JJ Abrams with a short update on The Dark Tower *spoilers*

OneTooFree

http://movies.ign.com/dor/objects/88514 ... 42809.html

very short clip, but he & Lindelof are gonna wait until after LOST is finished before getting to work on it

ValleyGal

Thanks for sharing!!!

I had no idea they were even considering making that series a movie. I'm totally stoked for it to happen . . . but they had better not screw it up, those are some great books!

OneTooFree

the first 4.5 are great... the second half of Wolves of Calla, Song of Susannah & The Dark Tower are not of the same quality. it is still one of my favorite stories of all time however

but still, i am very excited that JJ & Damon are working on this project! it was announced a year or two ago that they were working on it. apparently, King has been very very very selective about who does what with this material (the prequel comics that Marvel has put out the last few years have been phenomenal btw), but after speaking to the two creators King agreed to sell the movie rights to them... for $19!

soulsinging

Interesting. I read the Gunslinger, but never continued on with the series. It seemed like a huge time investment and I've got other stuff I've been wanting to read. Still, I liked the Gunslinger pretty well so maybe one day I'll give the rest of the series a go.

I'm more excited about HBO's series on George RR Martin's 'Song of Ice and Fire.'

BlackThirteen

FuzzyDunlop wrote:

the first 4.5 are great... the second half of Wolves of Calla, Song of Susannah & The Dark Tower are not of the same quality. it is still one of my favorite stories of all time however

but still, i am very excited that JJ & Damon are working on this project! it was announced a year or two ago that they were working on it. apparently, King has been very very very selective about who does what with this material (the prequel comics that Marvel has put out the last few years have been phenomenal btw), but after speaking to the two creators King agreed to sell the movie rights to them... for $19!

Really? I think out of all the books wolves of the calla was my favorite.

strummers

JJ Abrams?? :? Love the books - not sure about how it'll transfer over.

milarso

strummers wrote:

JJ Abrams?? :? Love the books - not sure about how it'll transfer over.

I remember either reading about, or seeing Stephen King talk about it, and say he wouldn't want it to be a movie, or even a movie series, but rather like a weekly, hour-long HBO or Showtime series that would span a season or two or three or whatever. His line of thought, especially after seeing some many of his books adapted into movies (some great, some flops) was that the Dark Tower was such a robust, intricate story, he didn't want anything left out. It will be interesting to see what comes of this.

LikeAnOcean

soulsinging wrote:

Interesting. I read the Gunslinger, but never continued on with the series. It seemed like a huge time investment and I've got other stuff I've been wanting to read. Still, I liked the Gunslinger pretty well so maybe one day I'll give the rest of the series a go.

I'm more excited about HBO's series on George RR Martin's 'Song of Ice and Fire.'

I only made it through the 4th book, but I must say, The Wastelands (3rd book) was my favorite.

PearlJamaholic

ok i hope lost gets canceled asap!!!

there is no way they can make the dark tower one movie but they could do something like lord of the rings and do all the shooting at once and then edit it down to movies so it feels like one big thing and they wont have to worry about cast members and all that junk between sequels. since i first read the gunslinger the other year i was hoping for a movie, surprised there wasnt one already.

and agreed on the comics being awesome. i think there is one more to go.

OneTooFree

if they decide to do it as movies, i've been saying for a while that they don't need 7 or even 5 movies for this story line. you can make 3 movies around the 2 1/2-3 hour mark and still capture everything that King put into these stories...

Movie 1: Gunslinger (should really only be about 20 minutes) + Drawing of the Three + the first 1/3 of Wastelands (after Jake joins them... which i always thought should've been the ending to Drawing of the Three anyway)

Movie 2: the rest of the Wastelands + Wizard & Glass + first 1/3 of Wolves

Movie 3: the rest of Wolves + Song of Susannah (which is my least favorite of all the books) + The Dark Tower


HOWEVER, i think that Abrams & Lindelof should be going to HBO or Showtime and try to put this down as a 10 part miniseries (like Band of Brothers)...

no matter what route they take, i don't think the material could be in better hands than these 2 guys

BlackThirteen

I think the biggest problem with making the dark tower an ongoing tv series is going to be Jake. If it lasts for more than a year or so the actor playing Jake would age in real life and look older. It would almost be like the actor that played Walt in Lost. They had to write that kid off cause he was looking a lot older than the time frame would allow.

