Trying to get Stephen King‘s seven book (well, now eight book with the recently released mid-quel The Wind Through the Keyhole) fantasy series The Dark Tower adapted to film has been a difficult process for director Ron Howard, producer Brad Grazer, and producer/writer Akiva Goldsmith to say the least. Universal initially had the rights to the project, but then passed on it because of its monster budget. Howard and company then took the project to Warner Bros., which was considering taking up the project in March.
Now Deadline is reporting that Warner Bros. is finally coming to a decision on whether or not it will move forward with the expected three-film/two television series mega-project. However, in the meantime one of the key pieces of the production — Javier Bardem, who was set to star as the gunslinger Roland Deschain — has dropped out. Instead, Howard is turning to Russell Crowe (whom Howard directed in A Beautiful Mind and Cinderella Man, which incidentally were also produced by Grazer and co-written by Goldsmith) to take up Roland’s guns.
I still think Warner would be the perfect home for this project, being that it owns HBO (which can handle the TV component) and with its Harry Potter, Batman, and The Hobbit series the company has proven it can handle multi-film sagas better than any other studio out there. Though I would prefer Christian Bale as Roland (which was once reported by The New York Post), I can definitely see Crowe in the role. But it’s all up to Warner Bros. now, and with the Harry Potter and Dark Knight series concluded, I think Warner Bros. is ready to take on another franchise.
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