By I just finished up the Dark Tower series and while I could write a thesis on my issues with the books and then another one about what I liked about them, the reason I picked them up was to prepare myself for the upcoming films. Imagine my chagrin when I’m five books in and find out the film won’t be happening anymore. However, my disappointment is no more as the epic film/television Dark Tower project is looking far more likely now that the team of Ron Howard (director), Brian Grazer (producer) and Akiva Goldsman (screenwriter) have scaled back the budget about $45 million.
Grazer had this to say on how the new approach to the project is coming along: “We found a way to cut out $45 million out of the budget without changing the scope and actually giving it a good ending,” Grazer said. “In the $140 million draft, the ending wasn’t quite as satisfying. Now, we’ve got $45 million, $50 million out of the way and a really satisfying ending. It’s gonna get made.”
It’s not really clear if he was discussing cropping down the series to just one film instead of the multimedia explosion that was planned or simply discussing getting the first film out the door. As anyone who has read the books will be thinking, it’s most likely the latter. Crushing King’s rambling science fiction/western/fantasy/vomit-out-any-idea-King-wants down to a single film would be nearly impossible. It’s good to see they’re so determined to actually get this made though as a film adaptation of the Dark Tower is guaranteed to be interesting no matter what.
If any help is needed they can just ask us.
[via The Playlist]