Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. Looks like Sony got their top guy to try to get Stephen King's The Dark Tower series up and running again.
It was reported last month that Danish writer/director Nikolaj Arcel was their pick to tackle the incredibly difficult adaptation of King's epic and bizarre sci-fi/fantasy/horror/action/romance/western series while Ron Howard and Akiva Goldsman would stay on as producers.
Now it looks like Sony has officially signed Arcel for the job as well as Anders Thomas Jensen who will co-write the next draft based on Goldsman's and Jeff Pinkner's previous work on the project.
Arcel isn't a huge name, but as I said in last month's piece about him attached to this project I get a good feeling from what I hear about him. He's a giant Stephen King nerd and that has to be a prerequisite if you're taking on this project. The Dark Tower is the thing that binds everything King has ever written together and you have to understand all of King's work to do this story justice.
What I'm nervous about is that just when Akiva Goldsman finally gets off this project Tom Rothman becomes the exec in charge of building the franchise. This fuckin' series can't seem to catch a break! I just hope Rothman's voodoo doesn't completely fuck over this story, which could be all time great if done right.
So, that's the latest. Until the next turn of the wheel the series is alive at Sony, which has its own Crimson King in the form of Rothman sitting at the top of the tower and a dedicated true believer in Arcel trying to complete an epic journey. Good luck, dude. Don't mess it up!
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
Follow Me On Twitter
