Bardem Or Mortensen as Roland?

The New York Post, not exactly a bastion of fact checking, is reporting that Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men) is the front runner for the role with Viggo Mortensen (The Lord of the Rings) "a close second" for the role of Roland Deschain in The Dark Tower series that Ron Howard is producing. Whatever actor is chosen would have to commit to at least three movies and appear or star in one of the two TV series that is planned to air in between the movie releases.

Of the two, fans post want Viggo Mortensen as his Lord of the Rings experience and of any Hollywood actor probably most matches the imagined "look" of Roland which is basically the classic desert worn western movie gun for hire. However, there is a reason he is running in second as getting that kind of commitment from the actor will be incredibly difficult. He also has a rumored history of being difficult on set. This doesn't even include the high salary he can and will demand.

This assumes the report is true. Considering the series is probably at least a year away from beginning any meaningful pre-production, I would be surprised if casting has begun as the first step would be to have at least a working script and detailed outline for the series so actors would know what they are committing themselves too.

More from Howard on The Dark Tower

Ron Howard continues with prepping Stephen King opus, The Dark Tower for movies and television. In an article from Hero Complex the director and producer discusses some of the preliminary mental prep and passion he has for translating this project. The full article is here, below are portions of Howard's comments.

“I really can’t stop thinking about it,” Howard said while shaking his head. “We’ve been meeting and talking and I’ve been reading and researching and just kind of living with it. I’ve been constantly going through stuff and I’ve just been re-listening to it [on audio books] on my iPod and we’ve been sending e-mails back and forth, ‘What about this approach? What do you think of this idea?’ We’re finding the shape of it. We’re moving quickly now, as quickly as we can, and I feel challenged in the most exciting ways.”

”We worked on it for a year before we even met with him,” Howard said. “It was all about putting something together that was good enough and getting such an understanding of the material that Stephen King would say, ‘Yes, that’s the way into this story.”

“It’s the ongoing evolution of the characters and the discovery,” Howard said of the comics that are plotted by Robin Furth and scripted by Peter David with King overseeing everything as creative director. “There are new interpretations of the rules of the world and the story. It’s a really useful and compelling part of this already fascinating creative journey that we’re on.”

“It’s different than anything I’ve ever done and in really interesting ways,” the 56-year-old said. “With ‘Da Vinci’ the mandate was different. That was about getting the story and the action and focusing on acting. With this, there’s this entire world and all of these references and there are the books and the graphic novels and just talking to Stephen and it’s all this ongoing conversation with the material and it’s really exciting. In all of it, he leaves a lot open to interpretation and so it gives a great deal of latitude.”

“It’s one of the things that really fascinated me about the challenge,” Howard said. “We love Roland the Gunslinger but we also like coming back to these worlds and these places. On one hand it is grounded and relatable but on the other hand it’s scary and strange and mind-blowing. There’s this dream quality to it and the mystery in that is what it’s all about – being compelled forward without all the answers.”

Howard Updates on Dark Tower Progress

Director Ron Howard provided a brief update on the Dark Tower series of movies and television shows that is in the works. The plan remains to turn the 7 books into the a trilogy with a TV series filming in the gaps between the films.

"It is going well, and it has been incredibly stimulating to work on," Howard said. "It's dense, a great author's life work is not to be taken lightly. It has been utterly fascinating to explore it, and we are having great creative conversations. I've begun tossing and turning at 3 in the morning over it, so that's a good sign."

It will be interesting to see what the results are as the books themselves don't really lend themselves to an easy adaptation, especially for a movie. I am especially curious to see how the ending of the epic is handled considering King's original ending essentially negated the entire journey that probably only Lit majors would love but most others would find unsatisfying.

The Dark Tower Gets Release Date

Universal has released a slate of release dates for multiple movies they seem committed too making. On of them was for the The Dark Tower. The film, which will be directed by Ron Howard, has a release day of Friday, May 17th, 2013. A very long wait for fans but finally proof that an end is in site on seeing at least one of the novels translated for the screen. The initial plan includes a TV series so not entirely sure if this means the series will start before or after the first movie is released.

The Dark Tower Trilogy, TV Series Planned

At one time JJ Abrams was a contender to take Stephen King's epic series and bring it to movies screens worldwide. Back in April, Abrams plans were dashed when Ron Howard and Brian Grazer took over the potential franchise. Since then nothing was heard. Finally it seems there is movement on the picture with an ambitious plan involving both the TV and movie divisions at Universal (which owns NBC).

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the overall goal is to take the seven books in the series, along with comics that fill out The Gunslingers life story and create a trilogy of films with a TV series that will act as bridges to each sequel. The first film will be directed by Ron Howard and written by Oscar winner Akiva Goldsman. The pair previously worked together on A Beautiful Mind, Angels & Demons, and The Da Vinci Code.

"I've been waiting for the right team to bring the characters and stories in these books to film and TV viewers around the world," King said. "Ron, Akiva, Brian along with Universal and NBC have a deep interest and passion for the 'The Dark Tower' series and I know that will translate into an intriguing series of films and TV shows that respect the origins and the characters in 'The Dark Tower' that fans have come to love."

Howard, Grazer and Goldsman plan first film in the trilogy to be immediately followed by a TV series that will bridge the second film. After the second film, the TV series will show the adventures of The Gunslinger as a young man as a bridge to the third film and beyond.

"The worlds of Stephen King's 'The Dark Tower' series are richly detailed, inter-locking and deeply connected," Goldsman said. "By telling this story across media platforms and over multiple hours--and with a view to telling it completely--we have our best chance of translating Roland's quest to reach 'The Dark Tower' onto screen. We are proceeding with tremendous excitement, fidelity to the source material and, quite frankly, no small amount of awe at this opportunity."

This seems like an incredibly ambitious plan for a series of books that is going to be very difficult to translate to film. It should be interesting to see if this plays out but I suspect that these initial plans will undergo multiple changes.

Abrams Loses Dark Tower to Ron Howard

THR's Heat Vision Blog reports that J.J. Abram's Bad Robot production company has lost the rights to Stephen King's The Dark Tower book series. Instead Imagine Entertainment, lead by the long time team of Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, and Akiva Goldsman are in discussion to secure the rights from King. The plan is the turn the seven book series into a three movie trilogy followed by a TV series.

Last year, while promoting the DVD release of Star Trek, Abrams said "The ‘Dark Tower’ thing is tricky. It’s such an important piece of writing. The truth is that Damon and I are not looking at that right now." I guess their inaction as Abrams is occupied with a lot of other projects is behind the reason for losing the rights.

As a fan of the series, I do not envy the person that has to translate those seven books into a film. I imagine the approach will be much like the Lord of the Rings where entire sections of the books will be skipped over. I just wonder how they will handle the ending (which has always been King's weakness) of the epic series.