The Dark Tower Movie and TV adaptation
 

So I know that there are a number of people on here who are into the Dark Tower book series, I myself am only up to the 4th book but am loving it.

So with it being announced around a month ago that there are plans to make the books into a movie trilogy, with 2 TV seasons in between to fill in gaps, I was wondering who people would like to see cast in certain roles.

It might just be because I'm a bit Lost obsessed but I could definitely see Josh Holloway as Roland

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_D38eBGiDXz...Sawyer+gun.jpg
http://www.dynamicforces.com/images/...unslinger1.jpg

Are Abrams and Lindelof still attached to this? I know they were chosen by Stephen King to make this into film/tv, but last I heard they had moved onto other things and it was back on the shelf.
I know Frank Darabont wanted to do it as well but Stephen King turned him down because of how many of his books he'd already adapted

Apparently Lindelof turned it down in the end because he's a massive fan of the series and was afraid of not doing it justice.

Currently Ron Howard is signed on to direct the first film and first tv series.

Lindelof is currently writing the Alien prequel for Ridley Scott to direct. That should be great.

I'd much rather Abrams or Darabont be directing Dark Tower. Ron Howard is great at what he does, but I don't really think this is his type of movie.

Well he has directed a fantasy film with Willow. Take that however you want as I know some people enjoyed it some don't.

The whole idea of attempting to appeal to audiences in both TV and Film is definitely a bold and interesting one though. No idea how well it will go over with people.

I think that's a great idea. I think it will succeed. It's a concept that probably couldn't have succeeded in the past, but with the way TV shows are produced and followed now, I think it can.
In years past you probably would see a tv series made and conclude before the movie, or the movies made first and the tv series expand upon that. Having movies and seasons being made during the same time period is new territory for sure.

The show will obviously have to be of a high quality to fit the movies. I'm not sure if they'd want to distribute through HBO, because they want to reach a wider audience.
I'm also not sure The Dark Tower belongs on network TV. Perhaps it will end up on AMC. They are owning dramatic television at the moment.

They just have to do a good job of making their film audience aware of the television show, and vice versa.

Another thing to consider for the TV series would be the casting though. Whether or not any big Hollywood movie actors would be willing to work on a TV show has to be considered. Even though obviously it's not jsut simply a television series, but the actors cast would be working on the films and series for years.

I did read somewere though that the second of the TV series would be entirely of Rolands past, so I guess if that were the case they could potentially film that with the different actors during the same time as filming the second movie.

The most important part would be finding an actor for Roland who is on board to play the part for such a long timeframe in both mediums.
Supporting cast can be handled a bit differently, since they can figure out which characters they want to appear regularly in both, do occasional cameos, only appear in the movies, or shoot material during the films for the TV show or vice versa.
There are a number of different ways to handle it based on how they write/film/ and cast

I support Josh Halloway being in anything really. He's a great actor and he's been in hardly anything but Lost. Now that Lost is wrapped I really want to see him in more things.
I was upset that he never got to play Gambit, and last I heard of him he was up for a role in Avengers, but I don't know where that stands. It's likely he was up for Hawkeye, who was already cast. Or he could be another character but I doubt it.

I've just looked him up and apparently he's going to be in Mission: Impossible IV. He's also cut his hair short.

The hardest part,i in my opinion, will be finding an actor to play Jake, that will still look young enough after a few years to not really notice the age difference.

Only on the third book, but yeah this series is awesome. Would much rather see a movie for each book, rather than this trilogy/tv deal.

HAHA Ron Howard, you are so fucked.

Lots of rumours floating about that the three main actors being considered to play Roland are Hugh Jackman, Daniel Craig and Viggo Mortensen.

I figured the first movie would be the gunslinger
the second and third books would be the first series
the fourth book would be the 2nd movie
the fifth and sixth book the 2nd series
and the 7th book the third movie

I don't see why they wouldn't do it that way.

I imagine they should film the first movies all at once then do the tv show second but doing it all at once with sputtered releases is the way to go with a project this big imo

I loved the first book but was completely sick of them by the forth.. Never finished them..

Of those three, I'd say Viggo all the way.

I agree. I'd say Viggo, Craig and Jackman. In that order.

I really would prefer Viggo to the other two by quite a bit. Daniel Craig would be okay, and I don't really think I'd like Hugh Jackman at all.

I think all 3 actors are great, but for this role Viggo is the easy choice there.

I'm not really sure who I would prefer out of Craig and Mortensen. I don't think it should go to Jackman though as you said Jeri.

I would most probably prefer Mortensen, although my only concern would be that by the end of the series he would be in his early 60s, so I would just have to hope he wasn't showing his age too much.

I really am just worried as well that it will be a bit difficult for them to keep a fanbase when switching from film to tv.

So Javier Bardem has been stalling over whether or not to take up the role of Roland Deschain for about a week now. I was going to wait til he had confirmed or denied it before posting this but whatever.

There's also talks that a film adaptation of 'The Stand' might be in the works. Might be just me but I think there's far too much good stuff in The Stand to cram into a 2 or 3 hour movie.

Well they've been in talks for absolutely ages, but apparently Javier Bardem has officially signed on to play Roland.

That could be good. I thought Christian Bale (who was considered) would have been great too, tho I believe he can do any role. Also, Daniel Craig would have also been a good choice.

I read the books years ago, probably 8 years ago. Loved it.

Bardem is out, and now Russel Crowe is apparently being pegged for the role.

Honestly, I'm not that interested anymore, as I finished the series, and after Wizard and Glass, it jumps the the shark in an enormous way. The whole thing is just downhill from there.

The twist at the very end is actually really good. Unfortunately it is proceeded by a condescending rant from King, about how we shouldn't even want to know the ending. As if one can't appreciate a good ending ALONG with the journey it took to get there.

Still tempted to read Wind Through the Keyhole on the chance that it is more like the first 4 books. Won't be going in with high expectations though.

Well this sucked.

Total formulaic cash grab adaptation. If you're a fan of the series, it might be worth redboxing, just for idris elba and mconaughey, since they really nailed their characters.

Really fucking wanted this to be good, but its so god damn generic. It honestly comes off like a run of the mill youth novel adaptation, which is a problem in and of itself, as the books are not youth novels. Jake being more of a main protagonist than roland doesn't help.

Should have just stuck with the hbo series plan. Way better format for this.

I knew nothing about the book but decided to see the movie. It was "ok". I have gathered from the interweb it is not really anything like the book(s) at all. I could see the framework of a really cool/interesting mythology in it but the movie sort of fell apart, especially in the second of it.

Well this was bollocks. It was like they knew it would be tough to adapt into a movie, so just didn't even try and used only the absolute bare bones of the premise to create... something pretty dull. As an adaptation it's terrible, if it were an original movie concept it would be even worse.