Comments on: Ron Howard to Direct “The Dark Tower” Movie Trilogy? Bleh.

By: Professor Beej

Professor Beej — Sat, 29 May 2010 05:04:42 +0000

I hope he proves me wrong, too. Abrams is a very inventive storyteller, while Howard tends to be more mainstream, which is not a bad thing until one realizes that–like you mention–the Dark Tower is a lot going on that doesn’t translate very well. He interior characterization would be cheesy if done through voice-over, but that is, I think, the way Howard would run with it. I’m not sure if I’m okay with that.

By: Joanzie

Joanzie — Fri, 28 May 2010 17:57:22 +0000

As a long-time King / Dark Tower fan, I am excited about the idea of a movie or series but worried that it can’t be done correctly. There are so many moments in all of King’s works that occur entirely in the characters’ heads – how do you translate that onto the screen? How do you explain Roland without all the background from the books??? It is a huge undertaking and one that I believed may be possible with JJ Abrams in the picture. But Ron Howard?? I love his work, but I don’t think he’s the guy. Prove me wrong, Ron!

By: Professor Beej

Professor Beej — Tue, 04 May 2010 03:49:57 +0000

I’m on the fence. In some ways, I’d love to boycott it so that they don’t get my 15 bucks toward making more of what I expect to be crap. But then there’s the DT fanboy/pseudo-scholar who will be there for the midnight showing.

By: Professor Beej

Professor Beej — Tue, 04 May 2010 03:48:37 +0000

You’re far more optimistic than I am, Gordon. I don’t see how a trilogy can be done. I am fine with heavy edits, but cropping 60% of the material? I just think it will lose its heart.

By: Nick Scott

Nick Scott — Mon, 03 May 2010 13:37:41 +0000

This is going to be terrible. Remind me to never, ever watch this.

By: We Fly Spitfires

We Fly Spitfires — Mon, 03 May 2010 10:10:47 +0000

I’m disappointed that it’s not JJ Abrams too but I suppose we can’t have everything. I’ve got nothing against Ron Howard but I’m not thrilled either – I’ll reserve judgement.

I think a trilogy will work fine actually. The series is going to need to be heavily edited to fit into any film format so it’s as good as we could have hoped.
.-= We Fly Spitfires´s last blog ..Video Games And Freemasonry =-.

By: Matt H

Matt H — Mon, 03 May 2010 08:15:07 +0000

Well I just finished the first novel, literally last week sometime. It was good so I planned on reading others, but I’m new to King’s work and I still have Tommyknockers and Hearts in Atlantis to plow through first. The rest of the dark Tower Series is definitely on my to-read list, though, maybe even bumped up a few. Your allusions to the future books intrigues me…

By: Professor Beej

Professor Beej — Mon, 03 May 2010 02:40:51 +0000

I’ve never even heard of Peep Show, though I’m intrigued now.

It is /very/ meta at times, and I can see that part of the narrative being completely taken out during the adaptive process. And you’re right: people would complain about the epilogue. However, as someone who’s done scholarship on the series (or attempted to before my Master’s thesis got canned and switched to comps), I’m of the belief that the epilogue’s ending is the perfect one for the series. If the reader quits when King tells them to (to get the /happy/ ending), they miss out on the actual resolution and character development that has been in the works for seven novels. Without the epilogue and what Roland finds at the top of the Tower, the cycle can never be complete, nor can Roland’s journey ever have closure. He learns so much during the iteration we’re privy to that without the epilogue, it’s near meaningless.

Ok, sorry, that was a little nerd rant. I’ll do better. I promise!

By: prenden2

prenden2 — Sun, 02 May 2010 22:03:05 +0000

I didn’t realise that Ron Howard was attached to Arrested Development, it’s on-par with Peep Show (cult British tv-show) in my list of favourite comedies. I totally recommend Arrested Development Beej, I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who hasn’t gushed about it upon watching an episode or two. I also recommend Peep Show, I don’t think it’s got much of a following stateside though.

I hate to say it but I don’t think there’s any way of translating the Dark Tower series to tv – as Syp says, it’s just too ‘meta’ at times, I can’t see audiences wrapping their heads around King’s appearance, not to mention all people who would scream bloody murder as they watched the epilogue.

By: Professor Beej

Professor Beej — Sun, 02 May 2010 21:50:46 +0000

Have you read the rest of the series? He really found his footing after The Gunslinger, if you ask me, and the others tie everything together a lot more than it does.