Writer and director Mike Flanagan developed a film and serial adaptation of Stephen King’S The Dark Tower stories for Amazon Studios for a long time, and fans are wondering when they will finally release the first part of this fantasy epic.
The Dark Tower consists of eight novels and follows the character Roland Deschain and his Ka-Tet on an epic quest to reach the Tower.
Flanagan has been working on the project since 2022 and it’s one of those things that keeps him up at night.
During Flanagan’s House of Usher panel at New York Comic-Con, the director admitted that there are “questions that continue [him] up at night” and said it “takes forever,” but explains why, and the reason is that he wants it to be a faithful adaptation that brings King’s “extraordinary universe” to life.
His plan is to start with a simple story and then go from there. In that story, Roland is chasing the Man in Black. The opening line of The Dark Tower is: “The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed him.”
Flanagan said: “These are the questions that keep me up at night. The only way to do that is to simply write the books. The most incredible thing about The Dark Tower is that Stephen King builds an amazing and enormous universe.
“It’s ultimately populated with such a richness of characters and scale and scope, but the story begins with one person following another person into the barren desert.
“It’s one of the greatest opening lines of all time. That’s how it’s done. You start with two people and a simple story. One is trying to catch the other. That’s all. It takes forever.”
The director previously explained: “That thing is launching an oil tanker. But we’re working on it. It was blocked first by my switch from Netflix to Amazon and then blocked again by the strikes.
“It’s progressing and we’re further along than we’ve ever been. I see character elements in some of the other stories, but the main plot is the ongoing series.
As for bringing the story to life, Flanagan teased that they “have some potentially revolutionary approaches to making the film,” but didn’t offer any details on what that might be.
When Flanagan first announced the project, he said that the pilot script was “one of the favorite things I’ve ever worked on”. At the time he shared:
“I wrote a pilot, we consider it as a series that will last at least five seasons. And having lived with this project for so long, I have a huge amount of it processed in my brain.
“But I have a pilot script that I’m excited about and a very detailed outline for the first season and a larger outline for subsequent seasons. I think ultimately, if we’re able to get this going, there are other writers I want to involve in that process that I’ve worked with before; I think they would be really fabulous for a very small, intimate writing room where we can keep cracking up.
“I’ll tell you, for more than half my life, I’ve closed my eyes and been able to watch a lot of this unfold, I’ve dreamed about it. That first shot that gets right to the first incredible sentence of the first book, The Gunslinger, I’ve had that image running through my head since I was a college student. Sooner or later I’ll have to get this out of my head, I really need to get this out of my head.
“The pilot script is one of my favorite things I’ve ever worked on. It was surreal to work on. We were therefore shocked and grateful that Stephen King trusted us with such an undertaking, something so precious to him, and we hope to find the right partners to make it happen.”
Are you excited about this project? Do you think Flanagan will be able to pull this off effectively!?
Source: ScreenRant
by Joey Paur
Source: Geek Tyrant
Lloyd Grunewald is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. He is a talented writer who focuses on bringing the latest entertainment-related news to his readers. With a deep understanding of the entertainment industry and a passion for writing, Lloyd delivers engaging articles that keep his readers informed and entertained.