Ron Howard filming The Dark Tower as 3 movies and a TV series

this will be one of the biggest undertakings in Hollywood if he pulls it off, following the X-Files strategy of ending a TV season with a movie. looking forward to this.

http://io9.com/5633554/ron-howard-and-akiva-goldsmans-dark-tower-adaptation-a-totally-insane-mix-of-tv-and-movies

Ron Howard. The master of generic Hollywood trash.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU . . ..

Friend of mine sent me this info this morning, as he knows I'm a MASSIVE DT fan. INstead of actually taking the time to type something here, I'll just copy and past my reply. Prepare for TLDR:

I don't know man - here's the deal - as an idea, in some ways I think this is pretty stellar. The volume of material to cover is extensive, to say the least, and really deserves, like, one movie per book. Given the comments on what he wants to do with highlighting the nuances by extending the story to TV, and having the benefit of the set-work/etc. from the films in place to make the production values high, all sound good to me.

But.

Has anyone ever made a really amazing Stephen King to TV adaptation? IT was probably the best, and that was mainly due to Tim Curry. And, has anyone really made a stellar King to Movie adaptation? Shawshank and Green Mile. Great. The Shining. Of course. But the Shining was directed by FUCKING KUBRICK and the other two by King's butt buddy and, frankly, they were not on the same scale/in the same tenor as the Dark Tower.

As much as I love Ron Howard as the narrator in Arrested Development, and as much as I think he has some decent chops as a director, he would have to pull something fucking magical out of his ass to do this justice. And, Goldsmith writing? That gives me ever more trepidation.

Finally - the Dark Tower is a Hard R all the way around. It is by turns extremely sexual, violent, and very adult, in its themes and in the action that occurs. Unless this is going on HBO or Showtime, there is absolutely NO WAY they will be able to do it justice. One character (Detta Walker) curses PROFUSELY (well, when she is in one of her two personalities) and putting this on network TV would immediately neuter this character of the wildness and rage which make her what she is.

But, who knows - I predict either one of the most amazing pieces of art ever, or a pale imitation of something grand, a soulless, castrated horse piddling around in its own feces until it finally collapses, dead before its time, a relief to all the disappointed viewers who wanted nothing more than to put it out of misery after they first saw it limping out of the gate.

ron howard's doin dark tower, is the fonzie gonna be in it ?

  On 9/9/2010 at 10:32 PM, Squee said:

Ron Howard. The master of generic Hollywood trash.

Im the only human being who liked The Stand TV series

self-

  On 9/9/2010 at 11:02 PM, Philip Glass said:

Im the only human being who liked The Stand TV series

self-

i was just about to post that i liked it, so you're not.

Not Ron Howard

im scurrred

  On 9/9/2010 at 10:32 PM, Squee said:

Ron Howard. The master of generic Hollywood trash.

lol

is this happening before or after the arrested development movie?

It will be milquetoast Hollywood pap. Count on it.

  On 9/9/2010 at 11:03 PM, kaini said:

  On 9/9/2010 at 11:02 PM, Philip Glass said:

Im the only human being who liked The Stand TV series

self-

 

i was just about to post that i liked it, so you're not.

Me 3