The Dark Tower movie and film mega-deal!

[label]

Ok, so apparently the deal is they'll do the Gunslinger as a movie to kick of the franchise and then continue the story over the life of a TV series. That could work really well provided we get a huge motion picture to end the series out.

Still not sure I like who's involved but at least that's a pretty cohesive plan that would allow them to tell the story properly.

 

[The Comedian]

I think Howard can pull it off.

But Quentin Tarentino would be better.

 

[Trent Roman]

Yeah. The first book, particularly, is a bloodbath. I'm not sure I see Ron Howard directing his protagonist through a massacre.

Although, honestly, I think they should consider changing up the order of the story. The first book is less than clear on setting, motivation, etc., something that probably wouldn't appeal to general audiences. Too, Roland is a complete bastard for most of the first book, becoming sympathetic really only during the course of his tribulations in Drawing of the Three. I'm not suggesting that Roland's dangerous, anti-hero qualities be overlooked, but perhaps, to introduce the character, one might want to start with an episode a little more nuanced than the heartless mass-murderer of the first book.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[Reverend]

Yeah. The first book, particularly, is a bloodbath. I'm not sure I see Ron Howard directing his protagonist through a massacre.

Oh I don't know about that; did you see Ransom? That ending was defiantly messy.

 

[Trent Roman]

I'm talking less about FX and more about morality. Ransom had a pretty typical good guy/bad guy setup. In Gunslinger, Roland ruthlessly massacres an entire town full of people, including a brief lover being used as a human shield, and all of whom are clearly overmatched by the gunslinger. Although I heard that King later revised that scene to make it less brutal; I've not read that version, but perhaps they'll opt for the revision for any adaptation.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[label]

In Gunslinger, Roland ruthlessly massacres an entire town full of people, including a brief lover being used as a human shield, and all of whom are clearly overmatched by the gunslinger. Although I heard that King later revised that scene to make it less brutal; I've not read that version, but perhaps they'll opt for the revision for any adaptation.

I've read that version......it does paint Roland in a slightly better, more understandable light so I suspect they would indeed use it.

 

[Admiral James Kirk]

ARGH! I meant movie and TV series!

Finally, something to look forward to after Lost ends.

In a whopping deal coming together quickly, Stephen King, Imagine Entertainment and Weed Road are in discussions to make a screen trilogy and TV series out of King's epic novel series The Dark Tower. Akiva Goldsman will write the script, Ron Howard will direct it, and his Imagine Entertainment partner Brian Grazer will produce with Goldsman and King.

Ron Howard can't direct The Gunslinger. His sensibility isn't gritty enough for that kind of movie. He's too bland. They should ask Eastwood to direct it.

Ron should cast Henry Winkler as the oddball Roland encounters early in Book One.

That's so weird because I've always pictured Winkler as Henry Dean.

 

[Gojirob]

ARGH! I meant movie and TV series!

Finally, something to look forward to after Lost ends.

In a whopping deal coming together quickly, Stephen King, Imagine Entertainment and Weed Road are in discussions to make a screen trilogy and TV series out of King's epic novel series The Dark Tower. Akiva Goldsman will write the script, Ron Howard will direct it, and his Imagine Entertainment partner Brian Grazer will produce with Goldsman and King.

Ron Howard can't direct The Gunslinger. His sensibility isn't gritty enough for that kind of movie. He's too bland. They should ask Eastwood to direct it.

Ron should cast Henry Winkler as the oddball Roland encounters early in Book One.

That's so weird because I've always pictured Winkler as Henry Dean.

I would say that his deliberate efforts to move away from Opie+Richie might leave Howard open to making this work in its violence.

Winkler as the Great Junkie? Yeah. His age could actually work there, showing how far Henry has fallen in the drug abuse. Still, yet another image comes to mind :

Richie : Go, Fonz. There Are Other Worlds Than These.
(Richie falls; MIB flees in distance; Fonz snaps his fingers and he trips; Turns back to cliff)
Fonz : Hey, Red--you okay?

Richie : Yeah--it was only a three foot drop.

 

[Admiral James Kirk]

 

[Reverend]

I'm talking less about FX and more about morality. Ransom had a pretty typical good guy/bad guy setup. In Gunslinger, Roland ruthlessly massacres an entire town full of people, including a brief lover being used as a human shield, and all of whom are clearly overmatched by the gunslinger. Although I heard that King later revised that scene to make it less brutal; I've not read that version, but perhaps they'll opt for the revision for any adaptation.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

In all honesty I never got around to reading the book, so I didn't understand the context of your initial statement. However, now that I have a better idea, I still think Howard can pull it off. (see below)

ARGH! I meant movie and TV series!

Finally, something to look forward to after Lost ends.

