Ron Howard Talks About “The Dark Tower”

Ron Howard Talks About “The Dark Tower”

Movie News

By our guest blogger, Joe Oliveto

Stephen King’s novels and stories have been adapted into films countless times, sometimes with excellent results (“The Shining”) and sometimes with embarrassing results (“The Tommyknockers”). However, much to the dismay of hardcore King fans, his beloved “The Dark Tower” series could never seem to get off the ground. Consisting of seven novels, few producers saw how the saga could ever be translated to the big screen.

That is, until director Ron Howard and producing partner Brian Grazer stepped in. The duo came up with a solution that involves filming a trilogy of movies with a TV series filling in the gaps between. It may not be ideal, but it’s a new approach and probably represents the best shot this project ever had of getting made.

Speaking to Deadline, Howard had the following to say about the project:

"It is going well, and it has been incredibly stimulating to work on […] It's dense, a great author's life work is not to be taken lightly. It has been utterly fascinating to explore it, and we are having great creative conversations. I've begun tossing and turning at 3 in the morning over it, so that's a good sign."

Although Howard doesn’t have much experience in this particular genre—the closest he has come to something like this might be his fantasy picture “Willow”—he seems to possess a genuine passion for the project, and that will ne helpful if he’s trying to see it through to completion.

It will be interesting how the combination of movies and TV series plays out. The show will have to have the right budget to get King’s vision right, but with a big name like Howard behind the project, hopefully that won’t be too much of a problem.