OneTooFree

BlackThirteen wrote:

I think the biggest problem with making the dark tower an ongoing tv series is going to be Jake. If it lasts for more than a year or so the actor playing Jake would age in real life and look older. It would almost be like the actor that played Walt in Lost. They had to write that kid off cause he was looking a lot older than the time frame would allow.

there's no way it should be an ongoing TV series

i was saying it should be 10 one-hour episodes, a mini-series like Band of Brothers

Flagg

This is something I have been waiting for a long time. And I go back and forth on the format. Part of me wants to see animation, part of me wants an HBO mini-series, and part of me wants to see it condensed into a theater movie trilogy.

I like JJ Abrams. I think he'll bring a nice vision to it and he has experience with stories involving flashback and time travel and all of that. King has been a big fan of his and I think its a good match as well.

It is going to depend on the casting though. Who do you cast as Roland?

As far as the books go, obviously he changed direction after his accident. I wonder how he would have finished it if not for that. I rank the books:

1. Wizard and Glass
2. The Drawing of the Three
3. The Wastelands
4. The Dark Tower
5. Wolves of the Calla
6. The Gunslinger
7. Song of Susannah

strummers

Roland - possibly Viggo Mortensen, Vincent Cassell or Christian Bale. Probably go for Christian Bale.

A little outside the box - Guy Pierce anyone??

youngster

strummers wrote:

Roland - possibly Viggo Mortensen, Vincent Cassell or Christian Bale. Probably go for Christian Bale.

A little outside the box - Guy Pierce anyone??

I know this is probably a stretch, but I always figured Hugh Jackman would make a kickass Roland.

strummers

cropduster82 wrote:

strummers wrote:

Roland - possibly Viggo Mortensen, Vincent Cassell or Christian Bale. Probably go for Christian Bale.

A little outside the box - Guy Pierce anyone??

I know this is probably a stretch, but I always figured Hugh Jackman would make a kickass Roland.

Nah - think there's better options for a more 'rugged' looking lead. Although I wouldn't be surprised if he was offered it!

OneTooFree

and now Lindelof has chimed in too

[url=http://movies.ign.com/articles/982/982305p1.html]IGN.com[/url] wrote:

UK, May 13, 2009 - Damon Lindelof and J.J. Abrams could begin work on their long-gestating adaptation of Stephen King's 'Dark Tower' series, as soon as they wrap hit TV show Lost.

The writer has been speaking to MTV News about the hotly anticipated project, and he admitted the scale of the challenge was on a par with adapting Alan Moore's similarly seminal tome - Watchmen.

"Having seen [Watchmen director] Zack [Snyder] go through what he went through on Watchmen in terms of saying 'where can I digress from the material', I just get headaches thinking about changing anything" he said. "It was the defining literary tale of my young adulthood."

His attachment to the material which makes writing the script difficult, says Lindelof: "My reverence for Stephen King is now getting in the way of what any good writer would do first when they're adapting a book, which is take creative license in changing stuff."

King's seven book series has become a cult classic due to its ambitious mix of fantasy, philosophy and narrative complexity. Such a wealth of source material would make it franchise material, according to Lindelof.

"Paramount is certainly looking at it as a franchise movie and thinking about sequels," he said. "But we don't want to get ahead of ourselves. Ideas have been thrown around that are very informal at this point."

as for the casting

strummers wrote:

Roland - possibly Viggo Mortensen, Vincent Cassell or Christian Bale. Probably go for Christian Bale.

A little outside the box - Guy Pierce anyone??

all those guys are too young for Roland. he should be closer to 60 than to 40... if they're gonna get someone from LOST to be Roland, it should be this guy

MayDay10

I gotta start reading this.

I love Stephen King. Havent read this series yet. The best of all time is The Stand, and The Dark Tower seems to have the same type of following.

Drowned Out

MayDay10 wrote:

I gotta start reading this.

I love Stephen King. Havent read this series yet. The best of all time is The Stand, and The Dark Tower seems to have the same type of following.

ditto.
....even tho I haven't read the series ('cept for the Dark Tower), friends' whose opinions I trust have told me it's King's best work...The Stand was the first thing I thought of when I read the talk of a mini-series for the Dark Tower....it's my fav boook of King's, and I didn't like the series at all....don't do it with the Dark Tower! I like the LOTR - style idea. Big budget, epic length, multi-movies....King has had enough film duds, if this series lives up to the hype, I'd hate to see the film version suck.

Flagg

FuzzyDunlop wrote:

and now Lindelof has chimed in too

[url=http://movies.ign.com/articles/982/982305p1.html]IGN.com[/url] wrote:

UK, May 13, 2009 - Damon Lindelof and J.J. Abrams could begin work on their long-gestating adaptation of Stephen King's 'Dark Tower' series, as soon as they wrap hit TV show Lost.

