Weird encounter I had….I live in Hamilton Ontario in Canada…
So about two months ago I went to see my hairdresser at a very high end salon in Hamilton and we usually talk A LOT throughout the session. She told out of nowhere that the following week she had off work since she would be going to film set in the city to do hair for the cast. When I asked her, she said: "well, its not really a big film set, what it is is a cast and director creating a small sample piece that they are going to show for a production company and Stephen King, and if he approves, they will proceed with the Dark Tower series." She was a little ignorant of the the project and the people involved while I was just blown away since I am a Stephen King fan.

Hope this helps, she could have been lying or something, but it didn't seem that way. I don't know much else about it, but I assumed it was big news?

Would it have to be seven films (one-per-book)? The first volume is much slimmer than the others. The fourth is an extended flashback. The fifth is a long, long, long buildup to a fight which is over pretty quickly. I reckon they could do it in four.

No..Nuh…no! Noooooooooo!!! Say it isn't sooooo! They can do this! Some one can do this right!

I'm saddened by this. I understand (and respect) Abrams keeping his professional distance, but I can't help but think the series would benefit from having such a devoted fan create the world he sees in his mind's eye. While there would be a great amount of effort put in on by a non-fan to keep things accurate while still having the necessary balance for the medium, details integral to the "feel" of the work can be lost by someone who is working on a project solely because of a contract.

oh man…this news sucks. When i read that JJ Abrams had secured the rights to the Dark Tower series, i was relieved. And having witnessed his talent in Alias & Lost & Star Trek, i thought he was the perfect guy to do justice to the DT series. I totally agree with Prof Beej that the series would benefit from having such a devoted fan create the world he sees in his mind's eye. If there's one person who shouldn't be afraid to adapt Sai King's magnum opus, it is Abrams. Especially if Sai King himself is of the opinion that no matter how an adaptation works out, the actual writing will always be there to fall back on (he wrote something to this effect in one of 'The Gunslinger Born' comic books).

In case Abrams shies away from this, i do hope someone like Peter Jackson or Christopher Nolan or Clint Eastwood (Roland's inspiration incarnate) gets to pick this up. I would hate to see this series go to the dogs like so much of Sai King's other works.

being a huge fan of SK and the DT series, i have to say that i still like the idea of a tv mini-series better than the one of making seven movies…making the films would: 1.take a Huge amount of time, not only to make, but to release (this is no LOTR trilogy, this is seven movies we're talking about); 2.there would be a lot of pressure from the studios to make the movies box office hits, probably turning them into this huge commercial franchise, and that would be, well, unforgivable; 3.it would be much easier to make the books into a mini-series because you wouldnt have to format each book to fit into a standard 2h film (which would inevitably mean changing and cutting the content of the book)..whereas in a mini-series you'd have plenty of space and time to develop the characters and the story; 4.the DT books have lots of twists and turns and a non-linear story, which would be hard to translate to a movie..audiences not familiar with the books would be very confused and they wouldnt get it…anyway, i could go on and on about this. but then again, it still feels like the DT deserves to be made into films…i mean, its a masterpiece. but a complicated one at that. im glad that Abrams chooses not to rush this thing…although i feel that, if anyone, he would make a good job. but yeah, its a tricky thing, and as much as i would love they had the project finally going, i still prefer that they take their time to make it right.