The Dark Tower (TV Show Time!)

[travis-dane]

Neuther the CHUD article nor the MTv article say that they will definitely never do it.

And Devin's editorial on the DT series is pure douchespeak.

EDIT:

Commemt #9 under the article made me LOL:

Ha ha ha! You're so studly Devin Fatassi! The Dark Tower is what you leave in the toilet after eating a box of Krispy Kremes! Ha ha ha obesity!

Well, the last book is not what I had in mind either and I never fell in love with it. It was an okay ending, but I could have lived without the "eraser" end.
And I to think that the King character should have stayed out. There are many great moments in the last two books, but I can see why many people dont like them.
Now, JJ is busy with ST 2 and M:I 4 and some other stuff. Since The Dark Tower will be an massive undertaking, I would think our chances to see it gettin made are about five to ten years away.(without JJ pushing it)
I just hope that they manage to keep Mick Garris away.

MOD EDIT: Spoiler texted the piece about the end of book 7. Yeah, it came out a long time ago but there is active conversation in the book thread constantly so we'd might as well try to keep some of these spoilers hidden.

-Moo

[Fievel]

Abrams "bought" the rights from Stephen King for $1 a couple of years ago. I'm not sure how long he has the rights for, but hopefully long enough for Mick Garris to stop making films.
Mick Garris is the Uwe Boll/Paul W.S. Anderson of Stephen King films.

[Cpt Kirks 2pay]

I thought it was $19?

Beware of Spoilers here, people.

[Fievel]

I thought it was $19?

Beware of Spoilers here, people.

I think you're right. I was probably thinking of how King is known for allowing his stories to be adapted by amateur filmmakers for $1. They're known as Dollar Babies.

[travis-dane]

I thought it was $19?

Beware of Spoilers here, people.

I kept my above comment on the last two books rather vague. Because of you Kirk.
I know that you are knee deep in The Tower.

[Cpt Kirks 2pay]

Cheers. To be honest I only had a quick look at what words indicated possible spoilers and just looked away from the rest, so I couldn't see how vague your spoilers were. I was just like 'Wooohoooaaah!! Turn away!' So my apologies if I didn't know what I was talking about.

In general.

Period.

WOOWW!!!

[Raziel]

I guess I'm stating the obvious, but it's going to be bloody difficult to adapt this... first of all, they'd have to turn The Gunslinger into a hit in order to proceed with the rest of the saga. And adapting an adult-themed fantasy for a broad enough audience to justify the necessary big budget is gonna be tricky.

[Fievel]

I actually think they could skip a majority of The Gunslinger and just start with Roland finding Jake, then add Drawing of the Three to that for the first movie.

But the real problem (as has been mentioned) is getting Jake to not age too much during the course of the series.

[justcheckin]

I actually think they could skip a majority of The Gunslinger and just start with Roland finding Jake, then add Drawing of the Three to that for the first movie.

But the real problem (as has been mentioned) is getting Jake to not age too much during the course of the series.

I agree... they could even start with Drawing of the Three and flashback to the jake parts when Roland gets the divided mind due to killing Jack Mort and skip The Gunslinger altogether.

[Cpt Kirks 2pay]

I totally disagree and shake my head, no no NO! If any book can be made into a nice tight movie 3 hours or under, it is The Gunslinger. That would be a gem of a movie and a very successfully told one too.

You can't start with the introduction of Jake as then you have no proper introduction of THE GUNSLINGER himself!! The Drawing of the Three is a complete new chapter in the series and so it should be a new movie. I really can't believe we're talking this. Sod No Hate Just Debate politically correct bullshit. If I were a producer with you guys, I'd have walked out.

It's irrelevant to an extent anyway as these books should be a TV series. 7 movies is gonna undercut the books far too much and could well be a failure as far as us readers are concerned. From what little I know of Harry Potter those films are fuck ups. Don't do it to The Dark Tower. Just buy a farking bigger TV and make it a TV series.

[Fievel]

I don't disagree with your sentiments Kirks.
I'd love to see it done on HBO as a series.
BUT...................

Solve the Jake issue.

[Cpt Kirks 2pay]

I don't disagree with your sentiments Kirks.
I'd love to see it done on HBO as a series.
BUT...................

Solve the Jake issue.

Wonders of make up. Filming his age chronologically as you can in accordance to the story, so he ages as an actor as he does as a character. Any change in age you could either disguise as you make him change anyway under the physical changes he would undergo as the story develops. What I mean is that you're gonna dirty his face up, stick a freaking hate on him, his hair grows, basically he is appearance changes as the story goes on. So he changes in accordance to this.

OR - if not, and if he still is supposed to look the same in appearance, yet the actor's face still ages anyway, then again, disguise or mold it into the story.

The character may stay the same age and the actor might take say 3 years to film, but I dunno, you could do stuff to his face through the wonders of film magic, make up or even CGI (It CAN be your friend!) to either disguise his aging or make him look the same age to an extent.

