Idris Elba as Roland Deschain, Matthew McConaughey as Walter?

Deadline is reporting that Idris Elba (Luthor, Pacific Rim) has potentially been tapped to play the lead role in The Dark Tower movies. No deal is signed but apparently director Nikolaj Arcel and the producers are interested. The actor might be facing off against Matthew McConaughey who would plan Walter O'Dim aka Randall Flagg aka...well he has a lot of names but from the first movie he is simply the Man in Black and the series main big bad. If talking about casting again it seems like a good sign the film might go forward again. I am very interested to see how they interpret the books which are not really ideal for a movie series but probably be just fine for a TV series a la The Walking Dead. Turns out there was some controversy in some quarters on the casting choice but Stephen King gave it a seal of approval.

To me, the color of the gunslinger doesn't matter. What I care about is how fast he can draw...and that he takes care of the ka-tet.

— Stephen King (@StephenKing) December 12, 2015

Release Date Set for The Dark Tower

In a bit of surprise, Sony Pictures has announced a release date for The Dark Tower as January 13, 2017. That is an interesting release date for what is supposedly a tentpole movie but considering the weirdness of the book series and the extreme challenge if presents for adaptation, the lack of other competition might actually be wise. The rest of Sony's plans can be found here.

Director and Writer Locked Down for The Dark Tower

A month after the initial rumor, Sony Pictures have revealed they have officially signed Nikolaj Arcel (A Royal Affair) as the director of The Dark Tower. In addition Arcel recruited Anders Thomas Jensen (Election Day) to help write the film building on some of the script work from Akiva Goldsman and Jeff Pinkner. The current plan is a combination of movies and TV series to tell the entire 8 novel story of Roland Deschain and his quest for The Dark Tower.

New Director Set for The Dark Tower Movie; TV Series in Works

In a bit of a surprise, plans for The Dark Tower have moved into a positive direction for the second time in a row as a director has been found. Nikolaj Arcel has been tapped to direct the first movie of what Sony Pictures is hoping to be a franchise of movies. Arcel directed "A Royal Affair" and co-write the critically acclaimed Swedish version of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". This is still in negotiations so it could change. The director reveals also confirmed that plans for the franchise still include a complementary TV series that will be produced by Media Rights Capital. No further details on that. The original plan, before two studios backed out due to cost, had been to do at least three movies with two TV series in between each movie. Now it seems the same approach is in play but instead of trying to get financing for the whole thing up front, they are taking a one segment at a time approach.

The Dark Tower Rises Again At Sony Pictures

Deadline is reporting that Stephen King's The Dark Tower movies are back on. Sony Pictures has signed on along with MRC to co-finance The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger. For the last three or so years producers Ron Howard and Brian Grazer have been trying to get the property off the ground using various script versions written by Akiva Goldsman. Both Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. considered making movies off of the ambitious series that might include a movie trilogy and several TV series. However they eventually passed, most likely because of the high costs involved for such an unproven property. The Sony Pictures version is a completely re-written script that probably drops the cost of the movie down and I suspect doesn't force a trilogy or other sequels unless the first movie proves itself at the box office. Basically the ambitious "Lord of the Rings" like planning that went into the series is now gone and I suspect they are going to do the series one movie at a time just like most franchises. Probably for the best as the studios are wary of spending a whole lot of money up front with no guarantee of return. While The Dark Tower has its die hard fans, it really isn't as huge a series as many think and probably the average movie goer has no knowledge of it. The books themselves, while imaginative, can be difficult to slog through at times. Also, in classic King tradition, the endings of each of the novels are weak with the final novel of the series having the kind of ending that only a literature freak would love. None are ideal for a movie so it will be interesting to see how things are re-written to please mainstream audiences globally. Of course there is still a long process to go. Sony may be willing but still need a director, cast, budget and a whole lot more so even if Sony were to fast track this, we are probably looking at a 2017 to 2018 release date at a minimum.