“The Dark Tower” Teaser Poster
In a writing career that stretches over fifty novels, hundreds of short stories, and over forty years, Stephen King considers The Dark Tower to be his magnum opus. The dark fantasy series which involves western gunslingers and demonic villains takes place over eight central novels, but its influences and its secrets have spread to other King works, including The Stand and Hearts in Atlantis. The series follows the gunslinger Roland as he hunts The Man in Black across multiple dimensions while in search of the Dark Tower, which is believed to be the center of all possible universes.
The Dark Tower is one of those pieces of fiction that seems almost impossible to imagine adapted to film but also irresistible to filmmakers looking for a challenge. It’s said that Frank Darabont, who directed some of the finest (and most faithful) King adaptations in The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption, once briefly considered adapting the Dark Tower books before either he or King apparently decided the fit wasn’t right. JJ Abrams stepped up next but he didn’t stay with the project for very long (Abrams would adapt future King works, however, including the 11.22.63 miniseries and the upcoming Castle Rock TV show, both for Hulu). Ron Howard was next and he had a very ambitious plan for how he would bring the world to life, which involved doing a film and then following up that film with a season on HBO and then another film and then I guess more HBO and so on. During this time, Russell Crowe and Javier Bardem were both rumored for the lead role of the gunslinger Roland (early art from the books based Roland’s look on Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name character).
I think it’s safe to say that The Dark Tower series ranks right up there near the top as far as King books that fans feel especially passionate about. So the back-and-forth nature of the film adaptation has been difficult to watch for some of us. But now it looks like it’s finally coming together. Sony will release The Dark Tower on August 4th 2017 (pushed back from its original January 13th date).
The film stars Idris Elba (Thor) as Roland Deschain and Matthew McConaughey (Interstellar) as The Man in Black. Supporting cast includes Jackie Earle Haley (Watchmen), Katheryn Winnick (Vikings), Abbey Lee (Mad Max: Fury Road), Fran Kranz (Cabin in the Woods), Claudia Kim (Avengers: Age of Ultron), and Tom Taylor (Doctor Foster). The film is directed by Danish filmmaker Nikolaj Arcel (A Royal Affair) based on a script rewrite co-written by Arcel, Anders Thomas Jensen (Adam’s Apples), and Batman & Robin screenwriter Akiva Goldsman (groan). If all goes well, the apparent plan is to follow the Ron Howard idea of telling some of the Dark Tower story on TV as well as making future films.
The Dark Tower hits theaters on August 4th, 2017. Watch the film’s New Trailer below:
