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Author Topic: The Dark Tower  (Read 32756 times)
Jamiko
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on: September 08, 2010, 02:20:25 PM

Universal Lands Stephen King's 'The Dark Tower' And Plans Unprecedented Feature/Network TV Adaptation

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Universal Pictures and NBC Universal Television Entertainment have closed a deal to turn Stephen King’s mammoth novel series The Dark Tower into a feature film trilogy and a network TV series, both of which will be creatively steered by the Oscar-winning team behind A Beautiful Mind and The Da Vinci Code.

Ron Howard has committed to direct the initial feature film, as well as the first season of the TV series that will follow in close proximity. Akiva Goldsman will write the film, and the first season of the TV series. Howard’s Imagine Entertainment partner Brian Grazer will produce, with Goldsman and the author.

I'm into book 4 right now and was wondering if this would ever get onto the big screen. Hopefully this one happens.
pxib
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Reply #1 on: September 08, 2010, 04:04:13 PM

Goldsman's sci-fi/fantasy book adaptations are the two Dan Brown films plus I am Legend and I, Robot. He also co-wrote Batman Forever, then wrote Batman & Robin and Lost in Space. Grazer produces about three films a year, plus television... so he's all over the map. Ron Howard... well. From Splash to Cocoon, from How the Grinch Stole Christmas to A Beautiful Mind.

We'll see. This could go either way.

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Sheepherder
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Reply #2 on: September 08, 2010, 04:55:07 PM

pxib
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Reply #3 on: September 08, 2010, 06:45:23 PM

Yeah.

I'm not holding my breath. He hasn't written anything that simultaneously felt epic and worked. Plus Howard is a profoundly mixed bag... and also short on successful epics. I think his closest is Far and Away. Yikes.

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Hawkbit
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Reply #4 on: September 08, 2010, 07:32:55 PM

I'm just not seeing this transferring into TV/movie very well.  They had to mix it up significantly for what parts of the graphic novel they've done so far. 

No talk and all action. 
Khaldun
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Reply #5 on: September 09, 2010, 06:16:49 AM

Akiva Goldsman only succeeds by accident: he is otherwise hardwired to hackery. So no, I wouldn't hold out much hope.

Not to mention the fact that I think this is a really freaking hard property to adapt even for someone talented. Especially once it takes the self-indulgent metafictional turn in the later books, which some people really liked but I have to say I thought fell pretty flat. Figuring out how to do that in a film or miniseries and have it work? Needs a really imaginative approach.
Cyrrex
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Reply #6 on: September 09, 2010, 09:01:29 AM

My favorite books ever (I'm one of those that loved the conclusion, so grain of salt and all that)...but how can ths be translated to film?  And then into a TV series?  How many books are the films meant to cover?  Hell, book 4 by itself would need more than one movie to do it any sort of justice. 

I don't see this working.  It doesn't have the draw of something like LOTR, and doesn't have much in the way of cool sci-fi or fantasy action to make up for that problem.

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Ozzu
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Reply #7 on: September 10, 2010, 09:36:49 AM

From the article:

Quote
The plan is to start with the feature film, and then create a bridge to the second feature with a season of TV episodes. That means the feature cast—and the big star who’ll play Deschain—also has to appear in the TV series before returning to the second film. After that sequel is done, the TV series picks up again, this time focusing on Deschain as a young gunslinger. Those storylines will be informed by a prequel comic book series that King was heavily involved in plotting. The third film would pick up the mature Deshain as he completes his journey.

Seems pretty well thought out to me and really about the only way it could be done.
Lucas
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Reply #8 on: September 10, 2010, 05:11:19 PM

This is going to be VERY ambitious and the Movie+TV Series+Movie etc. is quite bizarre and also unheard of (at least with this scope), I think.

I don't know... It's my favourite series ever: I started reading it in 1987 and finished it in 2003; it embraced my childhood, puberty and adulthood. It's basically a dream coming true that could easily turn into a nightmare :P

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Reply #9 on: September 11, 2010, 06:41:11 AM

I really loved the early Dark Tower books.

Wizard and Glass completely killed my interest in the series. Hooray for a prequel in the middle of the series!  Ohhhhh, I see.

Ozzu
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Reply #10 on: September 11, 2010, 06:56:14 AM

I really loved the early Dark Tower books.

Wizard and Glass completely killed my interest in the series. Hooray for a prequel in the middle of the series!  Ohhhhh, I see.

That was my favorite of the whole series. Weird.
Ghambit
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Reply #11 on: September 12, 2010, 01:23:00 PM

If they use the Marvel graphic novel adaptations (penned by Jae Lee btw), this will be win.  If they get too cozy with the actual chronicle, fail.

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Riggswolfe
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Reply #12 on: September 13, 2010, 07:49:19 AM

This will fail. Badly.

Akiva Goldman writing it? Strike one.
Ron Howard directing it? Strike two. He's a decent director but this is way out of his league. It just is.
Movie + Series combined? Strike three. The series won't stand on its own and people who don't watch the series will get lost in the trilogy of movies.

