier Bardem was “psychologically” attached to the role of Roland the gunslinger, the lead role in Ron Howard’s three-films-and-a-TV-series adaptation of Stephen King’s seven book series The Dark Tower? Well, it looks like he’s now a little more than “psychologically” attached to the role.
Back in January, we learned that Javier Bardem was in the running to play the lead character in Ron Howard’s adaptation of The Dark Tower. Now producer Brian Grazer has come forward, on the record, to say that he wants Bardem in the role, they’re preparing a negotiation package for him, and he’s “psychologically” already attached. If that statement confuses you, here’s the full quote that he gave.
Do you remember yesterday when we said that Ron Howard was interested in Christian Bale as the lead in The Dark Tower? According to Deadline, that interest has shifted to another Oscar contender — Javier Bardem. The Spanish actor has officially been offered the role of the renegade gunslinger Roland Deschain.
Ron Howard has his hands full with the upcoming film and television adaptations of The Dark Tower. The novels have been described as Stephen King’s answer to JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. For such an epic story, we need an epic actor in the lead, and who better than Oscar nominee Christian Bale?
Ever since it was announced that Ron Howard would direct the big screen adaptation of The Dark Tower, fans of the books have been voicing their opinions about who should play the lead character. If you’re one of them, don’t worry because Howard has heard your cries and he’s taking them into consideration. According to the LA Times, a few names have come to his attention, one of them being Viggo Mortensen.
The protagonist in the series is Roland Deschain, and he’s a lean, mean, gunslinging machine who would be the perfect fit for Mortensen. Howard himself even admitted to reading the various websites devoted to the books and he’s seen his fair share of Mortensen campaigning. Even though Daniel Craig, Jon Hamm, and Hugh Jackman have been mentioned, Howard claims that on all the sites he’s visited “they’re all about Viggo.”
There’s something about the character and The Dark Tower world that drew Howard to the property.
“It’s one of the things that really fascinated me about the challenge. We love Roland the Gunslinger but we also like coming back to these worlds and these places. On one hand it is grounded and relatable but on the other hand it’s scary and strange and mind-blowing. There’s this dream quality to it and the mystery in that is what it’s all about – being compelled forward without all the answers.”
Howard has big plans for the series which includes a film trilogy and a television series that bridges the gap between theatrical releases. A September 2013 release date has been set for the first film and with 2011 literally a couple weeks away we’re wondering when he plans on buckling down and hiring an actor?
Who do you think should play Roland?
Universal Pictures have just unveiled the release dates for their film slate up to the year 2013. When you look at it, they have several tentpole projects that include The Bourne Legacy, which we’re not sure is a prequel or a spin-off and The Dark Tower, the adaptation of the Stephen King series. Check out what plans they have for the future…
Back in April we learned that the Stephen King book series The Dark Tower was being turned into a feature film trilogy. Oscar winner Ron Howard was named as the feature director, and according to The Los Angeles Times, the series, which is composed of seven novels, short stories and comic books will also be adapted as a television show.
