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'The Dark Tower' Rises - Is the Epic Film and TV Event Back to Life?

by Ben Pearson
August 3, 2012

We've written quite a bit about The Dark Tower, a spectacularly ambitious adaptation of Stephen King's iconic novels that would span a film trilogy with two limited run TV series bridging the gap between movies, but after Universal passed on the project, we weren't expecting much to come of it. Warner Bros. bought Akiva Goldsman's script, and we haven't heard much since then, but now Deadline is reporting that the studio is about to receive a new script and will decide whether or not to greenlight the project in the next two weeks. There are also some interesting developments for who might play gunslinger Roland Deschain.

Ron Howard is still lined up to direct at least the first film in this undertaking, which is so ambitious that it's never been attempted before. But while Javier Bardem was long-rumored to play the gunslinger in both the film and television versions, now Howard and his Imagine Entertainment co-producer Brian Grazer are looking to their A Beautiful Mind star Russell Crowe to don the six-shooters. The casting makes sense considering their previous working relationship (Crowe also starred in Cinderella Man for the pair), and Crowe seems to be headed back into the spotlight with movies like Man of Steel and the title part in Noah after some less successful leading roles in recent years.

With Warners in the mix, HBO (also owned by Time Warner) seems like the perfect place to air the in-between TV installments, so we're back to playing the waiting game to see what happens. I'd love to see Warner Bros. pull this off because the concept is a total gamechanger in regards to multi-platform events and it will be a great example of how far audiences are willing to go to follow a property across multiple media. I wish Bardem was still involved (at least we'll get to see him in Skyfall), but Crowe seems like a decent replacement who can pull off the strong silent type and still be a badass. Thoughts?

Filed under Casting, Development, Movie News

From around the web:

SuicidalOptimist

Awesome, because when I think of "long, tall and ugly" Russell Crowe is naturally the first person that comes to mind. He's obviously a great choice to play lanky, slim-hipped Roland. /sarcasm Oh well, he -is- a good actor and certainly knows how to pull off the grumpy, and he looks good on a horse and with a gun as he proved in 3:10 to Yuma. Still, I don't know about this. >.< I guess if he would lose a bunch of weight... Argh, I think I'd prefer if this whole thing would just die. Or, give it another 10 years. That way my son would be old enough to see what badass he was named after, too.
http://www.facebook.com/avi.smulders Avi Smulders

I hope they pull it of to make this epic movies but i have no trust in Ron Howard as a director with a vision. This needs a new '' sergio leone'' or a guy like sam mendes or at least a director who is familiar with the best work of Stephen King besides it! If you do it for the money it will fail completely and onley with love and commitment it will be a succes.
http://www.facebook.com/chris.groves.507 Chris Groves

I'm completely unfamiliar with the books outside of the general concept. But I love this concept of a trilogy with two mini-series to occur between the films. That's a huge level production...and if it were successful it could end up being a trend-setter. From what I understand this is a violent, R-rated property...so if this concept works for THIS...I could see plenty of other, more mass-appealing properties trying this appraoch. Could you imagine if Marvel dabbled into something like this for their films? Or if a Halo adaptation tried something of this scale?
quazimotto

Still like Viggo more but prefer Crowe to Javier. I still don't see how Ron Howard was the ideal choice for this when he's struggled to put anything relevant out in years versus Frank Darabont who's shown he's more than adept at crossing between the parallels of the big screen and the home screen. This should be less about the lead and more about who's behind the helm. IMO Howard is a very poor decision.
- http://www.facebook.com/avi.smulders Avi Smulders
  
  Viggo should do it your absolutely spot on!
  - SuicidalOptimist
    
    Yeah, he's just perfect, I agree. Well, I guess I could deal with Daniel Day Lewis or even Guy Pearce as alternatives. Sadly, neither of these options will ever become reality I'm afraid.
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Derrick-Shanks/825447709 Derrick Shanks
  
  Only director that has been able to adapt Stephen King well is Darabont. He is the ONLY one that should helm this.
Oct8pus

Roland was based on a young Clint Eastwood, so Russell Crowe doesn't really fit the bill....Chris Bale maybe; or perhaps a lesser known actor....
vinny

Uhh no...he sucks