Director Ron Howard is currently making the media rounds in support of his latest film, an F1 racing drama starring Chris Hemsworth entitled Rush. (It’s gotten some pretty decent advance reviews.) While speaking with Empire via their podcast, the director also had a chance to discuss what’s going on with the whole Dark Tower adaptation. I know, I know…this thing’s been kicked more than a government mule (what does that mean, exactly?), but no matter; your trusty Renegade Reporter is here to lay some quotes down anyway. Here’s Howard discussing where the project currently sits (no, it ain’t standing yet):
“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 [regular screenwriting collaborator] 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 [an adaptation of Mark Helprin’s novel, Winter’s Tale, starring Colin Farrell, Russell Crowe, Jessica Brown Findlay, Jennifer Connelly and Will Smith], 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 was also asked about tackling the rather meta concept of Stephen King writing himself into the last three Tower novels in the adaptation. The director indicated that he did speak with the author regarding the subject, with King saying, ‘I don’t have to be in this.’ However, Howard also admits that this doesn’t mean he won’t be.
For my money, I think including the meta (including the author as a Tower adaptation character) would be the only way to go. Some readers called it indulgent, but I thought it the perfect way to show how all of King’s works, along with the author himself, are part of the immense interwoven tapestry he worked so hard, over so many years, to create. But I’m still taking every and all bit of Dark Tower adaptation news with a grain of salt until some official announcements are made. When will that be? Follow the path of the Beam to find out.
Source: Empire Online
As someone who grew up reading The Dark Tower series, I can safely say we could completely nix the meta element and be perfectly happy with the result. That being said, we really needed Del Toro helming this thing as opposed to Ron Howard, but I’ll be optimistic…. ^_^