According to THIS, Universal Pictures and NBC Universal Television Entertainment have closed a deal to turn Stephen King's epic series The Dark Tower into three feature films with a TV show filling the gaps between them. On the helm is the creative duo of director Ron Howard and writer Akiva Goldsman (of, sadly, The DaVinci Code and A Beautiful Mind fame). I have to say that although I am not entirely certain of Howard's involvement, Goldsman seems strangely appropriate for the project, considering his work on the terribly underappreciated I, Robot and I Am Legend.
My relationship to The Dark Tower is a bit strange. My nickname Roland comes from it, and I was thoroughly in love with the series in my teen years. However, for some strange reason I never read the last two books, even though I loved Wolves of the Calla. I've never tried the comic book prequels either, although I have them all. Well, I guess this project is as good a reason as any to start a re-read and then delve into unexplored Dark Tower territory.
It is still too early to tell what is going to happen with this project. The matter of finding the right Roland, Jake and Flagg is not a trivial one, and neither is adapting King's massive series for three movies and a TV show. Nothing like this has been attempted before on such scale, and there is also the problem of having a full movie cast play for a year on TV. Still, having my fingers crossed. I'd be extremely happy if the project were to succeed. It's high time there was more than one great fantasy epic on the big screen...
P.S. On top of this post is the single greatest artwork for The Dark Tower - sadly, excluded from all newer editions of The Gunslinger.
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