Stephen Kings 'The Dark Tower' to be directed by JJ Abrams?

[green]

http://movies.ign.com/articles/764/764210p1.html

Who is Lost in The Dark Tower?
IGN has the exclusive scoop here!
by Stax

February 13, 2007 - IGN has exclusively learned that J.J. Abrams is poised to direct The Dark Tower, based on the Stephen King literary series.

Sources advised us that an official announcement is forthcoming. We have been unable to determine whether Dark Tower will be a film project or a TV miniseries, although the latter is a more likely prospect given the complex nature of King's seven-book series. Given Abrams' success on the small screen -- and King's well known love for the Abrams-produced TV series Lost -- the tube seems a better fit for The Dark Tower.

Sources also added that Abrams is indeed only producing Star Trek XI. It was recently reported that Abrams would not direct Trek XI, as many had assumed, but would instead turn his attention to a secret Paramount project titled Cloverfield. Might Cloverfield be a codename for The Dark Tower? Or a completely separate project?

(Interestingly enough, Entertainment Weekly did an interview last year with King, Abrams and his Lost producing partner Damon Lindelof, who reportedly brought a rare first edition of The Gunslinger to the meeting.)

Often described as King's magnum opus, The Dark Tower, as Wikipedia reminds us, "tells the tale of lead character Roland Deschain's quest for the 'Dark Tower.' The Dark Tower is often described in the novels as a real structure, and also as a metaphor. Part of Roland's fictional quest lies in discovering the true nature of the Tower. The series incorporates themes from multiple genres, including fantasy fiction, science fantasy, horror, and western elements."

"In the story, Roland is the last living member of a knightly order known as gunslingers. The world he lives in is quite different from our own, yet it bears striking similarities to it. Politically organized along the lines of a feudal society, it shares technological and social characteristics with the American Old West, as well as bearing magical powers and the relics of a highly advanced, but long vanished, society. Roland's quest is to find the Dark Tower, a fabled building said to either be, or be located at, the nexus of all universes. Roland's world is said to have 'moved on,' and indeed it appears to be coming apart at the seams — mighty nations are being torn apart by war, entire cities and regions vanish from the face of the earth without a trace, time does not flow in an orderly fashion; even the sun sometimes rises in the north and sets in the east. As the series opens, Roland's motives, goals, and even his age are unclear, though later installments shed light on these mysteries."

This news about J.J. Abrams comes on the heels of Marvel's recent launch of the limited comic book series The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born.

 

[deathshead2]

Not a big fan of JJ. I find lost to be an average show and MI3 was just terrible. Well this project already fails for me anyway. Don't like King and thought the first Dark tower book was written by a 5 year old. So I already don't like this movie. Heh.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Not a big fan of JJ. I find lost to be an average show and MI3 was just terrible. Well this project already fails for me anyway. Don't like King and thought the first Dark tower book was written by a 5 year old. So I already don't like this movie. Heh.

I feel the complete opposite and i'm glad he's going for this instead of Trek which i don't like all that much,i just hope he makes a Dark Tower movie not a TV series

 

[Speedball]

Awesome.
I recently read the new comic book, and It seems like a very interesting universe.
Can't wait.

 

[zer00]

eh...I'm not a huge fan of JJ so I'd rather have someone else tackle The Dark Tower but it could turn out to be good. I think I'd rather have a series than a movie. It would already have to be compressed for a series.

 

[TheBat812]

I'd rather it be me making the movie than JJ Abrams. But I guess he's not a bad choice. I hope it's for TV (a very high budget one), so I can still do the films later, haha.

 

[Agentsands77]

Well, making THE DARK TOWER into a film series/television miniseries is something of a good idea (it's a dangerous one, though - it's one of those series' you do excellently or not at all).

I'm not happy with Abrams' involvement, though. LOST gets a "meh," and M:I:III was woefully mediocre. THE DARK TOWER deserves a better man at the helm.

 

[Speedball]

M:I:III was awesome.
Where are all the people who love it today?

 

[Agentsands77]

M:I:III was awesome.

The only thing awesome about it was Philip Seymour Hoffman and the Vatican sequence. Other than that it's a bunch of okay, but not great, action scenes and a story that's about as thin as the story for M:I:II.

 

[Mr. Socko]

I liked MI3. Don't know much else about JJA.

