Stephen King's The Dark Tower

Dman001 · 01-05-2010 12:06am #1

http://www.deadline.com/2010/04/stephen-kings-dark-tower-set-for-film-trilogy-tv-series-by-beautiful-mind-trio/

I heard Lost has a a lot similarities to The Dark Tower so I looked into the books.Never got to read them but they sounded interesting, and was wondering how they weren't made into some sort of Mini Series/TV Film.

nyarlothothep · 01-05-2010 1:09am

apparently the scriptwriter is meant to be lame. Looking forward to book 8 though.

Lu Tze · 01-05-2010 1:52am

Book 8, what!? Scratch that, just clicked on the link.

I could only ever have imagined Clint Eastwood (in the dirty harry era) playing Roland though, so no sure how enthused i would be about a film, struggling to think of who would suit now?

Dr. Loon · 01-05-2010 2:10am

Hmm, don't know about this. It's odd, King's books when turned to film are either absolutely amazing, or truly shocking. There's no middle, decent. It's either really good or really bad, and I can see this being really bad. Hasn't it been under discussion for years? Clint would have been the perfect choice for Roland. Just a bit too old now.

missingtime · 01-05-2010 2:11am

Edit-nevermind

niallon · 01-05-2010 2:39am

nyarlothothep wrote: »

apparently the scriptwriter is meant to be lame. Looking forward to book 8 though.

Apart from Batman & Robin I wouldn't entirely say Akiva Goldsman is lame. For the most part, he's written good scripts that have been executed terribly. With The Dark Tower series he has great source material to work with too. However, Ron Howard will destroy this. There's no way in hell he can properly capture the gritty feel and epic scope of the novels.

As for an eight novel, would King please let The Dark Tower die? He already made the perfect ending, a filler novel for the mid section of the story with only damage this achievement.

Otis Driftwood · 01-05-2010 10:02am

TDT are my favourite Kings books and my favourite series by any author too so I would be very excited to see them made.Whether they will be made well is another kettle of fish.While the novels arent on the same scale of Lord of the Rings,they are still massive in context and landscape with alot of cool mutants/monsters/etc.

As for who should play Roland,I wouldnt balk at someone like Viggo Mortenson.He has grown in stature since LOTR (The Road,Eastern Promises,History of Violence) and I think he could pull off the dark and brooding soul that is Roland Deschain.I shall be keeping a close eye on this.

Kess73 · 01-05-2010 10:13am

Lu Tze wrote: »

Book 8, what!? Scratch that, just clicked on the link.

I could only ever have imagined Clint Eastwood (in the dirty harry era) playing Roland though, so no sure how enthused i would be about a film, struggling to think of who would suit now?

The character of Roland was somewhat based on Eastwood's Man With No Name/Dirty Harry Persona, similar to how Judge Dredd was influenced by Eastwood, along with a string of other comic book book characters and characters in a hell of a lot of books. I see a lot of the Josey Wales persona in Roland, especially in the way he gets attachments to other characters, and how their fate affects him.

For some reason I think Hugh Jackman could play the role of Roland nowadays. I have always thought him right to play the role of Eastwood if there was a film about Eastwood. He shares many facial similarites to a younger Eastwood.

tim_holsters · 01-05-2010 10:17am

Good news but the quality of a lot of King adaptations have been found wanting hopefully this will be different.

Otis Driftwood · 01-05-2010 1:21pm

Kess73 wrote: »

For some reason I think Hugh Jackman could play the role of Roland nowadays. I have always thought him right to play the role of Eastwood if there was a film about Eastwood. He shares many facial similarites to a younger Eastwood.

Oh God no.
:eek:

LittleBook · 01-05-2010 1:31pm

The Dark Tower - The Artwork

This is making me want to read it all again

Definitely who plays Roland (or Eddie or Odetta for that matter) could make or break this, hopefully they'll at least pick a "grown-up". Lots and LOTS of story cuts to get it into three films though.

So fingers crossed, I'm interested but dubious

Say thankya

smcgiff · 01-05-2010 1:35pm

I really enjoyed the first four books of the TDT series, but feel he rushed the last three possibly as he became all too aware of his own mortality after his accident, as he wanted to finish these as his legacy, and it finally fell somewhat flat.

Will the film also have two endings?

Outkast_IRE · 01-05-2010 1:37pm

As roland it would have to be Viggo Mortensen , or else i would agree with hugh jackman , both would have the right look , i think Hugh jackman would really need to put in the effort to pull off the role, id prefer viggo myself.

