The Dark Towersaga set to return in multiple formats The Dark Tower, that sweeping Stephen King
dark fantasy epic, the first volume of which was released nearly 30 years ago, is headed to the big screen. And the small screen. And possibly back to the printed page. In September, Universal Pictures and NBC an-
nounced that they’ve plucked up the rights to produce three films and a television series based on the tale of the gunslinger Roland and his quest to protect the very underpinnings of reality. The first movie and first season of the TV series are to be directed by Ron Howard and written by Akiva Goldsman, the team that brought us the film adaptation of The Da Vinci Code. (Each season of the TV series will act as a “bridge” between the films.) “By telling this story across media platforms
and over multiple hours – with a view to telling it completely – we have our best chance of translating Roland’s quest to reach the Dark Tower onto screen,” Goldsman said in a pre- pared statement. No word yet on when the first movie will go into production. “To the best of my knowledge, nothing like
this has ever been attempted,” says Bev Vin- cent, author of The Road to the Dark Tower, a King-endorsed study of the series. “Will you be able to just watch the movies and not feel like something’s missing? And what happens to this plan if the ratings for the TV series don’t live up to expectations and it gets can- celled, the way Kingdom Hospital did?” More importantly, are there
enough people out there even willing to dip their toes into the obscure world of the seven-vol- ume saga? “Even a large segment of King’s
fan base hasn’t tackled the se- ries,” Vincent points out. “The filmmakers won’t be able to play solely to readers of the series because that’s probably not enough to make a successful movie.” In the past, King has taken an “all out” or “all
in” approach to movie and television adapta- tions of his work, Vincent says. For example, with writer/director Frank Darabont (The Mist, The Shawshank Redemption), King turned all of the decision-making over to him and his pro- ducers. Otherwise, Vincent points out, the author
The Dark Tower: Feature films, a TV series and a new book are all in the works.
is very hands-on, penning script drafts, execu- tive producing and even assisting with casting. Vincent points out: “He did this with many of
the miniseries, including The Stand and The Shining. My gut feeling, based on the scope of this project, is that he’ll go ‘all out’ and let the producers run with it as they see fit.” Despite King’s own view of the
series as his magnum opus, this wouldn’t be the first time he’s let others play in his Dark Tower sandbox. Since 2007, a pre- quel to the story has played out in a suc- cessful Marvel
Comics series plotted by King’s re- search assistant, Robin Furth, and written by Peter David, with art by Jae Lee and Richard Isanove. (The comics, too, are included in the Universal/NBC deal.) In November 2009, King also revealed that he’s preparing to start work on a new book in the Dark Tower se- ries, tentatively titled The Wind Through the Keyhole.
Lost in all of the film and television talk is the
reality of what it means for a story to be optioned: Universal and NBC now have the right to invest millions in Roland’s quest, but no obligation to do so. That the project is far from a sure thing, even with Hollywood heavyweights onboard, can be ev- idenced by the fact that just this past spring Lost and Cloverfield creator J.J. Abrams was planning to tackle the Dark Tower movies, along with Lost writer Damon Lindelof. In April, Abrams told en- tertainment website
IGN.com, “As soon as Lost is done, hopefully we’ll be able to begin tackling it.” Vincent says he’s seen it before.
“Back when [King’s] The Talisman was optioned, people used to ask who should play Jack Sawyer. After a while, I started joking that they should cast a baby because, by the time the film actually made its way into production, he’d be the right age. Turns out my pessimism was overly optimistic, because a baby
cast at that point would be twice Jack’s age by now – and there’s still no more sign of an adap- tation than there was 25 years ago.” A.S. BERMAN
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