We all know that sci-fi and fantasy book adaptations are huge right now. Harry Potter just about broke the box office, Twilight is continuing the trend, and Hunger Games is in the process of bringing that even further with another huge screen adaptation. Well, that’s not all, as Ron Howard and super producer Bryian Grazer are getting some movement on their adaptation of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series.
It’s now being announced that No Country For Old Men star Javier Bardem is now being courted for the lead in the film, and potentially “films”. From Deadline.
I’m told that Bardem has officially been offered the lead role by director Ron Howard and Universal Pictures. While formal negotiations haven’t yet begun, there’s a high level of enthusiasm internally that they’ve got their cowboy. Akiva Goldsman has scripted the first movie, and will write the TV component as well. Imagine Entertainment’s Brian Grazer is producing with Goldsman and the author.
Universal is financing and distributing the films, and NBC Universal Television Entertainment is backing the TV component, which will either be a limited run series or a miniseries.
Howard and Grazer are planning on this series, based on the soon to be eight books by King, is their answer to Peter Jackson’s Lord of The Rings adaptations which hold true as the most celebrated and expensive book-to-screen adaptations of all time.
Howard’s plan right now is to trade off between a film and a TV series until there are 3 solid films and 2 series that bridge the gaps between. If the plan with Bardem goes through, you can expect to see him in all 3 films, as well as the initial TV series.