The writer has been speaking to MTV News about the hotly anticipated project, and he admitted the scale of the challenge was on a par with adapting Alan Moore's similarly seminal tome - Watchmen.

"Having seen [Watchmen director] Zack [Snyder] go through what he went through on Watchmen in terms of saying 'where can I digress from the material', I just get headaches thinking about changing anything" he said. "It was the defining literary tale of my young adulthood."

His attachment to the material which makes writing the script difficult, says Lindelof: "My reverence for Stephen King is now getting in the way of what any good writer would do first when they're adapting a book, which is take creative license in changing stuff."

King's seven book series has become a cult classic due to its ambitious mix of fantasy, philosophy and narrative complexity. Such a wealth of source material would make it franchise material, according to Lindelof.

"Paramount is certainly looking at it as a franchise movie and thinking about sequels," he said. "But we don't want to get ahead of ourselves. Ideas have been thrown around that are very informal at this point."

as for the casting

strummers wrote:

Roland - possibly Viggo Mortensen, Vincent Cassell or Christian Bale. Probably go for Christian Bale.

A little outside the box - Guy Pierce anyone??

all those guys are too young for Roland. he should be closer to 60 than to 40... if they're gonna get someone from LOST to be Roland, it should be this guy

Officially excited after reading those quotes.

strummers

Yeah, I agree Roland should probably be played by an older guy - but it's being made in Hollywood !

They may go for Harrison Ford though

vduboise

No to Harrison Ford- More like Ed Harris- I'm still edging to Clive Owen tho as Roland.

strummers

vduboise wrote:

No to Harrison Ford- More like Ed Harris- I'm still edging to Clive Owen tho as Roland.

God no, Clive Owen is awful! ~IMO

vduboise

strummers wrote:

vduboise wrote:

No to Harrison Ford- More like Ed Harris- I'm still edging to Clive Owen tho as Roland.

God no, Clive Owen is awful! ~IMO

I love Clive Owen- yes not all his films are great, but there is something about him...

But Ed Harris would be my pick as Roland. Ford just moves like an old man (yes, he is one)- but Harris can still make the moves and look good doing it. And Roland is pretty active throughout the series.

MayDay10

Going to the book store today to pick up the 1st few books.

Cant wait to dive in.



Where/how do you think Stephen King will be remembered in 250 years? I got into a convo about that last night.

rrivers

Fuzzy, you are right about the first 4.5 being great. When King put himself in, it really went downhill. There are still some great parts in the last 2.5 books, but it's not as good as it was and, for me, it's having himself in the story. One of the worst ideas ever.

Wizard and Glass was my least favorite when I read it when it first came out, but I re-read the first four when Wolves was coming out and loved Wizard the second time through. I don't know what I was thinking!

The last book might be my favorite excluding the King part and the ending. I LOVED the beginning of that book. The first 400 pages are amazing! For the movie, they should change the ending.

youngster

I thought the ending of the series was good and I also liked how King included himself as a character in the story. Not many authors would dare go there but he did and did it well. I started this series in 2002 and didn't finish it till 05 when the last book came out. I would love to read all the books again before any movies are made.

Back_Pedal

FuzzyDunlop wrote:

the first 4.5 are great... the second half of Wolves of Calla, Song of Susannah & The Dark Tower are not of the same quality. it is still one of my favorite stories of all time however

It seems most of his post-car accident work hasn't been up to par with his older stuff. But, I'd also have to say it's my favorite series of all time. (I'm thinking of getting a rose wrapped around a revolver for a tattoo, to symbolize the books, Guns n' Roses, and my somewhat split personality)

libragirl

That sounds awesome.

OneTooFree

Back_Pedal wrote:

It seems most of his post-car accident work hasn't been up to par with his older stuff. But, I'd also have to say it's my favorite series of all time.

very true... i don't know what happened post-accident, but King's writing became much more formulaic after he got hit by that van. it's a shame too. i'm not sure i really get the purpose of the can-toi creatures or writing himself so completely into the story like he did.


i started re-reading the series again a few months ago & just finished Drawing of the Three today... stilll my favorite of the series, but i can't wait to get into The Wastelands

rrivers

cropduster82 wrote:

I thought the ending of the series was good and I also liked how King included himself as a character in the story. Not many authors would dare go there but he did and did it well. I started this series in 2002 and didn't finish it till 05 when the last book came out. I would love to read all the books again before any movies are made.

Some people followed the series for close to 30 years only to find that he has to make the quest again, and you thought that was good? I'd love to hear why you think that.

The reason many authors would not insert themselves in the story is that it is dumb and totally takes the reader out of the story every time the author is mentioned.