Brian Grazer is already juggling the hearts of many desperate and weary fans by reviving the highly anticipated Arrested Development project with Ron Howard. Now, he says that the ambitious multiplatform adaption of The Dark Tower series is back on track, and the TV portion of the project will even be carried by HBO.
Ron Howard and Grazer originally planned for Stephen King’s seven novel (with an upcoming eighth), pop-culture spewing, cowboy fantasy series to be three movies long and backed by Universal Pictures. A television series was also slated to bridge gaps and lead up to each of the following films in the trilogy, similar to the method behind the new Arrested Development project. However, due to a bloated budget, Universal Pictures pulled the plug back in July.
In an interview with MTV, Grazer insists that The Dark Tower will still be made saying, “we’re going to do [‘The Dark Tower’] with HBO. We’ll do the TV with HBO, and we’ll do the movie with… to be determined. We’ll do it right.”
Grazer pointed out that the budget was slashed by $45 million, but it wouldn’t hurt the scope of the film and it had to be done. When asked about Javier Bardem playing Roland Deschain, the producer said that the No Country for Old Men star would still probably be on board.
HBO means a much different setting than the previous plan to air on NBC. Of course, the Dark Tower project is a tricky one; besides being dropped by Universal Pictures, J.J. Abrams and other Lost creators have already backed off from the adaptation due to the massive commitment (and pressure) the Dark Tower would require. HBO hasn’t officially commented on the development yet, but Stephen King’s dark fantasy might not be such a bad move seeing as how Game of Thrones is doing so well. Who knows, it may also open up talks again for that Preacher adaptation we never saw.
