Will We See Stephen King's 'Dark Tower'?
Mistake alert, big mistake alert...
Okay, this makes sense considering the names involved and recent history, but I can tell you adapting Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series of novels for the film or TV is a big mistake.
The Hollywood Reporter is saying that Stephen King and J.J. Abrams are in talks to bring King's "Dark Tower" book series to the screen, but it isn't quite clear which screen that will be, the silver or the small.
King's "Dark Tower" series spans seven novels, many of which are extraordinarily long, and is not at all suited for any kind of adaptation without losing the core elements of the series. The THR article says that the potential cost might call for a large-scale cinematic treatment, but that would have to be a large commitment, look what happened with Eragon and it isn't like this is only three books like Lord of the Rings, it's seven.
Apparently a number of entities have been chasing "Tower" but King is looking for strong filmmaker involvement, which is where Abrams enters the picture. Of course Abrams sounds like a good choice for the material and I think he would do satisfactory with it, but that won't cut it, the stories are too long and too big. A multi-year television show might scratch the surface, but the costs would be astronomical considering the fantastical nature of the whole thing, and to pinch pennies would ruin it all.
I can't remember where I read it, but I could have sworn King said he would never allow this material to be adapted into film form for just these reasons, but maybe I am dreaming.
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Well, if they decide to do the whole saga, I hope they change the ending which was a big slap in the face. I would cast Viggo Mortensen as he has the right build, eyes and voice to play Roland. Heck, I don't even know why I'm thinking about it. It'll probably get turned into a TNT Miniseries…
Yeah, that is my worry. Although I think TNT does pretty good with their miniseries attempts, but this story is just too big for something like that and also too fantastical. It would cost a ton to make this into a movie so to make it for TV would be really doing it a disservice. However, that is a great casting choice if Viggo Mortensen were to play Roland.
Change the ending? This was Stephen King's creation, he has the right to do whatever he wants with it. Changing the story is how a film adaptation *can* ruin a book… however in this case I strongly believe that the decision to put this into movie form is still not a good idea. These stories are… epic in their imagery and the story is so fantastical that I don't think the movie could ever live up to how we picture each and every scene in our mind. Even casting characters would be almost impossible; everyone has their own Roland in their head. And doing it as a TNT miniseries would just cheapen the whole series – if they are hell-bent on doing it they would have to do it on the big screen for sure.
Also, you were correct bradbrevet, Stephen King had definitely made comments about doing a Dark Tower movie in the past, and he was *always* against the idea. I'm not sure what has changed his mind…
I'm not so sure. I'm a big fan of Stephen King just as much as the next guy. I'm not to Perky about them making a film.
Why?
Almost all Stephen King novel's are brilliant, there too brilliant. Stephen has a gift for writing no doubt, His writing is so good, it'd makes the adaption to a screenplay near impossible. Hence why writer's get paid the measily One-thousand dollar's and rip everyone off by doing a four hour TV move, featuring a great book by Stephen King tuned into a crap movie.