This needs to be a series. Flat out. Preferably on a premium channel like HBO. Do a season for each book and you're good to go.

"We live in a country, where John Lennon takes six bullets in the chest, Yoko Ono was standing right next to him and not one fucking bullet! Explain that to me! Explain that to me, God! Explain it to me, God!" - Denis Leary summing up my feelings about the nature of the universe.
Cyrrex
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Reply #13 on: September 13, 2010, 08:43:44 AM

I really loved the early Dark Tower books.

Wizard and Glass completely killed my interest in the series. Hooray for a prequel in the middle of the series!  Ohhhhh, I see.

 ACK!

You take that back, you filthy liar!

W & G is probably my favorite single book of all time.  You are a broken, and probably terrible, person.

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Hawkbit
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Reply #14 on: September 13, 2010, 08:53:40 AM

I loved the first three books (though the second was a cut above the rest of the series, imo) and when W&G came out I tried to read it multiple times and quit somewhere around the 20% mark. 

Finally after a year or so I pushed myself to read the whole thing and realized it was a masterpiece - it was the first of the series where King had really changed, grown up in his writing.  If you never made it through it, push yourself to get past the start.  Because when it starts getting good, it gets really good.
Cyrrex
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Reply #15 on: September 13, 2010, 09:03:27 AM

I loved the first three books (though the second was a cut above the rest of the series, imo) and when W&G came out I tried to read it multiple times and quit somewhere around the 20% mark. 

Finally after a year or so I pushed myself to read the whole thing and realized it was a masterpiece - it was the first of the series where King had really changed, grown up in his writing.  If you never made it through it, push yourself to get past the start.  Because when it starts getting good, it gets really good.

I'm hugging you through the internet right now.  And yes, that is a banana in my pocket.

W & G was the first book that ever brought me to tears.  Ironically, the only other book(s) to ever do it was later in the series

"...maybe if you cleaned the piss out of the sunny d bottles under your desks and returned em, you could upgrade you vid cards, fucken lusers.." - Grunk
Lucas
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Reply #16 on: November 05, 2010, 02:10:29 PM

NBC Universal announced the release date of the first movie:

17th May 2013

http://www.stephenking.com/promo/dark_tower_film_and_tv/news_tracker/
--


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Reply #17 on: November 05, 2010, 02:15:49 PM

Actuall W&G was the first one of the series that I ever read. So, it kinda worked out.

I thought it was awesome.

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FatuousTwat
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Reply #18 on: November 05, 2010, 06:25:26 PM

Eh, IMO the first one was the best and it was downhill from there. I never really liked Eddy or the rest of the "secondary" characters.

Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?
Typhon
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Reply #19 on: November 06, 2010, 07:39:22 AM

Eh, IMO the first one was the best and it was downhill from there. I never really liked Eddy or the rest of the "secondary" characters.

Ditto. Never got past book four, I thought the monorail train part was so fucking stupid I rage-quit the series.
Lucas
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Reply #20 on: November 06, 2010, 10:36:09 AM

This morning, while browsing around the Net looking for reactions to the above mentioned announcement, I spotted this interesting bit:

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2010/10/29/when-will-you-get-to-see-the-dark-tower-movie-and-tv-series/

This article mention  another website you might already be familiar with if you are a regular follower of TV series, "Spoiler TV":

http://www.spoilertv.com/2010/10/nbc-full-drama-development-slate-for.html

This other article is dated 27th October 2010 and talks about *next season* projects (Autumn 2011 onwards) and The Dark Tower (TV Series, not the movie) is mentioned in what looks like a "press-release" style blurb.
---

Yes, maybe it's just an error by NBC or Spoiler TV itself, but if you read the original press release about the project, you know that the idea was to release the first movie and then the first part of the TV series.

Maybe they are changing plans?

And, while we are at it, if you read the wholesaga (spoilers, of course!!!), how would you structure the Movie/TV Series project? (for example: first movie=The Gunslinger, then first TV Series about Roland childhood and Wizard and Glass story).

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Ruvaldt
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Reply #21 on: July 21, 2011, 10:39:24 PM

Arise!

Apparently this project is now deceased, according to Deadline.com, and others: http://www.deadline.com/2011/07/universal-wont-scale-stephen-kings-the-dark-tower-studio-declines-to-make-ambitious-trilogy-and-tv-series/

The project always seemed overly ambitious to me. 

I stopped reading the series at book five, but maybe I should finish it.  Also, apparently King is about to release an eighth book.   Ohhhhh, I see.

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Ghambit
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Reply #22 on: July 23, 2011, 06:35:09 AM

How long does Universal own the rights?  As long as they own them, yah then we can say it's deceased.  But if they gave them up I find it hard to believe someone wouldnt pick up the I.P.  Especially if something like Cowboys and Aliens does well.

If they use the Marvel graphic novel adaptations (penned by Jae Lee btw), this will be win.  If they get too cozy with the actual chronicle, fail.

This seems to be the case.  They bit off more than they could chew trying to scale the entire story.  Seriously, they should just work with the comics and either do a 3 hr. epic film or a series ala Firefly.

