The Dark Tower - J.J. Abrams on board?

Necronomicon

These rumours have been doing the rounds for ages, but I only just saw an interview from February where Abrams admitted that he and Damon Lindelof were working on a script.

I'm on the third book at the moment, and I'm finding them a captivating read. How would it be done? Tv mini-series? Two or three feature lengths? I'll be very excited if/when this is made official.

Here's what Stephen King had to say about Abrams and Lindelof:

“I know J.J. Abrams’ work and Damon Lindelof, who is his collaborator on Lost. Damon is just a total comic-book freak, and he loves the Dark Tower books. I trust those guys, and they have a lot on the ball. When they said they wanted to talk about doing this, I said, ‘You know what? Why don’t you buy the option on this and see what you can come up with.’ They asked, ‘How much do you want for an option?’ I said, ‘$19.’ (A key amount that comes up frequently in the books) And that’s what they paid me, and that’s where it is.”

As far as I know, Abrams is no longer attached to it. The name being branded about these days is Frank Darabont whom has shown on a numbr of ocassions that he can adapt King for the big screen. In fact in the opening scene of Darabont's The Mist he plays homage to the Dark Tower books.

Tbh the director is not the biggest problem for the film but rather who will play Roland. I'd like to see Thomas Jane but he really is more of a B actor and I don't see a major studio giving him a major franchise.

Otis Driftwood

The DT cycle are my favourite King books of all time.I would love to see them adapted for TV or the big screen.As for who would play Roland,hmmmm,that is a toughy.Once it isnt some huge star it should be ok.Someone like Jim Caviezel would be a good choice IMHO.

ixoy

Hmm it'd be interesting but I'd be a bit curious as to how they'd adapt the latter books (I'm halfway through Book 7) when they became a bit more self indulgent. Not sure how it'd work on screen.

Sad Professor

I've read the first 4 books and really enjoyed them but tbh I'm not sure the DT series is suitable for cinematic adaptation. Unless it was a more loose adaption along the lines of Master and Commander with the director merging many elements from across the series into a single film or trilogy. I don't think we need any more post-LOTR fantasy blandness. And making it as a tv/mini series would be a waste imo.

I agree with Darko that a lot would depend on the casting of Roland.

The dark tower would be incredibly difficult to adapt to the big screen by any director,but I'd like to see Darabont try it. As for the casting of Roland, I think Ciaran Hinds from HBO's Rome would be a good choice.

ixoy

I'd like to see it in an animated form. I think it's because I figure Roland would be so hard to cast that anyone they'd pick I'd not be happy with - I don't think, for example, Ciaran Hinds would work as he doesn't have the self-contained broodiness of Roland. Animation would let them dictate the look of Roland, Jake, Eddie, and Susannah. Also it would mean Oy would fit in fine as otherwise he'd be forced to standout as a piece of CGI.

It'd also be very difficult to get some of the flavour of the world across, such as the language. One of the things I like is the style in which the story is told - say thank ya - and it'd be lost in translation maybe to the big screen.

And then there's the high level of meta that invades the later works that can work in the written form but would be a very hard pitch to sell to a TV network (it's far too detailed to be done as a movie).