Russel Crowe May Star In THE DARK TOWER


In the next two weeks, Warner Bros will have to decide whether to greenlight the incredibly ambitious adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series. They’ll be basing their decision on a screenplay by Akiva Goldsman (I am Legend, A Beautiful Mind). For the uninitiated, The Dark Tower is a series of 7 main books following Roland, the last gunslinger, as he travels through a semi-post-apocalyptic world to reach the fabled Dark Tower. It follows him and the people he meets on his quest to stop the gradual destruction of the world in this old West epic.

In addition to this news, they also added that Javier Bardem is no longer lined up to play lead role Roland Deschain, instead it would be A Beautiful Mind star Russel Crowe. No reason has been given for the change but presumably delays in the project caused scheduling issues. Nothing is confirmed as of yet, as this would be a huge time investment due to the making of 3 films and 2 TV seasons to fully tell the tale, potentially with HBO covering the TV adaptation. Crowe certainly has more box office appeal than Bardem, but is less of a fit for the role, though I’m sure he has the acting ability to pull it off.

If handled right this series could well rival the Lord of the Rings trilogy as a fantasy epic spanning a huge world, with a huge fan base and a popular team behind it hopefully this project will see the light of day.

Source: Deadline