I dunno, I could live with any other recognition of the actor's aging that is left over from this. I can suspend some disbelief.

I just don't wanna see Gerard Butler or Clive Owen as Roland.

[TheBaxter]

it's simple: jake should be played by gary coleman... or if you can't get him, emmanuel lewis.

[justcheckin]

it's simple: jake should be played by gary coleman... or if you can't get him, emmanuel lewis.

Benjamin Button... so he will grow old backwards.. yeah!

[Bloo]

Solve the Jake issue.

animate the sucker

[Cpt Kirks 2pay]

Solve the Jake issue.

animate the sucker

Oy?

[Bloo]

Animate the whole thing, the whole saga, that's how I'd solve any aging problems and it would also be somewhat cheaper and we're not saddled with recognizable faces, or poor actors

[Fievel]

Animate the whole thing, the whole saga, that's how I'd solve any aging problems and it would also be somewhat cheaper and we're not saddled with recognizable faces, or poor actors

That's really the easiest answer, isn't it?
But even then you're riddled with more questions.
Hand-drawn? CG?
What style animation?
American? Asian? Other?

[Cpt Kirks 2pay]

I sorta picture Susan Delgado to look a bit like Taylor Swift in this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wRkoGKQ8qQ (Don't ask me what I was doing watching that)

So I can sorta agree with the young Scarlett Johansonn suggestion made earlier.

Poor 'ol Susan Delgado. How do you deal with that? Some bitch Witch killing your lover that you were gonna spend your entire life with?!

[Bloo]

Animate the whole thing, the whole saga, that's how I'd solve any aging problems and it would also be somewhat cheaper and we're not saddled with recognizable faces, or poor actors

That's really the easiest answer, isn't it?
But even then you're riddled with more questions.
Hand-drawn? CG?
What style animation?
American? Asian? Other?

I've always kind of imagined it similar to the HBO Spawn animated series, with a mix of hand drawn and cg

[justcheckin]

Only problem now is do you upset the comic book fans if you change they way they are drawn too much...

[TheBaxter]

i think jake should be played by this kid

[justcheckin]

i think jake should be played by this kid

He should have said, "I like to eat turtles."

[justcheckin]

Who would play young Roland?

[Fievel]

Who would play young Roland?

Hopefully an unknown that isn't cast by anyone that worked on The Phantom Menace.

[justcheckin]

Who would play young Roland?

Hopefully an unknown that isn't cast by anyone that worked on The Phantom Menace.

What's the matter... you don't like this face?

[TheBaxter]

i just finished reading the last book. i'll get myself to the book thread once i've had time to read through the whole thread (spoilers and all). however, the first thing i want to say is this: i know who should do the soundtrack for these movies/miniseries/whatever. the answer's actually quite obvious, when you think about it.








GUNS 'N ROSES

think about it. guns. and roses. there is no other choice.

seriously though, given axl's track record, if they did do the soundtrack, it would take longer than it took king to finish writing the series. however, i did listen to 'don't cry' right after finishing the last book, and i think it would be a great choice to play over the end credits at the end of the last film/episode.

[Cpt Kirks 2pay]

Damn you Baxter for finishing the book before me and now I have to ignore your post in case of spoilers. How does it feel now to have a taste of your own ignorant medicine?

Damn, I can't even come back to read your reply in case you spoil things for me even more inherent in said reply. Therefore I have to disregard this actual post. Damn, I'm therefore ignoring my own post now too. Damn you Baxter!

[Bloo]

I always imagined Nick Cave doing the music for The Dark Tower

that said I enjoyed Slash's work on THE WRESTLER and would pay to see Cave and Slash work togather

[Fievel]

Damn you Baxter for finishing the book before me and now I have to ignore your post in case of spoilers. How does it feel now to have a taste of your own ignorant medicine?

Damn, I can't even come back to read your reply in case you spoil things for me even more inherent in said reply. Therefore I have to disregard this actual post. Damn, I'm therefore ignoring my own post now too. Damn you Baxter!

The Crimson King's name is Rosebud.

[justcheckin]

Damn you Baxter for finishing the book before me and now I have to ignore your post in case of spoilers. How does it feel now to have a taste of your own ignorant medicine?

Damn, I can't even come back to read your reply in case you spoil things for me even more inherent in said reply. Therefore I have to disregard this actual post. Damn, I'm therefore ignoring my own post now too. Damn you Baxter!

The Crimson King's name is Rosebud.

omg, I knew it...

[Fievel]

NICE!!!!!!

[travis-dane]

I still cant get over the fact that the story ended with that huge Fistfight between Roland and The King. I mean, King builds this epic story and then he ends it with a fucking fistfight.
Jesus.

