Ron Howard has spoken out about the lack of movement on his and Akiva Goldsman’s adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series.
The duo have shopped the project around various studios and came close to making it with Warner Bros with Javier Bardem in the lead role of Roland, but it’s returned to the murky waters of “In Development.” Speaking to Empire, Howard stated that he hasn’t abandoned the project, but the nature of the series is proving difficult to adapt.
“The Dark Tower is something that we’re still working on. We’ve all taken a vow of silence about the progress, the headway, what we think our timetable is, because I don’t think I realised how much media interest there was in the title and how much excitement there was. It’s a fascinating, powerful possibility and even Stephen King acknowledges it’s a tricky adaptation, but to be honest, from a financing side, it’s not a straightforward, four-quadrant, sunny superhero story – it’s dark, it’s horror. That edge is what appeals to me, the complexities of those characters is what appeals to all of us. And I think Stephen King really respects that, with Akiva Goldsman and myself, that that’s what we love about it, and that’s what we want to try to get to the screen.
“So my answer is: it got delayed, it’s never gone away. We’re working on it, and Stephen is very patient with us, and Akiva’s just gone off and directed a movie, I’m continuing to work, but the Dark Tower dreams – fever dreams, rather – are still there, but we’re not going to give it a timetable.”
Howard also acknowledged the fact that the author himself makes an appearance in the later books. “I will admit Stephen has said, ‘I don’t have to be in this.’ But that’s not to say that he won’t be!”
You can buy The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger in paperback for £5.75 at Amazon.co.uk.
