Previously the plan was to tell the epic tale over the course of three films bridged by two limited-run TV seasons. Javier Bardem was lined up as the lead when the ambitious project was at Universal Pictures. Following a budget meltdown Warner Bros picked up Akiva Goldsman’s script for the first film--with Russell Crowe rumored to play Roland Deschain. WB passed on the option to make the TV/film adaptation.
King’s Dark Tower novels have a adult edge that, if done faithfully, would no doubt get an R-rating--eliminating a huge chunk of the audience
Watering down the violence in the stories might guarantee a more commercial-friendly PG-13 rating, but would surely draw the ire of the devotees of the books, who would be the films’ core audience
Howard:
"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 realized how much media interest there was in the title and how much excitement there was. And yet 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, 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."
Goldsman, King and Brian Grazer would produce.
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