 

[Downhere]

M:I III rocked and I love most of Abrams other work (Lost, Alias), so this could be interesting.

 

[Spider-Fan]

I feel Dark Tower works better as a series than a movie. If this is a series, than JJ would be a nice choice for this.

 

[Superman]

I feel Dark Tower works better as a series than a movie. If this is a series, than JJ would be a nice choice for this.

I agree. Dark Tower would never work as a movie. There is just to much story to cram into a 2 hour movie. Hell even a 3 hours wouldn't work. For this to work and be any good at all it must be a series.

 

[OverMyHead]

The guy who should direct the Gunslinger should be the guy who directed The Proposition.

What's the name of that director, again?

 

[spdrknight]

Interesting news, I have been waiting for the Dark Tower Series to be brought to the screen, big or small, for a long time. This comes as a shock though that Abrams would be taking it on. But, I love Lost and so I'll wait to see the vision that Abrams has in mind before judging. Besides... he may just be producing, not directing.

On a another note... got my copy of the Gunslinger Born and I love what Marvel is doing. Fantastic stuff!

Heres hoping my favorite book series is not missed up by Hollywood.

[Cross fingers.]

 

[spdrknight]

On another note... any ideas about who shoulder play Roland? Old and young...

 

[Rez]

I would love to see it, but only if there are heavy revisions to the last three books- because lets face it, they sucked.

MI3 was good and Lost is as well, so I count his involvement as a positive thing.

However, if this winds up on ABC I will completely disregard it, as it needs to be a fairly uncensored HBO, Showtime, or film series.

 

[TRWalter Kovacs]

o **** this **** tarintino should do this or sam mendes

 

[CAH]

Well, TDT is completely awesome...and I like JJA's work...but I don't know what will come of this...I think that if Stephen King were to write the screenplay for each film (if they do a series of films)...and JJA directed each...then I think we could have something.

But, I just really get the feeling that JJA prefers scif fi over anything else...so...could be a bad idea. (I know some would call TDT "sci fi"...but I consider it "fantasy western" more than anything else.)

CAH

 

[The Dark Defender]

I agree. Dark Tower would never work as a movie. There is just to much story to cram into a 2 hour movie. Hell even a 3 hours wouldn't work. For this to work and be any good at all it must be a series.

It could be a series of movies.

LOST is easily one of the best shows in tv, and MI:III is the only decent MI movie, so show or movie he'd be a great choice.

 

[Hunter Rider]

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/31690

- And the JJ Abrams bit. King said that Damon Lindelof and JJ Abrams did express interest, especially Damon, and wanted to develop the project. King said he was resistant to everybody in the past, but trusted Abrams and Lindelof. He said he trusted Frank Darabont, too, but he felt Frank always had too much on his plate. When Abrams and Lindelof approached King about trying to make the project work, King responded, "I'll tell you what... you can option the books and see what you can do with it." Nothing is set up, but they have the option... and if it doesn't work out, then no harm no foul, yeah? How much did Abrams and Lindelof pay for the option? $19, of course.
So, yes. They have the option. I talked with King an hour or so after the panel (a true geek out moment if there ever was one) and got more out of him about Abrams' plan. I'll have that out to you in less than 2 days, so keep an eye out for that in the very near future.

 

[green]

I hope this works out.

 

[bored]

I hope it gets made, but the only way to do something of that scope properly would be either five or six films or a tv miniseries.

 

[cerealkiller182]

This book series would have to be at least a trilogy, probably longer. THe major problem is the series is 7 books long so in theory the series would be 7 movies long (one movie for each book) this is a major commitment to ask of anyone. The cast of LOTR basically gave up three years of their lives passing on other projects to be apart of it.

Another problem is the child character. aging from 10 to 13 causes more difference than you would think. Its a problem although a minor one with the Harry Potter movies. An original worry was that Emma would develop (get boobs to the laymen) during the shoot. An exception here is I am not sure they film these back to back (the only way i think The Dark Tower could be filmed.

 

[Marcus M.]

After reading the dark Tower, I could care less about this being a movie. There was no excuse for what happened when Roland went through the final door in the tower. I think any ending would have been better than that.

Spoiler

If Roland was caught in one long never-ending loop, then what was the point of it all?