Skerries · 01-05-2010 3:22pm

i must actually finish this series, i got as far as book 5 and meant to pick up the last 2

TonyD79 · 01-05-2010 4:01pm

Dman001 wrote: »

http://www.deadline.com/2010/04/stephen-kings-dark-tower-set-for-film-trilogy-tv-series-by-beautiful-mind-trio/

I heard Lost has a a lot similarities to The Dark Tower so I looked into the books.Never got to read them but they sounded interesting, and was wondering how they weren't made into some sort of Mini Series/TV Film.

Thought that was the Stand? Several of King's Books have been made into TV mini- series but apart from IT and maybe the Tommyknockers they were all awful.

L'prof · 01-05-2010 4:06pm

I'd agree with Viggo and maybe Jackman, what about Guy Pearce? He was great in The Proposition!

indough · 01-05-2010 5:05pm

i was thinking guy pierce would be a good choice myself, not my favourite actor by any means but good for this part

MiloYossarian · 01-05-2010 5:46pm

Good call on Guy Pearce. No way to Hugh Jackman. It's hard to look passed Viggo Mortensen for the role. In my opinion he seems to embody everything that Roland is. Maybe I phrased that wrong, I see him as being easily able to portray Roland. Although, if they're planning a t.v and film adaptation then it's hard to see actors of that scale signing on for the role. It would take years to complete. So Roland will most likely be played by either a complete unknown or a t.v actor.
As for the source material, I both love and loathe Stephen King. I love how he approaches the work, and his attitude towards writing . But a lot of the time I loathe what he writes or the direction he takes a story. The first and fourth installments of this series are among the best things I have ever read. The fourth one was so good that I just took a break from finishing the series because I knew that the fifth would just disappoint.
But lets be serious, Ron Howard is, at best, going to give us a serviceable movie, not great but not terrible. Just meh. Or just give us a large scale turd. Plus a whole lot of stuff is going to be chopped and changed.
But don't worry, there's a fantastic chance that this will never actually happen at all. A lot of people have tried, and failed, to bring to the screen.

Otis Driftwood · 01-05-2010 6:20pm

Interesting call on Guy Pearce.Defo a great actor - aside from The Proposition he was immense in Memento and LA Confidential but IMO he is too good looking to play a grizzled charector like Roland.Like others have mentioned,Eastwood in his prime would have been a shoe in.Like Littlebook said,whoever gets the lead roles will have a huge bearing on the movies/mini series being a success.

nyarlothothep · 01-05-2010 6:59pm

Strange how crap directors get their hands on franchises with such potential, MC G with Terminator and Ron Howard with DT? I would be more reassured if it were in the hands of Rodriguez, Aranofsky etc. The TV series idea sounds lame, unless its not padded out with crap to keep it going, there is a definate story thread to follow and any extraneous sub plots and cheap sets to save time and money aren't going to do DT justice. Its epic in scale, a trilogy with the 5th book essentially excluded or truncated, as nothing much happens in it, with the 6th and 7th merged together would be much better. No.1 and 2 could constitute the first film, 3 and 4, for the second and 6,7 with a small bit of 5 for the third.

01-05-2010 7:34pm

Don't think they should bother adapting this to be honest. But I reckon Ciaran Hinds from HBO's Rome would be good as Roland.

cable842 · 01-05-2010 8:43pm

I really think pearce would be great for this movie.

but I read this week they are goin to adapt it too and movie then a Tv show.

Ive not read the graphic novels would like too but.

nyarlothothep · 01-05-2010 9:25pm

cable842 wrote: »

I really think pearce would be great for this movie.

but I read this week they are goin to adapt it too and movie then a Tv show.

Ive not read the graphic novels would like too but.

The graphic novel, I think there's one though I could be wrong, is pretty faithful to the book, namely The Wizard and the Glass. The artwork is excellent for Marvel, normally I don't like Marvel artwork but this was up to 2000ad standards from 1995 for strips like Slaine or Finn. It was a good read.

Outkast_IRE · 01-05-2010 10:28pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Don't think they should bother adapting this to be honest. But I reckon Ciaran Hinds from HBO's Rome would be good as Roland.

I like that actor but as roland ? i dunno roland would be meant to have the classic western accent ,clint eastwood type accent really . Could he pull it off , and does he really have the rugged cowboy type look?

Im not goin to diss ron howard , i think he has the talent to make excellent films , but to convert this into a excellent trilogy it will take passion and will require for him to immerse himself in this world for years and unless hes a huge fan of the series i cant see him doing that.
Hopefully we get more news soon!!