/iamsad   (more pout-rants later)

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TheWalrus
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Reply #23 on: July 24, 2011, 12:45:34 AM

After just finishing watching Rango I was thinking Mr. Olyphant would be a good pick for the guy. He's got the voice sure, and he could be olded up a bit while still being young enough to do all the strenuous shit. Poor Clints just too far gone.

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Reply #24 on: July 24, 2011, 09:42:45 AM

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Lucas
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Reply #25 on: March 01, 2016, 10:02:34 AM




Yes, looks like it's finally happening. Idris Elba will play Roland (you read it right); Matthew McConaughey will be the Man in Black.

http://www.ew.com/article/2016/02/29/dark-tower-rises-stephen-king-idris-elba-and-matthew-mcconaughey (some tiny spoilers about the saga here and there, and expect more in the comments section if you wanna venture there)

It's a long and somewhat confusing article. For now, it looks like the first movie won't start at the beginning of the saga. Article says there's room for more and King says the possibility of an accompanying TV series is not abandoned.
« Last Edit: March 01, 2016, 10:05:17 AM by Lucas »

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Reply #26 on: March 01, 2016, 10:05:22 AM

I don't know why they don't just Game of Thrones this thing. There's no way enough movies get made to justify the full breadth of the story.

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Reply #27 on: March 01, 2016, 10:53:14 AM

I don't know why they don't just Game of Thrones this thing. There's no way enough movies get made to justify the full breadth of the story.

Honestly, about 2.5 books worth of it were pretty bad or are unfilmable. 

- Gunslinger, Roland is kind of an asshole and it is a short book.  I love it, but it is pretty divisive.
- Drawing and Wastelands are great.
- Wizard and Glass was a good book, but you aren't going to film a prequel in the middle of your series with all new actors.
- Wolves and Susannah were pretty blah, with some good parts. 
- Final was pretty good, but I'm not sure how much of that is filmable.


I could see a pretty good Trilogy made out of that material.
- Meet Roland, bring in Eddie and the rest.
- Wastelands and some background stuff, train?
- Big battle, events to tower?
BobtheSomething
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Reply #28 on: March 01, 2016, 11:21:50 AM

The last three books ruined it for me.  You could tell King's heart wasn't in it, and the last book was pretty much a big fuck you to everything that made the series enjoyable, as well as shitting all over Insomnia, Black House and Hearts in Atlantis.  However, the actual ending, after Roland entered the tower, was perfect.
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Reply #29 on: March 01, 2016, 05:26:48 PM

This will have to be brutally trimmed. Stephen King needs to be kept the fuck away from it while they're doing it. It has enormous potential but only if they ignore his failings in the later going. I have in some ways never regretted more a commitment to finish reading a series. Even Wheel of Time was by the fifth book or so captive to its author's naked need for more money and his weird narrative fetishes in a way that was almost monotonous and predictable and therefore curiously tolerable. This is a case of a gymnastic routine that was breathtaking in the beginning and by the end was the kind of landing that involves a compound fracture in one leg.
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Reply #30 on: March 01, 2016, 07:07:04 PM

So, this isn't worth reading? I heard about the movie and figured maybe I'd check the series out since I've liked a bit of King's stuff, but skimming the thread here while trying to avoid spoilers it seems the end is sort of shit.

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Reply #31 on: March 01, 2016, 11:13:37 PM

I liked everything about the entire series except for the part where he puts himself in the book. Sorry no spoiler tag, but there it is. It didn't ruin the series for me, as it is a world in epic, but it really pissed me off at the time.

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Reply #32 on: March 02, 2016, 04:24:54 AM

It's worth reading. The first 2/3 is great, then there's some meh stuff, then at least for me there was some  ACK! ACK! ACK! badness that left me feeling much less positive about the series.
Lucas
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Reply #33 on: March 02, 2016, 05:20:09 AM

Yep, it's definitely worth reading. The beginning of the saga has an even more weird atmosphere and feeling if you somehow manage to grab a copy of the non-revised first book (but the whole introduction to the series, written by King in the revised edition, gives you some perspective on how bizzare was its development and why King decided to take the story to a certain..."direction" in the last three books). But yeah, "Song of Susannah" was dreadful and I was disappointed about the portrayal of two  characters in the last book (especially THAT crazy one :P).


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Reply #34 on: March 02, 2016, 03:19:51 PM

I liked everything about the entire series except for the part where he puts himself in the book. Sorry no spoiler tag, but there it is. It didn't ruin the series for me, as it is a world in epic, but it really pissed me off at the time.

Yah, it's easily the worst part of the series.  The end was a bit disappointing as well.  Wizard and the Glass is a bit hard to read because you know how it's going to end (but overall its' a good tale if brutal).

I like the series and it's some of my favorite of all of King's works.

Idris as Roland blunts some of the race dynamics between him and Susannah, but they could easily just make that aspect of her less cartoony and more sinister.
« Last Edit: March 02, 2016, 03:22:02 PM by Rasix »

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