Over a year ago came the announcement that the highly-anticipated, live-action adaptation of The Dark Tower would not be going forward at Warner Bros. Originally passed on by Universal, the “multi-tiered” adaptation had director Ron Howard attached to direct at least the first portion of the series. Now, in an interview with Empire, Howard says they’re still working to get the series made.
“The Dark Tower is something that we’re still working on. We’ve all taken a vow of silence about the progress, the headway, what we think our timetable is, because I don’t think I realised how much media interest there was in the title and how much excitement there was.
“It’s a fascinating, powerful possibility and even Stephen King acknowledges it’s a tricky adaptation, but to be honest, from a financing side, it’s not a straightforward, four-quadrant, sunny superhero story – it’s dark, it’s horror. That edge is what appeals to me, the complexities of those characters is what appeals to all of us. And I think Stephen King really respects that, with [regular screenwriting collaborator] Akiva Goldsman and myself, that that’s what we love about it, and that’s what we want to try to get to the screen.
“So my answer is: it got delayed, it’s never gone away. We’re working on it, and Stephen is very patient with us, and Akiva’s just gone off and directed a movie [an adaptation of Mark Helprin’s novel, Winter’s Tale, starring Colin Farrell, Russell Crowe, Jessica Brown Findlay, Jennifer Connelly and Will Smith], I’m continuing to work, but the Dark Tower dreams – fever dreams, rather – are still there, but we’re not going to give it a timetable.”
Invisioned as a big-screen trilogy and tie-in television series featuring the same cast, Russell Crowe was said to have been interested in the role of Roland the Gunslinger with Akiva Goldsman and Mark Verheiden tackling the writing duties.