[Cpt Kirks 2pay]

FARK!!!!! Can't...... rRRRrreeeeeaaaaadddddd!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Fievel]

I still cant get over the fact that the story ended with that huge Fistfight between Roland and The King. I mean, King builds this epic story and then he ends it with a fucking fistfight.
Jesus.

What's even worse was thatit was a word-for-word copy of this scene.

[travis-dane]

I still cant get over the fact that the story ended with that huge Fistfight between Roland and The King. I mean, King builds this epic story and then he ends it with a fucking fistfight.
Jesus.

What's even worse was thatit was a word-for-word copy of this scene.

Fucking Elvis!

[Fievel]

Crap. Thar previous post should have looked like this:

I still cant get over the fact that the story ended with that huge Fistfight between Roland and The King. I mean, King builds this epic story and then he ends it with a fucking fistfight.
Jesus.

What's even worse was thatit was a word-for-word copy of this scene.

[justcheckin]

FARK!!!!! Can't...... rRRRrreeeeeaaaaadddddd!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is actually funny that you are torturing yourself by not reading the spoiler info...

Get off your arse and read the damn thing already!

[TheBaxter]

i'm still trying to get over the fact that roland was a ghost the whole time

[Cpt Kirks 2pay]

Something about a Ghos... oh sod off Bax, I read too much already.

Even quoting your post nearly made me see even more of what you read. Enough has been ruined as it is.

[TheBaxter]

well then, you REALLY don't want to know what happens to Oy. he contracts rabies while protecting the ka-tet from a rabid wolf, and jake has to shoot him

[travis-dane]

well then, you REALLY don't want to know what happens to Oy. he contracts rabies while protecting the ka-tet from a rabid wolf, and jake has to shoot him

Like in Rec 2?

[Cpt Kirks 2pay]

I think Susan Delgado should be played by her as she appears in this video..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xg3vE8Ie_E

Now THAT'S casting!!! None of this thinking of any actress I saw in my last seen movies* or anyone famous off the top of me head. But someone you came across in a crowd of thousands and you're just good at remembering faces and people and can fit them perfectly to another person like remembering what pieces fit into what hole in, like a million piece puzzle!

*If anyone here casts the dude in this video to be young Roland I'll aim at them with my heart!!

[Fievel]

She was pretty good on Saturday Night Live a couple of months ago.
Interesting casting idea.... I like it!

[justcheckin]

Not bad... she looks so young. However, Susan was really young.

[Fievel]

HOLY SHIT!

Stephen King's The Dark Tower Coming to Theaters & TV

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.

Edit- Okay, now that I've calmed down and read it...... FUCK!

1. Akiva Goldsman?!?
2. A "movie trilogy and TV series"?!?!?!?!?! What the hell is that all about!? Why give part of the story the theater experience (and quality) and some of it just on TV!?? That's a shitty way to go.
3. Akiva Goldsman?!?

[Lord Voldemoo]

Wow! Not sure how I feel about this, honestly. I'm torn between a desire to see these characters on the screen and a terror that this story may not be adaptable (or at least not very well). I'm pretty curious about the idea that this will be a trilogy of films AND a television series? How does that work, exactly? A trilogy in and of itself would be bad news, I think. There's too much story there for 3 films...but if it's supplemented by a series as well (using the same actors?? are we talking side stories, here?? I'm so confused).

I guess maybe I could see the trilogy following the prime arc of the characters (Gunslinger, Drawing of the Three, parts of Waste Lands, parts of Wolves, Song of Susanna, The Dark Tower) with the television show supplementing the stories that are not a direct part of the prime arc (but no less important...and in some cases more interesting) like Wizard and Glass, the Callahan in America parts of Wolves of the Calla, etc.

But that could end up so fragmented. Maybe they try to cram all of the books into the trilogy (maybe minus Wizard and Glass, which would be a tragedy), and use the series as a prequel to tell the stories leading up to Gunslinger from the comics and Wizard?

No idea. Need more info. But they'd better not fuck this up.

EDIT: and yeah, Fievel, I'm with you on Akiva. My stomach hurts.

[Fievel]

Main site linked to this article which goes into more detail.

The three are in discussions on a scenario that would see an adaptation begin as a movie, to be written by Goldsman and directed by Howard, that would lead to a TV series produced by Imagine’s small-screen division.

I feel a lot better about that route - making The Gunslinger a movie and then going to TV. But... and this is a but so big that Sir-Mix-A-Lot would approve... it would HAVE to be on HBO (or Showtime). This series can't be half-assed and it can't go on Netwiork TV where it would be neutered and be at the risk of being cancelled.

[Seppuku]

Ron + Akiva are two of the most milquetoast men in Hollywood. Set your expectations to low.

[Fievel]

I just posted this general idea in the talkback, but they NEED to get Robin Furth involved with the scripting process.
Hell... get her involved from step one of any discussions regarding what to keep from the books and what to cut..