Stephen King's The Dark Tower

[Brian in Mesa]

IGN Movies has reported that a film adaptation is in the works; whether it is for a movie or a television series is unknown. J. J. Abrams, who has been behind shows such as Lost and Alias, is supposedly attached to produce and direct.

Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof, also affiliated with Lost and J. J. Abrams, have optioned the Dark Tower series from King for a reported nineteen dollars, which of course, is the infamous number from the Dark Tower series of novels.

According to issue #923 of Entertainment Weekly, King "is an ardent supporter of the desert-island show and trusts Abrams to translate his vision" into a film franchise with Lindelof being "the leading candidate to write the screenplay for the first installment."

Multiple mock trailers have popped up on Youtube. Also, the official Grand Prize winner of Simon & Schuster's (King's Publisher) American Gunslinger contest, "Roland Meets Brown", can be found there.

In King's 2007 film The Mist, the main character David Drayton can be seen painting a movie poster of what is assumed to be Roland in the center, standing beside a rose and a black tower, further fueling rumors of an adaptation.

In February 2008, Abrams announced that he and Lindelof had begun work on an early draft for the adaptation.

 

[mojorizen7]

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This "update" is a year old but if i'm not mistaken isn't "LOST" about to end?(I don't follow the show). I would love to see this come to fruition someday...and NOT as a cable TV series, HBO original etc....only as a feature film. IMO this epic story could be adapted into a screenplay that could squeeze 7 novels into three or four three-hour films.
I'll get started on it tomorrow.
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A year and a half ago, Stephen King optioned The Dark Tower series to JJ Abrams and Damon Lindelof for $19. But since then we haven’t really heard any updates on the project. Recently AMC got a chance to chat with Lindelof, who admitted that he won’t have time to tackle the adaptation until Lost is finished. He also revealed that he would like to adapt the seven books into a seven film series. Here is the quote:

“The Dark Tower is to me every bit as daunting an adaptation as the Lord of the Rings trilogy must have been for Peter Jackson, except we’ve got seven books we’re looking at. And the idea of doing that at the same time Carlton and I are bringing Lost to a close is simply not viable. There are always Dark Tower conversations, but the figuring out of what this will look like as a movie has not begun. If The Dark Tower were in the right hands, I would love to see seven movies executed just right. But you have to get people to see the first one to get them to come and see the second one.”

I’m not sure the adaptation could sustain a big enough audience for seven feature film The Dark Tower is a epic series of seven books written by King from 1982 to 2004. The story follows Roland Deschain’s quest for the Dark Tower, which is often described as a real structure, and also as a metaphor.

http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/09/02/damon-lindelof-updates-the-dark-tower/

 

[Chaplin]

Lost has one more season after this, so the time is probably right.

I tried reading book 1 years ago, but just couldn't get into it. Strange since I do like Stephen King's books.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

According to Deadline New York:

Stephen King, Imagine Entertainment and Weed Road are in talks to create a movie trilogy and TV series based on King's "The Dark Tower" series. Universal Pictures is in talks to distribute.

Ron Howard will direct from a script by Akiva Goldsman. Howard's Imagine Entertainment partner Brian Grazer will produce with Goldsman and King.

At the age of 19, Stephen King decided he would like to write an epic similar to "The Lord of the Rings." The "Spaghetti Westerns" of that time and a poem written by Robert Browning, "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came," became the inspiration for his magnum opus. The series written and published separately over a period of 22 years consists of seven books and the short story, "The Little Sisters of Eluria" published in his short story collection, "Everything's Eventual."

The first book, "The Gunslinger," introduces Roland Deschain of Gilead as he pursues the man in black to the mountains that separate the desert from the Western Sea. Along the way he rescues the boy, Jake, who is from a different time and place, and soon they become ka-tet in spite of Roland's single-minded goal of reaching the man in black at all costs.

The book series was once developed by J.J. Abrams and his "Lost" team of Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse.

 

[AZ Sports Native]

Newest update: http://www.azcentral.com/thingstodo...rd-wants-adapt-dark-tower-film-tv-series.html

 

[Renz]

I tried reading book 1 years ago, but just couldn't get into it. Strange since I do like Stephen King's books.

Same for me. I doubt it will make a good film series.

 

[Shane]

This is by far his worst books. IMO almost unreadable.

 

[jw7]

This is by far his worst books. IMO almost unreadable.

Yes, by far.

I used to like Stephen King a lot but I could not read these. So uninteresting.

Could care less if they waste money making a movie.

 

[Stout]

This is by far his worst books. IMO almost unreadable.

Worse than Tommyknockers? Yikes!

 

[jw7]

Worse than Tommyknockers? Yikes!

I couldn't read that one either.

 

[Shane]

Worse than Tommyknockers? Yikes!

Never bothered trying to read that one.

 

[Renz]

Worse than Tommyknockers? Yikes!

I liked that one. The book, not the movie.

 

[Chaplin]

I liked that one. The book, not the movie.

It was actually a miniseries and wasn't very good. There are actually very few of his works that are better movies than the book--in fact, I think there might be only 2, maybe 3:

The Shawshank Redemption
The Green Mile (debatable)
-----Rose Red

The Stand is equally good, both as a book and a miniseries, and while Misery is a great movie, it's also a great book.

EDIT: My mistake, Rose Red was actually an original script King wrote, not an adaptation of a novel/story.

 

[Stout]

I liked that one. The book, not the movie.

Oh, the book was awful. I remember finishing and thinking, "That was it? I kept reading this decroded piece of crap for THIS?"

 

[earthsci]

There are actually very few of his works that are better movies than the book--in fact, I think there might be only 2, maybe 3:

Yeah, for all of the love that people give "The Shining" as a movie, it doesn't hold a candle to the book. The book scared the living ish out of me.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

https://twitter.com/StephenKing/status/704674793145159680

Casting news: Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, and possibly Aaron Paul.

Aaron Paul reportedly cast in The Dark Tower

http://www.shortlist.com/entertainment/films/aaron-paul-reportedly-cast-in-the-dark-tower

 

[Brian in Mesa]

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[AsUpRoDiGy]

Hmm...looks interesting. Could either be really good, or really cheesy, and not in a good way.

 

[Bodha]

That looks awful


Other than the Tower itself, I dont see any similarities with the book. And to that point, the book is way too convoluted and confusing to be made into a movie.

Which is to say this was an all around backfire. Terrible adaptation of a book that shouldnt be made into a movie.

 

[Chaplin]

The filmmakers have already stated it isn't a direct adaptation.

 

[Cheesebeef]

man... I couldn't even make it through the trailer. Gunslinger series always felt more like it belonged to cult-ish King fans... wasn't the mega-mainstream smash like It, Cemetery, The Stand... probably because it was a series. Throw on top of that the fact that the McConassance has passed, and I feel like this might have bomb written all over it.

 

[JerkFace]

This is actually suppose to be a sequel to the books (which makes sense if you read them).

 

[Covert Rain]

I usually don't get too excited about these. This one really interests me for some reason.

 

[ArizonaSportsFan]

I really enjoyed the books. I enjoyed the interactions between Jake and Roland, and the growth of both. And just the weirdness of Stephen King.
But I am not sure what to think of this movie. Don't like the casting or the sequel nature of the plot. I hope I can judge it on its own merits.

 

[mojorizen7]

No longer interested.