Ron Howard and Brian Grazer Not Giving Up on The Dark Tower; Javier Bardem Still Attached
Posted 08.18.11 by Ryan
Last month, Universal balked at director Ron Howard's ambitious plan to adapt Stephen King's massive The Dark Tower series into a trilogy of movies, with two TV series to air in-between each movie sequel. After reportedly having issues with the budget that ultimately delayed the Dark Tower's start date, the studio found the adaptation to be "too costly [and] too big a risk". Universal's decision hasn't caused Howard or producer Brian Grazer to give up, however.
While talking to The New York Post, Grazer revealed that the pair are currently "trying to get outside financing to make it, and distribute it through a major [studio]" and plan to air the TV portion of the Dark Tower adaptation on other networks or outlets like Netflix. While no suitor for the project was named, Glazer did mention a possible start for The Dark Tower.
Ron is now going to be working on the Formula One racing movie Rush about Niki Lauda, so the soonest we could do it would be June next year.
According to the report, Javier Bardem is still attached to star as gunslinger Roland Deschain. Through King's seven novels (the eighth, The Wind Through the Keyhole, will be released next year) and one short story that comprise the Dark Tower series, Deschain is on a quest to find the fabled Dark Tower, which is said to be the nexus of all universes. Howard's A Beautiful Mind screenwriter, Akiva Goldsman, wrote the screenplay for the first movie, as well as the first TV series.
Fans, keep your fingers crossed on this one.