King's Dark Tower heads for screen. Now the bad news

[Kite 3,263]

found this at

http://scifiwire.com/2010/04/kings-dark-tower-heads-fo.php

thought lady would want to know

Stephen King's The Dark Tower—an epic dark-fantasy series encompassing seven novels and a smattering of shorter stories that also touches on nearly every other major work in his canon—is once again moving forward to the screen, according to Deadline NY. That's the good news.

The bad news? The property has passed out of the hands of Bad Robot, J.J. Abrams' production company, and is reportedly close to being picked up by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard's Imagine Entertainment. Grazer will produce, Howard will direct and (gasp) Akiva Goldsman—the man known for such fan favorites as Batman and Robin and the film version of Lost in Space—will write the project, which is being envisioned as both a film and TV franchise, with an initial film trilogy leading to a small-screen series.

While we like that idea in theory, we shudder at the thought of Howard and particularly Goldsman getting their hands on this material. We have nothing against Howard and have enjoyed a number of his pictures as a director, but in recent years he's continually gone for projects that amount to little more than forgettable marketing bonanzas (The Da Vinci Code) or bland "prestige" films (Frost/Nixon). The Dark Tower is weird, often violent, and packed with bizarre nightmare imagery that is unlike anything Howard has ever tackled.

As for Goldsman—his resume speaks for itself. His script for Batman and Robin helped nearly destroy that franchise once and for all, and for the most part his accomplishments as both a writer and producer, with a few exceptions (I Am Legend, while not great, was better than expected), are rarely more than mediocre.

The Dark Tower is, if you're not familiar with it, King's The Lord of the Rings, except bigger. It takes place in several different timelines and universes, spans all of existence and revolves for the most part around Roland, the last in an order of noble gunslingers who roam a world that's part Old West, part post-apocalyptic wasteland and part fantasy landscape. With the fabric of reality beginning to come apart, Roland goes on a quest to find the Dark Tower, which holds all of existence together, before it can be toppled by the malevolent Crimson King.

What's cool about the series is that it incorporates characters, themes and story threads from King's entire output, with elements of books such as The Stand, 'Salem's Lot, Insomnia, Black House and more all finding their way into the cycle. Yet The Dark Tower is also unlike anything else King's ever written, combining horror, fantasy, science fiction and the western into one surreal and unique package.

That's why Bad Robot—the company behind Lost, Fringe, Cloverfield and more—and its key personnel—Abrams, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse—were in many ways perfectly suited to the job of building the Tower for the screen. All three have publicly stated their love and respect for King's work and regard The Dark Tower as awesome, like many fans of the author. The surreal, reality-bending nature of Lost and Fringe shows that they can handle complex metaphysical material. But apparently they were never able to work out a suitable way to adapt the project and ultimately ran out of time.

What do you think— can Howard, Grazer and Goldsman get the job done? Can anyone?

[Sledgstone 8,672]

OMG this will be horrible... x_x

btw, you beat me to posting this! I just finished reading an email with this link in it:

http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/17389.html

Yeah, I have a bad bad feeling about this now.

[Pchan 5,162]

Bad Robot's not necessarily bad though ... look at Lost X'D

[Sledgstone 8,672]

Could you imagine if they made a Dark Tower series and drag it out like they did with Lost. I'd loose all hope in it ever being good.

[Ladywriter 7,783]

I'd be flaming pissed and kick somebody's fuckin ass.

Duders best not jerk Tower Junkies around.

After the success dances with smurfs had I was still hoping for an all cg DT movie series. it will suck the big one if they try to make it a tv show. it is not that kind of material. it is not for the mass market. it is a complicated story pulling in other pieces and worlds.

Lord of the Rings would have been a shitty weekly series. So would The Dark Tower.

[Pchan 5,162]

How do you guys like the graphics novels in terms of doing justice to the books??

[Kite 3,263]

TV shows often are better then movies for complex plots, character dev and twists, but if it doesnt have teen vampires it wont last more then a season

[Pchan 5,162]

On RT's news feed

RON HOWARD FINDS HIS OWN FANTASY TRILOGY IN THE DARK TOWER

The writing/producing team of J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse were long considering adapting Stephen King's The Dark Tower series of seven novels as their next big post-LOST project, but eventually gave up on the project. That move made way for Ron Howard, his Imagine Entertainment partner Brian Grazer and Weed Road (Jonah Hex, The Losers), who are now in discussions with Universal Pictures to adapt King's fantasy magnum opus. The Dark Tower is being envisioned as both a film trilogy and then later , a television series. Ron Howard (The Da Vinci Code, How the Grinch Stole Christmas) will direct the three movies, and Akiva Goldsman (Batman & Robin, Lost in Space) is attached to adapt the seven books into just three movies. The Dark Tower is sometimes compared to J.R.R. Tokien's Lord of the Rings, but the saga is better described as a sort of cowboy fantasy, following the adventures of the last remaining member of an order of gunslingers in an alternate reality that combines magic and elements of the Old West. Elements and characters of (and similarities to) The Dark Tower can also be found in many of Stephen King's other novels, including The Stand, Insomnia and The Eyes of the Dragon.

Howard's pretty good if you ask me ... Cocoon, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man, Frost/ Nixon, and Angels n Demons if I have to be biased. I didn't like Da Vinci because it felt very rushed.

[Ladywriter 7,783]

my concerns are that the story will be toned down too much (ex:The Drawing of the Three gunfight Eddie is naked; any of the demon speaking circle scenes, Roland slaughters an entire town etc etc)

From page 1 of The Gunslinger Roland is one mean motherfucker. His ka tet changes him somewhat but he is who he is to his core.

I'll be fucking pissed if they fuck up Jake Chambers. If they try to turn him into an angsty teen I'll fuckin puke.

Week by week may work in terms of giving the audience the plot correctly but the DT isn't suitable for network tv. If they try to make it like that piece of shit Lost, well again I'll be puking. It might work on HBO but not on CBS.

I'm used to King books being turned into half assed or downright shitty movies which is why I've been grateful there has been no DT movie(s). The actors I would have chosen for the characters have all aged out, now they're too old to be Roland or Eddie. This is why I have been hoping for YEARS that the DT series could be done in all cg. I was convinced after FFAC and further convinced by Avatar that it could be done.

If we get actors based on their popularity instead of how they fit the role = pissed.

If they take the plot and fuck it in the ear = pissed

If they distort story or characters to make bucks off the flick or series = pissed.

I would rather have NO Dark Tower movies/series then a shitty one. So far the DT has been kept safe ~probably has something to do with rabid fans~ and now we gotta worry about crappy writers and actors, commercialization....

imagine cutting to a beer commercial in the middle of fighting a guardian of the beam. fuckin weak.

[Pchan 5,162]

Howard will be smooth, but safe. Too safe, maybe. Maybe it needs someone like Abrams and what he did with Star Trek. But, I honestly think the franchise should be left alone. They'll butcher it 95%!

[Ladywriter 7,783]

this is not the kind of project you hand over to a hack and say 'here make a script'