Stephen King on Howards Dark Tower Adaptation

Sep 12, 2010   By: Michael | #Blaine  #Cast  #Interview  #Ron Howard  #Stephen King  

With the fate of the Dark Tower movie adaptation settled we can now start to let ourselves get excited on what will be happening over the coming months and years. But what does Stephen King himself think about Ron Howard and his ideas for the Movie Trilogy and multiple season TV series?

Entertainment Weekly managed to get a response from King, who answered positively, stating that “once it [the idea for a Movie/TV adaptation] was raised, I thought at once it was the solution”.

King also likes that Howard will be directing and even compares his directing style as being similar to the way he works as a writer, “we both tell honest stories that have … style and substance but not a lot of show-offy frills”. Certainly King wouldn’t say anything bad against Howard, but considering his excitement when J.J.Abrams bought the rights for an adaptation (King is a huge LOST fan), you have to feel that initially he would have been a little disappointed.

When asked about casting King didn’t give any preferences, saying that he’d be certain Ron Howard would find “good people” for the parts.

One thing which I found amusing was King’s response when asked what part he would like to play, giving “Blaine the Mono” as his choice. I guess you would need to have a somewhat unhinged mind to come up with the things that King writes about….just joking…I hope!

You can read the full EW article by following this link.

40 responses

Haha, would love to hear King as Blaine the mono!

Johnny – September 24th, 2010
don’t put this on network t.v. all the Stephen King novels adapted to network t.v. sucked put it on a channel without the ratings board cutting it to ribbons for lame commercials I’ll just fast foward though on my dvr box

rekrings – October 9th, 2010
Ron Howard? Oh Discordia!

Ashling – October 15th, 2010
How is Ron Howard qualified to do this undertaking? Has he read the books and ALL the others that tie into it??

Stefanie – October 19th, 2010
I think that josh brolin or Neal McDonough would make the perfect Roland. I’ve read every book and those people I could see as Roland. I don’t know how blaine is going to come to life, but you guys will figure it out!

Jessica – October 27th, 2010
And as much as I love Stephen, I don’t think his voice as Blaine would be good.

Jessica – October 27th, 2010
i heard a rumor that stephen moyer was going to play roland. doubt it was true but i think he would be a good pick.

Tet19 – October 27th, 2010
Jon Hamm needs to be cast as Roland. End of discussion.

James – November 5th, 2010
just searched jon hamm pics….he truly would make an amazing roland.

Tet19 – November 8th, 2010
After seeing the pics of Jon Hamm I agree he’d be a good pic for Roland. I also think Michael Raymond-James(Terriers) would be the best pick for Eddie Dean. As to the TV series adaptations, I would like to see it be put on AMC. I’ve been Impressed with what they’ve done with their more epic shows, though FX would also be a good choice as well.

Keegan – November 10th, 2010
personally i hope it is on HBO, it is extremely doubtful but it would b best. there is a series comming out in march/april called a game of thrones that is going to b amazing on hbo. AMC would b best for basic cable, “The Walking Dead” is enough to prove that point. HBO would allow for a bigger budget tho.

Tet19 – November 11th, 2010
I always thought a younger Clint Eastwood would have been perfect! I’m so excited!! I’m going to reread the books. Refresh my memory of this epic story

Jason – November 11th, 2010
Jon Hamm? Are you freaking kidding? Daniel Craig would be the perfect Roland. Just look at the eyes: http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1799063296/nm0185819

marcoda – November 22nd, 2010
you know what, i’ve been thinking who i would like to see as roland…..the only good contender i can think of is hugh jackman. i think he could make a remarkable roland! and the fact that it would be easy to make him look like the pictures of roland is a plus

Caleb W. – November 25th, 2010
I have read all of the books twice. The first time I submerged myself in the story, and actually felt like I was in the story. My favorite is The Drawing of the Three where Roland draws Eddie Dean (my favorite character). Roland is the last gunslinger, and if his character is miscast it would ruin my vision of Roland and the Tower. I have been watching the AMC original series the Walking Dead, in my opinion Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes)should at least be considered. Although he is young his character, Rick, is a gunslinger. As for Eddie Dean which I know his character very well. He is young and addicted to heroin when Roland draws him into Mid World. I think Aaron Paul from Breaking Bad should be considered for the role the Eddie.

ashleyg – November 26th, 2010
I’d like to see Daniel Day-Lewis as Roland. Go watch him in Last of the Mohicans or Gangs of New York. Tall, very lean, excellent actor, and has the capacity to play a ruthless but also compassionate type. Daniel Craig is a close second, though. Personally I’d like to see our boy Flagg portrayed by Christopher Lee… he played Saruman in Lord of the Rings, for those of you who may not know. HBO would be awesome, but I have seen a pretty good in between on both AMC and FX; both Walking Dead and Sons or Anarchy have enough violence to be realistic and fun, but not too much that it will scare away fans who aren’t hard core.

Joe – December 8th, 2010
I recon Mads Mikkelson as Roland. Just do an image search for him in valhalla rising. Talk about intense.

Andrew – December 16th, 2010
I would have liked a directer like Fincher or Nolan take this project on.

