It now seems that after Universal has bought the rights, it will be made both into a film trilogy directed by Ron Howard and into a weekly TV show! When he was just 19 Stephen King decided to write an epic inspired by "The Lord of the Rings" and then he set off writing and publishing "The Dark Tower" over a period of 22 years and the saga today has seven books as a mix of action, adventure, fantasy and western. The story follows Roland Deschain, the last living member of a knightly order known as gunslingers. His world is politically organized along
the lines of a feudal society, and it shares technological and social characteristics with the American Old West but is also magical. Many of the magical aspects have vanished from his world, but traces remain as do relics from a technologically advanced society. Roland's quest is to find the Dark Tower, a fabled building said to be the nexus of all universes. In this world mighty nations have been torn apart by war, entire cities and regions vanish without a trace and time does not flow in an orderly fashion. Even the sun sometimes rises in the north and sets in the east. On his journey to the Dark Tower, Roland will meet friends and make enemies and the audience will discover his true mission. 
Over at British "Guardian" they are already posing a question on how will the producers deal with the nightmarish jigsaw puzzle of colliding references and motifs, which throws together a bloodthirsty panorama of Sergio Leone-esque cowboys, post-apocalyptic mutants, demons and murderers?
And how will they fit all of that into a conservative US TV network such as NBC when they start making two seasons of TV series to bridge gaps between the films.
Probably the most interesting part of the whole production, at least for us, will be the casting. Imagine all sorts of amazing actors who could appear in this sf saga? When asked recently who he sees playing his characters, Stephen King, joked saying: "The Twilight cast, of course! Just kidding. I haven't got as far as casting in my thoughts, but when I write about Susannah Dean, I always kind of see Angela Bassett in my mind's eye. Mostly I just want good people in those parts".
But they always mess up Stephen King in the movies. This also means I will have to finish the series.
ReplyDeleteyep, and some people believe that although they have their qualities Stephen and Ron Howard aren't visionary people and vision is something that you might need in an unparalleled project such as this one will be.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see what they come up with. I'd always wondered why no one tackled these books before now.
ReplyDeletewell, before LOTR and AVATAR it was believed that certain sagas will never be able to get produced into a film due to their wast material and stunning visual aspect, but now that we have CGI and special effects everything is finally possible :)
ReplyDeleteI guess we'll have to wait and see what they come up with. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteCD
Hmmmm sounds exciting. I haven't read those books, but I do want to. I hope they do a good job for this, it could be awesome.
ReplyDelete@Clarissa
ReplyDeleteyes, we shall have to wait
@Bryan
well, it is a big event for the sf lovers :)
Well I own some, but not all of the graphic novels, but it is the normal novels which truly have moved me. Will these be live action films?
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying animated features wouldn't work, but I'd be much more excited to see actors and actresses portraying these characters on the silver screen.
Thanks Dez!
All I can say is: finally! :)
ReplyDeleteI read the first three books in the series, and they are amazing. I hope the books aren't butchered in movie form.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a pretty amazing undertaking. I don't know if I can keep up with all of this.
ReplyDeleteLee
Tossing It Out
@Matt
ReplyDeleteyes, it will be a live action film off course :)
@Lisa
glad you're excited :)
@Medeia
I hope so too, Medeia!
@Arlee
it does sound like a difficult story to keep up with!
wow... i wonder how they will organize all that... yikes!
ReplyDeleteit will be a whole lotta work :)
ReplyDeleteAhahaha... Twilight cast for this?? That Stephen has a wicked sense of humor. I haven't read the book but one of my friends and guest bloggers who's a huge fan of SK is so excited for this. But given the violent nature of the book, it might have to be NC-17??
ReplyDeletehe is quite witty, isn't he? :)
ReplyDelete