In a whopping deal coming together quickly, Stephen King, Imagine Entertainment and Weed Road are in discussions to make a screen trilogy and TV series out of King's epic novel series The Dark Tower. Akiva Goldsman will write the script, Ron Howard will direct it, and his Imagine Entertainment partner Brian Grazer will produce with Goldsman and King.

Ron Howard can't direct The Gunslinger. His sensibility isn't gritty enough for that kind of movie. He's too bland. They should ask Eastwood to direct it.

Really? I thought 'The Missing' was pretty damn gritty and worthy of some of the better westerns.

 

[Admiral James Kirk]

I dunno. Maybe I'm just jaded. There's a certain bland sameness in Ron Howard's movies. IMO.

 

[McCoy]

Why not Darabont I wonder? He's done good work with other material of King's.

 

[Admiral James Kirk]

He did fine with Green Mile and Shawshank but The Mist sucked ass. Problem with Darabont is he's used to making movies that get critical acclaim. His B-Movie instincts are all gone. That makes me sad. He's the guy who wrote Dream Warriors and The Blob two of the finest horror movies I had the experience of seeing when I was growing up in the 80s. Back then he knew how to play to our baser instincts. These days he's a sensitive artiste. The Mist should have been complete and utter exploitation. Like The Blob. Instead he had to get all artsy and profound. Fuck that. I wanna see monsters eat people. I don't want to see the main character kill his own son and all his fellow survivors only to find out if he'd waited three minutes they all would have lived. What the fuck is this? Bergman? Cut the existential shit Darabont! I don't care that the greatest monsters come from within! I want to see a giant spider rip that kids head off! That's exploitation! DAMN! The Mist coupled with Darabonts awful Indiana Jones script makes me say HELL NO to him as the director of the Dark Tower.

The Dark Tower is a spaghetti western with monsters and robots. It's a low budget exploitation movie done on a big budget. Give this movie to somebody who understands exploitation. Like Darabont's former collaborator on Dream Warriors and The Blob: Chuck Russell. Or Clint Eastwood. Or... Or.. Or... Shit even Joss Whedon would be better than Darabont or Howard. Whedon knows exploitation and weird west stories. There's a shitload of guys who could do thise movie well. Robert Rodriguez for example. There are so many better fits for this movie than the people who are doing the movie.

 

[Dream]

I loved the first three books. They should do movies, that way it won't be cancelled after one season.

 

[Admiral James Kirk]

Are the DT graphic novels any good? I know they're set between the flashback scenes in Wizard and Glass and the start of The Gunslinger.I hope they're good because I've ordered everything from The Gunslinger Born to The Fall of Gilead. I also can't wait for King's next DT novel The Wind Through the Keyhole.

 

[Nardpuncher]

Are the DT graphic novels any good? I know they're set between the flashback scenes in Wizard and Glass and the start of The Gunslinger.I hope they're good because I've ordered everything from The Gunslinger Born to The Fall of Gilead. I also can't wait for King's next DT novel The Wind Through the Keyhole.

I bought the first one The Gunslinger Born in hardcover (it collects all 7 issues) and it's basically stuff from Book IV like you said.

I read all of the DT books for the first time starting last November and finished in February and I didn't see any decline in quality over the series.

I think it may be possible that some people read the first one in the mid to late 80s, the second once in the late 80s and the third in the early 90s and may possibly have many fond memories of reading those books and thus the nostalgia may make them think the new ones that all came out from 2003 to 2005 are not as good.

 

[Reverend]

He did fine with Green Mile and Shawshank but The Mist sucked ass.

The hell it did! It was one of the best sci-fi horrors I've seen since John Carpenter's 'The Thing' and easily one of the best Stephen King adaptations to date. Maybe my opinion was coloured by the fact that I had no idea what I was watching ahead of time but it was still damn effected and that ending had some real stones.

 

[Nardpuncher]

^^ I really didn't like the ending.
It was trying too hard to be, well, hard. It felt like lazy writing, just end it with something that's supposed to be shocking and deep.

 

[McCoy]

The Dark Tower is a spaghetti western with monsters and robots.

Heh. I have to disagree with this statement. I think it's a little more than that. I really liked The Mist. Especially the ending.

By the way, what's this about a new Dark Tower book?

 

[Reverend]

^^ I really didn't like the ending.
It was trying too hard to be, well, hard. It felt like lazy writing, just end it with something that's supposed to be shocking and deep.

If you read the ending of the book then the film is actually very faithful, though it takes the next logical step. Personally I appreciated the ambiguity that gave the crazy bible basher woman's interpretation some possible merit.

Plus, to me at least it was the only way it could have ended. The alternatives would have been either a fairy tale "ride off into the sunset and live happily every after" ending that just would have felt wrong and somewhat cheep, or the one from the book that (for a film) would have felt incomplete and unsatisfying.