Well over a year ago came the announcement that the highly-anticipated, live-action adaptation of The Dark Tower would not be going forward at Warner Bros. Originally passed on by Universal, the “multi-tiered” adaptation had director Ron Howard attached to direct at least the first portion of the series. Now, in an interview with Empire, Howard says they’re still working to get the series made.
“The Dark Tower is something that were still working on. Weve all taken a vow of silence about the progress, the headway, what we think our timetable is, because I dont think I realised how much media interest there was in the title and how much excitement there was.
“Its a fascinating, powerful possibility and even Stephen King acknowledges its a tricky adaptation, but to be honest, from a financing side, its not a straightforward, four-quadrant, sunny superhero story its dark, its horror. That edge is what appeals to me, the complexities of those characters is what appeals to all of us. And I think Stephen King really respects that, with [regular screenwriting collaborator] Akiva Goldsman and myself, that thats what we love about it, and thats what we want to try to get to the screen.
“So my answer is: it got delayed, its never gone away. Were working on it, and Stephen is very patient with us, and Akivas just gone off and directed a movie [an adaptation of Mark Helprins novel, Winters Tale, starring Colin Farrell, Russell Crowe, Jessica Brown Findlay, Jennifer Connelly and Will Smith], Im continuing to work, but the Dark Tower dreams fever dreams, rather are still there, but were not going to give it a timetable.”
Invisioned as a big-screen trilogy and tie-in television series featuring the same cast, Russell Crowe was said to have been interested in the role of Roland the Gunslinger with Akiva Goldsman and Mark Verheiden tackling the writing duties.
Do you want to see the big screen adaptation of The Dark Tower?
