Why tell the story on film and TV?
In a lengthy interview about his over at Deadline, Ron Howard talked a bit about his adaptation of Stephen King’s “The Dark Tower.” The ambitious project – spanning three films and a television series – was put on hold due to budgetary concerns from Universal.
Howard tells the site that screenwriter Akiva Goldsman “wrote it to be sensitive to cost and is rewriting it to be more so. Without putting a number on it, the cuts aren’t that deep or that radical.”
As for the status of Javier Bardem playing Roland the gunslinger: “I’m hoping when we go, he’s available and will join us.”
Production is expected to begin next year now and Howard stands by his decision to depict the series as a sprawling film and television event.
“The universe Steve King created is so dimensional and creative. It blends scope, sweep, and adventure with some very personal compelling stories. We could have tried to force all of it into one or two or three movies. It became clear to me that the medium of TV has become so bold and cool, we could use it to our advantage creatively and really fulfill the possibilities of this universe of characters King gave us to work with. We can use the intimacy of television when thatâs appropriate, and the scope and scale of the big screen with the bigger fantasy ideas. We discovered elements that would probably never have a home either on the big screen or on TV, but would make fantastic narrative gaming opportunities that wonât rehash the movies or TV, but have its own material borne out of the books and graphic novels. Weâve got gaming designers and there is enthusiasm for that. Itâs a way to use all the mediums at our disposal to try to fulfill whatâs possible. Universal sees this as an asset that can benefit the company in a lot of different ways.”
Source: Deadline
