Ron Howard: The Dark Tower Could Still Happen

Two studios may have spurned it, but Ron Howard insists the Stephen King adaptation isn't dead. Yet.

Rumours of The Dark Tower's death were greatly exaggerated, as it seems Ron Howard isn't ready to give up on his adaptation of the Stephen King novel.

News broke last year that Warner Brothers had shelved plans for the live-action movie, after Universal had also said no to it, but Rush director Howard has told Empire magazine that he's still beavering away to make the series happen.

"The Dark Tower is something that we’re still working on," said Howard. "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 realised how much media interest there was in the title and how much excitement there was.

"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 [an adaptation of Mark Helprin’s novel, Winter’s Tale, starring Colin Farrell, Russell Crowe, Jessica Brown Findlay, Jennifer Connelly and Will Smith], 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."

Fighting talk from the director, but if anyone can pull it off - it's Ron Howard. Happy days!

(Images: Rex Features)

[via Empire]