Ya guy pearce could pull it off , it will be hard to get actors to sign away their life for a few years though.

Pat Mustard · 01-05-2010 10:46pm

Jackman would be interesting. Mortensen or Pearse would a decent job.

What about Jim Caviesel? He was good enough in The Count of Monte Cristo.

FortuneChip · 01-05-2010 10:57pm

nedtheshed wrote: »

Interesting call on Guy Pearce.Defo a great actor - aside from The Proposition he was immense in Memento and LA Confidential but IMO he is too good looking to play a grizzled charector like Roland

I don't know if he could be considered too good looking. He only had a small role in The Road, and looked well grizzled, but that may have been because he was missing several teeth if my memory serves me.
Viggo seems a little too obvious, no problems with that though

I feel I should admit that I've only read the first two books

cable842 · 02-05-2010 12:47am

wow totally forgot there is a book of it how many books are there for Dark tower ?

I remember it came out with marvel a few years ago I just thought Stephen King wrote a few comic graphic novels

nyarlothothep wrote: »

The graphic novel, I think there's one though I could be wrong, is pretty faithful to the book, namely The Wizard and the Glass. The artwork is excellent for Marvel, normally I don't like Marvel artwork but this was up to 2000ad standards from 1995 for strips like Slaine or Finn. It was a good read.

Ardent · 02-05-2010 12:52am

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

Viggo Mortensen

Exactly who came to my mind!

MiloYossarian · 02-05-2010 1:29am

How about Micheal Fassbender? He's great in everything he is in. Or Hugo Weaving? Oh or that guy that played Soloman Kane, James Purefoy? Whoever it is, he is going to have to be stoic, strong, wise looking, and have a commanding presence. But who to play the other characters?

L'prof · 02-05-2010 2:07am

Actually, Josh Brolin hasn't been mentioned at all...worth a shout too!

niallon · 02-05-2010 2:36am

jasonorr wrote: »

Actually, Josh Brolin hasn't been mentioned at all...worth a shout too!

+1, maybe it's Jonah Hex putting it in my head but he's the only decent Roland I can think of at the moment.

Also...this is gonna seem like a joke but...Richard Jenkins

Honestly, slap a wig on him and IMO he's a perfect Roland right down to the voice and everything. Fantastic actor to boot.

Otis Driftwood · 02-05-2010 6:14am

cable842 wrote: »

wow totally forgot there is a book of it how many books are there for Dark tower ?

I remember it came out with marvel a few years ago I just thought Stephen King wrote a few comic graphic novels

7 in total.Be warned though,they will take over your life.At least they did mine.

Johnny Bitte · 02-05-2010 10:00am

took me months to complete these books. Some amazing stuff but have to agree the last few were rushed.

As for the adaption to film, it would never be as good as the books and I think the general population just wouldn't get it.

Although I would love to see it, I think they should leave it alone.

Pat Mustard · 02-05-2010 1:44pm

niallon wrote: »

+1, maybe it's Jonah Hex putting it in my head but he's the only decent Roland I can think of at the moment.

Also...this is gonna seem like a joke but...Richard Jenkins

Honestly, slap a wig on him and IMO he's a perfect Roland right down to the voice and everything. Fantastic actor to boot.

Josh Brolin. Hadn't thought of that - good option.

Richard Jenkins is a great actor, but I don't think he'd suit the Roland part. He has that whole benevolent authority figure thing, but without the ruthless side.

Kur4mA · 02-05-2010 9:02pm

HOLY ****! Are they really finally going to make this? If so, I'll go ****ing mental if they cock it up

02-05-2010 9:15pm

A lot of people are getting too bogged down in choosing an actor who resembles Roland as he is depicted in the book. I would rather a competant actor who looked slightly similiar rather than one who looks like Roland but can't act. I could see Howard getting his good friend Tom Hanks to play Roland which tbh is a thought that sees me waking in a cold sweat in the middle of the night.

Outkast_IRE · 02-05-2010 10:24pm

Deleted User wrote: »

A lot of people are getting too bogged down in choosing an actor who resembles Roland as he is depicted in the book. I would rather a competant actor who looked slightly similiar rather than one who looks like Roland but can't act. I could see Howard getting his good friend Tom Hanks to play Roland which tbh is a thought that sees me waking in a cold sweat in the middle of the night.