Sage – January 14th, 2011
Christoph Waltz would be a great Flagg, no? Evil but you kind of like him.

Chris – February 10th, 2011
King must oversee all aspects from movie to t.v. series or it will be lame like all the other s#@*!! He sold and choose not to have a creative input!! King as Blaine…Yah-That would be awesome!!..Lets hope Howard directs these films as Jackson did in The Rings….

rflagg75 – February 17th, 2011
Nathat Fillion is also a good pick for Roland. He has been in tv and features. His parts on Firefly and White Noise 2 have the right type of anti hero attude that is needed. Also, in the T.V. show Firefly (and movie Serenity), the character portrayed was in a world that was both futuristic (spaceships), and rustic gunpowder weapons and settlements) at the same time.

Joshua – February 22nd, 2011
I should be the gunslinger….before the world moves on.

james Mott – March 2nd, 2011
What I really want to know is who is gonna play Oy? I hope its the Taco bell chihuahua. Or maybe Paris Hilton, but she would need acting lessons.

Slow Mutant – March 4th, 2011
the only character i could honestly say should be played by a particular person is susannah, played by the chick that plays Sooki’s friend in true blood. shes perfect. i don’t think anyone in the world could be roland. jake will be impossible to cast.

organizm – March 9th, 2011
all of these are horrible suggestions. i don’t think anyone could play roland and not piss me off. all the actors listed above are excellent actors, good at what they do, but roland is impossible. he’s too great for a human man from our time to do him justice. they should delay the movies to genetically create the perfect human to play roland.

organizm – March 9th, 2011
My husband I really believe you should put the series on HBO or Showtime. Putting it on NBC is going to limit what you can do, with all of their made for TV rules. We also think Clint Eastwood would be awesome for Rolands father and that you should not use a spanish guy for Roland. We need to be able to try and see Roland the way he was described in the book.

Yde – March 9th, 2011
Also sinse realistically Clint Eastwood has just gotten to be to old to play Roland, Scott Glenn would be AWESOME as Roland. Just sayen, compare him to a younger Clint Eastwood. And, the acting is there too.

Yde – March 9th, 2011
Oh and Kodi Smit-McPhee would make a really good Jake, and he should stay looking young for long enough!

Yde – March 9th, 2011
i think the tv show will work better for the amout of story they have to work with, but you never know about things like this.

ethan stone aka eddie dean – March 10th, 2011
I think it should be Andy Dick as the voice of Blaine

Jesse – March 15th, 2011
viggo mortensen should be roland,johnny deep as eddie, jada pinkerton smith as detta/odetta but i cant think who could do jake but i realy wished that clint eastwood should be roland no mater how old he is!! he cold pull it off

doug – March 17th, 2011
Jon Hamm?? Are you kidding me??? Why not Fabio? Hamm has romantic eyes. Roland has cold, gunner eyes. You can’t fake that with any amount of cgi. What about Jeff Fahey??? His eyes are PERFECT, no cgi or contacts necessary. He LOOKS like Roland even without makeup. http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2094628864/nm0001194 or with http://www.imdb.com/media/rm780111616/nm0001194

Stan – March 24th, 2011
Well I like James Franco as Eddie Dean. He could pull off the character and his many dimensions. Not sure about Javier as Roland. He is definetely not what i had pictured in my mind. The movie will have to be really good to get past this for hardcore fans. Willem Dafoe would make a good Walter. My friend likes Christopher Walken for Flagg. Jake will be diffucult. And I like Wanda Sykes for Detta/Odetta/Susannah. But Jada Pinkett Smith is my bff’s choice.

puckedupfuppy – April 18th, 2011
I think Viggo Mortensen would be an awesome Roland. But after hearing it said, I think Josh Brolin would make an absolute perfect Roland. Now that I have pictured Brolin as Roland I will never be able to see him any other way. Josh has the look, he can wear contacts for the eyes, and he damn sure has the acting teeth to get it done in a believable way.

JamesT – April 18th, 2011
Daniel Day-Lewis or Viggo Mortensen as Roland.

Ralph Roberts – April 19th, 2011
Neal McDonough - Marten Viggo Mortensen - Red King Josh Hartnett or Ashton Kutcher - Eddie Clint Eastwood - Steven Deschain Javier Bardem - Roland Deschain…. hell yeah, thx god we have CGI to put blue eyes on him….. Nia Long - Susanah Holmes Me - Jake Chambers (LOL) Oy - paris hilton!!!!! LMAO

Pedro Almeida – April 23rd, 2011
I Think The Whole Idea Sucks Period The Dark Tower Is By Far The Most Complex Detailed Story I Have Ever Read Even More So Than The Lord Of The Rings I Dont Think They Will Be Able To Pull It Off In Just Three Movies It Took Steven Almost All His Career To Write This Story I Dont Want To See It Chopped Up But Ill Always Have The Books To Read Again And Again Thankfully

rayzor – April 26th, 2011
Sam Elliot = roland

den – May 1st, 2011
For me, when I read The Wasteland, the voice I heard in my head for Blaine was that of Doug Bradley, better known as Pinhead from Hellraser.

dAtlAf – June 30th, 2011
I second Sam Elliot as Roland. He would be great

livinginswva – July 23rd, 2011