Universal Reinforces The Dark Tower’s Foundation
Steve Barton
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The Hollywood Reporter
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/dark-tower-stay-at-universal-188326
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Well now. This is good news. A few days ago it was reported that Universal was on shaky ground in terms of getting the multiple TV and theatrical adaptations of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower built the way it was envisioned by director Ron Howard. Today their tune has changed. A bit.
According to THR the massive Universal-Imagine-NBC adaptation of Stephen King’s mystical Western opus hit snags last week with some reports claiming that the project was in turnaround. The project did hit budgetary problems, and the fall start date was shelved. But Ron Howard, Brian Grazer and Akiva Goldsman have regrouped to try to bring the budget down.
Insiders say the end result is that Goldsman is now rewriting the script to reflect a lower price point. No start date has been given although it will certainly not be the fall. For now the project stays with Universal.
Ron Howard unveiled plans in September to adapt The Dark Tower as three films, the first of which he plans to direct, bridged by a pair of TV series. Universal soon came on as a distributor, given Imagine’s production deal with the studio; NBC (or an affiliated cable net) was expected to carry the TV component.
Javier Bardem’s (pictured right) deal to play the lead role of Roland Deschain is nearly closed, while Howard is still eyeing thesps for other roles.
We’ll keep an eye on how this all shakes out. Stay tuned.
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