Jesus give the man some credit as a director he wouldnt cast tom hanks in that role , go onto IMDB check up the movies hes directed and produced and you will be pleasently surprised that most are very well made, well cast, solid movies with a few exceptions ......
And most would see viggo morentsen as a highly capable actor with the right look for such a role , they would be mad not to approach him early and try to get him on board.

02-05-2010 10:30pm

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

Jesus give the man some credit as a director he wouldnt cast tom hanks in that role , go onto IMDB check up the movies hes directed and produced and you will be pleasently surprised that most are very well made, well cast, solid movies with a few exceptions ......

Actually if you look at his CV you will find a number of mediocre films which seem tailor made to attract Oscar attention. Howard is a talented film maker but he os the last person I would like to see tackle the Dark Tower, the source material is far too dark for a director who specialises in bright and fluffy.

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

]And most would see viggo morentsen as a highly capable actor with the right look for such a role , they would be mad not to approach him early and try to get him on board.

I think he's a superb actor and would love to see him in the role but at the end of the day the Dark Tower is being seen as a franchise which the studio will want an A list actor to topline. If it came down to an actor such as Tom Cruise or Viggo the studio will see dollars signs attached to Crusie and go for him.

indough · 03-05-2010 12:03am

i dont think howard has on average a poor record but the problem is his latest films have been cack, which means on current form this movie is also likely to be a bit meh

there are more suitable directors out there imo, better suited to this material i mean

jaykhunter · 03-05-2010 3:49pm

I haven't read them but my friend says they're absolutely amazing. 7 books though, if adapted; can it be properly condensed into a trilogy? Is there a story ark between the 7 or is it separate like (eg) Silent Hill?

genericguy · 03-05-2010 4:30pm

jaykhunter wrote: »

I haven't read them but my friend says they're absolutely amazing. 7 books though, if adapted; can it be properly condensed into a trilogy? Is there a story ark between the 7 or is it separate like (eg) Silent Hill?

imo this won't work as a film, it's just too big. there're 7 books, the last three are fcuking terrible but the first few are great.

norrie rugger · 03-05-2010 8:18pm

niallon wrote: »

Apart from Batman & Robin I wouldn't entirely say Akiva Goldsman is lame. For the most part, he's written good scripts that have been executed terribly. With The Dark Tower series he has great source material to work with too. However, Ron Howard will destroy this. There's no way in hell he can properly capture the gritty feel and epic scope of the novels.

As for an eight novel, would King please let The Dark Tower die? He already made the perfect ending, a filler novel for the mid section of the story with only damage this achievement.

Excue me?

It is a fawking terrible cop out of an ending!

from a 3 year old post, of mine

norrie rugger wrote: »

King's the Dark Tower series
All because of the crappy "I can not think of a real ending" ending.

I'm sorry but taping on a crappy ending, knowing it and telling people two pages to go not to read it as you may be disappointed is total tripe.
I mean you read 7 (yes SEVEN) books and he says to not read the ending as it may be considered crap.

He even has the nerve to say and i paraphrase "don't go further in this book, as you may not like the ending. instead try to imagine that he gets everything that he wants and lives happily ever after with all his friends"

I'm sorry King but I bought those books so that you could tell me the story.
If I wanted to imagine the ending why would i bother buying books at all?
And if i COULD imagine an ending and story, then i would be writing books myself

Also the fact that he ties it in with nearly every other book he has ever written screws them up also, especially The Talisman and The Black House

End rant

Ann22 · 06-05-2010 6:53pm

I thought it was a very clever ending though I was disappointed

mainly because I like a happy one

I don't think King would have to struggle too much to come up with an ending.

Antar Bolaeisk · 06-05-2010 10:18pm

This is the worst news ever

If someone like JJ Abrahms, who's specialty seems to lie with the convoluted and mystical, feels these books are unfilmable then I'm inclined to go with his opinion.

There's also the fact that there have only been two good Steven King adaptations and one of them strayed a good bit from the source material.

As for the ending of Dark Tower, I'm afraid I can no longer remeber it clearly other than I thouroughly enjoyed every minute of it and in fact I am heavily considering re-reading there series now!

liah · 07-05-2010 6:25am

Antar Bolaeisk wrote: »

There's also the fact that there have only been two good Steven King adaptations and one of them strayed a good bit from the source material.

Which?

Carrie? The Green Mile? The Mist? Stand By Me? The Shawshank Redemption? The Shining?

King's behind an awful lot of classics, to say there's only been "two good Stephen King" adaptations is bollocks.

