JJ Abrams and Damon Lindelof Not Developing Steven King’s Dark Tower Series Right Now?
So this has been rumored for sometime that Lost co-creator, Damon Lindelof, would develop the acclaimed fantasy series from Steven King. Now its coming out that he and his partner in crime, JJ Abrams, will not be adapting the acclaimed series.
In a story from MTV.com, Abrams had to say on the matter:
“The Dark Tower thing is tricky. It’s such an important piece of writing. The truth is that Damon and I are not looking at that right now.”
In an in interview with USA Today in October Abrams forewarned, “You’ll be hard-pressed to find a huger fan of The Dark Tower than me, but that’s probably the reason that I shouldn’t be the one to adapt it. After working six years on Lost, the last thing I want to do is spend the next seven years adapting one of my favorite books of all time. I’m such a massive Stephen King fan that I’m terrified of screwing it up. I’d do anything to see those movies written by someone else. My guess is they will get made because they’re so incredible. But not by me.”
Which I think JJ has a point there at the fact that he made such a great Star Trek movie because he wasn’t a fan. I think that goes a long way perhaps someone like Micheal J. Bassett would be great at developing it, unfortunately a studio is going to want a name attached to it and Bassett is not quite there yet. Maybe even a guy like Danny Boyle or someone in that vein would be cool. Last guy to mention, Neill Blomkamp?
This ongoing story goes all the way back to 2007 when IGN reported that a film adaptation was is in the works and that J. J. Abrams would produce and direct. Damon Lindelof, who co-created the show Lost with Abrams, had optioned the Dark Tower series from King for a reported nineteen dollars, a number that mysteriously recurs throughout the Dark Tower series of novels.
Entertainment Weekly, reported that King “is an ardent supporter of the desert-island show and trusts Abrams to translate his vision” into a film franchise with Lindelof being “the leading candidate to write the screenplay for the first installment.”
In a July 2009 interview with C21 Media, Lindelof revealed that he and Lost showrunner Carlton Cuse had indeed optioned The Dark Tower’s rights, but said he was wary about committing to such an ambitious project: “The idea of taking on something that massive again after having done six seasons of Lost is intimidating and slightly frightening, to say the least.”
In April 2009, both Abrams and Lindelof revealed that they would most likely begin adapting the series when Lost concludes in 2010. In May 2009, rumours emerged that Christian Bale was the top contender to play Roland.
I certainly hope that JJ and Damon will give it a go and saying “we are not looking at it right now” could mean a lot of things. We all know they are finishing up Lost, producing, writing, directing a Trek sequel, not to mention JJ has his new spy show at NBC he wants to keep tabs on and then there is the other stuff he has set up at Bad Robot. I bet he is just taking his time because like he said, he does not want to screw the project up, my question is - how long? how long before he gives it up and someone else attaches himself to it.
