At a release event for the new movie, ‘Tower Heist’, producer Brian Grazer revealed that Stephen King’s Dark Tower, a project plagued by budged issues and long awaited by fans all over the world, will be produced on HBO.
“We’re going to do [‘The Dark Tower’] with HBO,” Grazer told us. “We’ll do the TV with HBO, and we’ll do the movie with… to be determined. We’ll do it right. We’re going to do that movie. We’ve lost $45 million out of the budget, he said. When people say no to you enough, then you have to lose money, which we’ve done without harming the scope of the film.”
Hopefully HBO’s notoriously big budgets and amazing production value will work well for the fan favorite Dark Tower series. Grazer told MTV that he believes Javier Bardem will likely still star as Roland Deschain, and that he and Ron Howard (who will direct) have cut the budget of the film by $45 million as they seek a new studio.
Yet another amazing fantasy title to go alongside HBO’s already formidable lineup! True Blood and Game of Thrones fans know that HBO does not let fans down when it comes to translating text to screen. We can’t wait to see what they do with the series! Check out the MTV interview with the producer for a bit more:
Javier Bardem will likely play the show’s lead role of Roland Deschain
28 comments
Unfortunately King already shit all over the series after book four. So, what could HBO possibly do worse?
just want this to happen
I always thought they could make Wizard and Glass as a stand alone series and gauge interest from there. Finding young actors to play Roland, Cuthbert, and Alain would be difficult. Otherwise, it would take some terrible writers, directors, etc. to screw it up.
No agree it can’t be Javier Bardem he would ruin the show! The best actor would be Timothy Olyphant he has proven it with such roles in Deadwood and justified.
Not Bardem!!! Viggo should get the role of Roland. He’s perfect, other than a younger Eastwood.
i agree that a younger clint would and is the real vision of the gunslinger tho he could still pull it off since the gunslinger is an old man anyway.
I AGREE
I can only hope that this project will move forward, I absolutely loveed reading this series; it was impossible to put down, and I’ve been thinking about reading it again :)
Awesome! I’m a songwriter and have a song on my newest album inspired by the dark tower series titled “Gunslinger”… Let me know if you would like to use it as the theme song! listen here: http://calishaw.bandcamp.com/track/gunslinger
I take it nobody on this thread has seen the more recent thread on this topic – This Just In…THE DARK TOWER Collapses!?
NO! NONONONONONONO! You simply must find a different actor! You cannot cast Javier Bardem as Roland no no no. The look is all wrong find someone else and do it now nonononono!
I happen to like Bardem as Roland.
I don’t really understand what the problem is. He’s definitely ugly enough and has the voice in my opinion. And I am not trying to insult the guy either. I do think a young Clint Eastwood would be ideal though.
HBO has a history of prematurely ending some good series (Rome, Deadwood, Carnivàle). I can only hope they see this one through.
Uh how exactly do you lose $45 million and not have it affect the scope of the film? Even if the budget was $200 million – a staggering sum – they’ve basically cut a quarter of the budget. No project can lose 25% of the budget and not have to reshape the scope.
It’s these types of BS comments that make me seriously question Grazer and Opie’s ability to pull this off in any way that satisfies fans. They just don’t have the chops for this. Their films are universally cold and lack any real emotional power. Expect more announcements in the future of this projects having “problems.”
Eh Im hoping that HBO taking the budget problem away and offering their stable of amazing actors, producers, show-runners etc will help get this series onto the screen and looking awesome. I understand the frustration of some of the fans who’ve been waiting for years but HBO seems to know how to make these things work. Game of thrones gave them some good fantasy practice after all :)
As an avid reader and huge fan of The Dark Tower Series, I hope to God that this is done right. I really do believe HBO is the best option for the TV part of it. I really wonder how it’s going to be tied in to Feature Films. If they (Grazer & Howard) pull it off it will be extraordinary and pathe the way for others to do the same thing. Good Luck to you guys, seriously!!
We’re not affiliated with HBO but HBOWatch hopes it’s amazing as well! Love that they’re getting into fantasy.
Javier should be great, though I wish this project had been done much earlier so that Clint Eastwood could have been Roland.
I think the man who plays Hotch on Criminal Minds, Thomas Gibson, would be a great Roland.
I always though that a serious Steve Martin could play the Gunslinger role well. Hmmm??
wrong voice
They need to choose wisely for that part. Roland is the maker or breaker of this series. Thomas gibson might be good but I think he is a little young for the part. I hope this works out I started reading these books 20 years ago and always thought it would be great if they made it a movie or show. Make it or don’t either way its Ka.
God, I hope this happens. I would seriously subscribe to cable again for this. HBO is the only network that could give a series like this justice.
I am looking forward to this. It doesn’t say when it will be coming. I am glad it is HBO that is tackling this. They really know how to put art in to their shows.
This is a good idea,beautiful.And the post is nice.
When people say no to you enough, then you have to lose money, which we’ve done without harming the scope of the film.”
What a laugh! Sounds like Glazer is setting up a pretext to screw over people who are getting a %age of the net before they’ve even started.
Now I’m going to have to read the books before the series comes out…
Here’s hoping HBO will give sci fi a chance as well as fantasy.
Awesome news!!