And that doesn't even count some other stuff like IT, Pet Sematary, Dolores Claiborne, Misery, Cujo, 1408, etc. which is arguable in its quality but still wholly enjoyable and definitely well-known, at least.

I wouldn't write something off because it's King. King gives filmmakers a lot of potential, but the majority of them don't have a clue how to translate his writing to the big screen. Too much gets lost; King's talent is in his character development rather than the plotlines themselves and filmmakers don't really "get" that, as a rule.

tman · 07-05-2010 8:05am

liah wrote: »

Which?

Carrie? The Green Mile? The Mist? Stand By Me? The Shawshank Redemption? The Shining?

They clearly meant the running man...

LittleBook · 07-05-2010 9:31am

Deleted User wrote: »

Actually if you look at his CV you will find a number of mediocre films which seem tailor made to attract Oscar attention. Howard is a talented film maker but he os the last person I would like to see tackle the Dark Tower, the source material is far too dark for a director who specialises in bright and fluffy.

So true, a couple of gems and a lot of dross. It's not that he's a particularly bad director, it's that there are others out there who would IMHO be better suited to working with the material ... Christopher Nolan, David Fincher, John Hillcoat or maybe mentalists like Gilliam or Jeunet.

norrie rugger wrote: »

It is a fawking terrible cop out of an ending!

:pac: As much as I love King I've often felt he simply couldn't figure out how to finish a novel. I'm struggling to think of one that didn't end with an over the top BOOM (quite literally sometimes) or tapers out in a leave-it-to-the-reader's-imagination kind of thing.

Antar Bolaeisk · 07-05-2010 11:22am

liah wrote: »

Which?

Carrie? The Green Mile? The Mist? Stand By Me? The Shawshank Redemption? The Shining?

King's behind an awful lot of classics, to say there's only been "two good Stephen King" adaptations is bollocks.

And that doesn't even count some other stuff like IT, Pet Sematary, Dolores Claiborne, Misery, Cujo, 1408, etc. which is arguable in its quality but still wholly enjoyable and definitely well-known, at least.

I wouldn't write something off because it's King. King gives filmmakers a lot of potential, but the majority of them don't have a clue how to translate his writing to the big screen. Too much gets lost; King's talent is in his character development rather than the plotlines themselves and filmmakers don't really "get" that, as a rule.

Okay sorry, only two that I liked though in fairness I haven't seen Stand by Me.

thebullkf · 07-05-2010 3:19pm

[QUOTE=LittleBook;65767265]So true, a couple of gems and a lot of dross. It's not that he's a particularly bad director, it's that there are others out there who would IMHO be better suited to working with the material ... Christopher Nolan, David Fincher, John Hillcoat or maybe mentalists like Gilliam or Jeunet.

has abrams pulled out???

he bought the rights for 19 dollars(as you all know 19 plays a major significance in the books).
FFS.!

Defo not looking forward to Howards vision of TDT.:rolleyes:

Here's my pick.

DIRECTOR:

Guillermo Del Toro.

{For Pan's Labyrinth/Cronos specifically}

OR

Tim Burton {at his best}

ROLAND:
.....hhmmmmmmm...

Dunno.

need someone with a thouand yard stare (laws yes)

Someone that has experience carved into their face like a map...

Jim Caviezel (maybe)

Ed Norton?

Christian Bale?-{thankee sai)

MAN IN BLACK.

Gabriel Byrne.

{also as he appears @ different stages in the book i'd say

max von sydow-Ian McKellan et al}

EDDIE DEAN.

hhmmmm.......

casey affleck/norton/sam rockwell

ODETTA

Angela Bassett(when she was younger)

or

Rutina Wesley ????

tough one to call i have to say.....

:pac: As much as I love King I've often felt he simply couldn't figure out how to finish a novel. I'm struggling to think of one that didn't end with an over the top BOOM (quite literally sometimes) or tapers out in a leave-it-to-the-reader's-imagination kind of thing.[/QUOTE]

+1000.

Mickeroo · 09-09-2010 12:46pm

Here's an article with some details on how the series is going to pan out. I've not read any the books yet but plan to stat before the films/tv shows get made.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/46438

tman · 09-09-2010 7:22pm

Mickeroo wrote: »

I've not read any the books yet but plan to stat before the films/tv shows get made.[/url]

Me too after reading

Roland’s world featured shoot-outs, raping demons, killer sentient trains, the murder of children, mutants, magic, alternate dimensions, a giant cyborg bear and lobster monsters.

:eek:

Stephen King's The Dark Tower

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