The Dark Tower Saga is a GO!!!

I am very excited to read today that The Dark Tower Saga, written by Stephen King, has been picked up by Sony to be a franchise.

I am not a very avid Stephen King fan, but I've read a number of his books.

The story of Roland Deschain and his katet is one of the best modern fantasies that I have read. I don't really read that much, but I was pulled into that world and simply devoured the entire series in a matter of months. I can only hope that the immersive world is done justice and a majority of the tie-ins with characters and places of his other works stay in tact.

The depth and description of the characters will be difficult to coax from the actors that seem to permeate Hollywood these days, but as the article points to the possibility of Javier Bardem playing Roland Deschain. It does give me hope.

So are there any other Dark Tower fans on ATS who share my excitement?

digg article

That's the best news I've heard all year!!!

It is an amazing series of books. I however am leary of Stephen King books that they make into movies. Tommyknockers and The Stand come to mind...but on the other hand, The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption were home runs.

Thanks for the find. It looks like I'll have to dust off the Drawing of The Three and give the series another read (lost my copy of The Gunslinger).

a reply to: Bobaganoosh

Would have been amazing if Clint could have done Roland.

It is my understanding that he is the inspiration for Roland

His novellas tend to make the best screen adaptions.

The Dark Tower saga, has been looked at by Hollywood for years now. As a film franchise, a film and TV series, etc.

At this point I'm not holding my breath about it until we get a release date.

The ending of the series of books was a real letdown, IMO... but I'm on board to enjoy the events of books 1-3 and a bit of 4.

a reply to: Sremmos80

I had heard that somewhere before.

But for some reason, as I was reading the books, my mind always seemed to put a slightly more muscular and dirty Stevie Ray Vaughn-esque looking guy in the place of Deschain.

a reply to: randomtangentsrme

I am aware of the past failures, but for some reason it just seems right this time. We must have it before time goes funny and the world moves on..

a reply to: Bobaganoosh

Well it is spaghetti westerns that he drew, well and Sci fi obviously.

I think Clint would have been the perfect Roland but I can see the guy you had in the op too.

a reply to: burdman30ott6

I can agree with you whole-heartedly there. It's as if the last book summed everything up with the precision of a whirl-wind. I think it ended the way it had to, but lacked the epic momentum and gravity of the events leading to it.

a reply to: Bobaganoosh

Yay, l really enjoyed this series of books. I can only hope that they do it justice. Another book that I would like to see made into a movie is Clive Barkers Weave World since they now have the computer graphics to do it justice as well.
I would also like to see JR Tolkens Rover Random which was a wonderful book which unfortunately no one seems to know about.

originally posted by: Fireflysky
a reply to: Bobaganoosh

Yay, l really enjoyed this series of books. I can only hope that they do it justice. Another book that I would like to see made into a movie is Clive Barkers Weave World since they now have the computer graphics to do it justice as well.
I would also like to see JR Tolkens Rover Random which was a wonderful book which unfortunately no one seems to know about.

Oh, and someone should also make a movie of Robert A Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange land.

I always thought that Stephen King movies failed because they hired D list actors and didn't sink serious money in them. When Shawshank and Green Mile were done, they had professional, seasoned actors and the films quality showed that. The Dark Tower was one of my favorite and let's hope they do it right.

I read in the press release that it has been "reconceived" and that doesn't sound good to me

I love the books, and actually thought the ending was perfect, but as as excited as I sometimes am about a film/miniseries adaptation, it will never live up to my imagination.

That being said, Aaron Paul of Breaking Bad has been courted to play Eddie, and I think he would be stellar!

a reply to: burdman30ott6

After waiting YEARS for the series to complete I felt the ending was a bit of a cop out. Like he was just tired of the story and wanted to end it. The rest was amazing. I loved the back story/history revealed in Wolves of the Calla. I wound up waiting until he had finally finished the series then read them one after the other.
My crowning achievement as a mother is that I made two out of three sons Stephen King fans and the third has read a,few of his books too. I am one of the originals. I started reading King way back in the 70s and have a very good collection of his works though I'm missing some newer stuff.
I like that he had an undercurrent in this series that also tied to many of his other stories and to the Talisman with Peter Straub and even one Bachman book.
A reward for faithful fans was that an old friend from one story might pop up in another book making these characters seem to have three dimensions and a place in reality.
Very often I felt that he was writing just for me. That's his talent. Also he gets readers to trust him. His stories start out as ordinary and then ...
He's like pssssst whispering "come on...I have something I want to show you...it just over here around this corner." Next thing you know he's pulled you in and then he turns off the lights and leaves you alone in the dark.

originally posted by: Sremmos80
a reply to: Bobaganoosh

Would have been amazing if Clint could have done Roland.

It is my understanding that he is the inspiration for Roland

Actually King tells us what his inspiration for Roland was at the beginning of the first book.
A poem by Robert Browning titled Childe Roland to the Dark Tower came
Although I seem to remember reading that Eastwood was an inspiration for what Roland looked like. The cover illustration on the first book certainly bears this out.
King goes on to tell us how Rolands story haunted him for decades and how this strange land kept bumping into the world we know then moving away only to come in contact again at a later time. The town of Castle Rock and the city of Derry being favorite places for these worlds to collide. While places like Colorado and California and Texas were lesser contact points. And everywhere everyone seemed to have heard about that dog that went rabid up in Maine. The way one book melts into another gives a dimension to these stories that I've never encountered with another writer. But it's so subtle that only a true fan might catch the reference or see the connection.

a reply to: chelsdh

That's always been the dilemma with King books. The film or the actors or the director simply cannot do them justice . The shorter works seem to translate best.

That quote under your screen Name is that from Beetleguice? Wynona Ryder?

originally posted by: Bobaganoosh
a reply to: randomtangentsrme

I am aware of the past failures, but for some reason it just seems right this time. We must have it before time goes funny and the world moves on..

I'm pretty sure that King was born somewhere in Tolkiens middle earth. Somehow he used a wormhole to escape into our world.

I've never read it but that ending is gonna blow minds of those without exposure. I wish I hadn't stumbled on it. I had read Insomnia and there's some crossover characters. While looking at the wiki pages for those characters I ended up spoiling the ending for myself.

a reply to: Bobaganoosh

This will be the third time I've really gotten my hopes up for Dark Tower movie news... I'm really hoping they don't back away from it this time. Really really really hope. It trumps every saga I've ever read, seen, or heard.

Please don't fall through please don't fall through please don't fall through please don't fall through please don't fall through please don't fall through please don't fall through please don't fall through please don't fall through please don't fall through please don't fall through...

originally posted by: Cuervo
a reply to: Bobaganoosh

This will be the third time I've really gotten my hopes up for Dark Tower movie news... I'm really hoping they don't back away from it this time. Really really really hope. It trumps every saga I've ever read, seen, or heard.

Please don't fall through please don't fall through please don't fall through please don't fall through please don't fall through please don't fall through please don't fall through please don't fall through please don't fall through please don't fall through please don't fall through...

Merry meet fellow witch. Knowing how the law of attraction works and that the universe doesn't recognize a negative your chant will go out as
" please fall through please fall through... "
It should be stated as a positive expected event. "Thank you for making this movie, thank you for making this movie...
I only say this because your signature led me to think you'd get it.