Some Guy Is Blogging That He's On the Set of Stephen King's 'The Dark Tower'
Filed under: Action, Horror, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Western
In this day and age, nothing can be kept a secret for very long. But Paramount Pictures may have done a better job than most, as an anonymous source claims they are already producing an adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, and the first film is set to begin shooting this Friday with J.J. Abrams at the helm. (Ed: Yes, we know this is almost certainly nonsense, but it's still pretty funny.) This anonymous blogger claims to be signed on for multiple movies based on the fantasy series (his position is undisclosed). The blogger also claims the first adaptation is to have the biggest budget yet in Hollywood, and he says he doesn't know who has been cast as the lead. In his second post, put up on Saturday, he gives a very basic rundown of the shooting schedule for Friday and next week, most of which will be filmed outdoors on the Paramount lot. Of course, if this was legit, it would be incredible news to fans of the books, fans of Abrams, and I guess fans of movies in general. Back in February, at the New York ComicCon, King announced the collaboration between he and Abrams for the project, but nothing was really said about when production on the film would begin, let alone that it would begin so soon. At the same time, IGN reported that Abrams was actually set to direct the adaptation and speculated that his secret Paramount project, titled Cloverleaf, was in fact The Dark Tower (there is no IMDb listing for a film called Cloverleaf). The blogger has already addressed the idea that people think he's a fake, but he insists that he is reporting the truth and that he has to be careful not to accidentally give away his identity because he signed a non-disclosure agreement. So, he has to be brief in details. He promises, though, that once shooting begins he will have photos up. Just in case he is legit, you may want to bookmark the blog now. Of course, if he's legit, I can't imagine it would be too hard for Paramount to figure out who he is and shut him down.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-18-2007 @ 3:12PM
Alex said...
I don't buy this for a second.
I don't think that any studio would film such an expensive adaptation of a series of books that best appeals to Stephen King's most die-hard fans. I mean, the Chronicles of Narnia (based on popularity) would deserve a massive budget before The Dark Tower. The Dark Tower books sell modestly in comparison to most of King's other stand-alone works.
And unless they're adapting the first 3 books into one movie, there's no way that the first film of the Dark Tower series could possibly warrant being the most expensive film made to date. Even in the hands of a major spendthrift producer/director with an A-list cast, the first book or (even the first two books as one movie) couldn't cost more than $175-200 million, and that's REALLY stretching it. You'd have to have Spielberg directing, Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt, and Jim Carrey starring, and add scenes that didn't exist in the books in order to make it cost over $300 million.
As much as I want this to be true, we're looking at something interesting: reality fan-fiction.
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6-18-2007 @ 3:57PM
David Donarumo said...
Actually, the blogger states the whole series has the largest budget set for it and not just the first book/film.
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6-18-2007 @ 5:20PM
Bev Vincent said...
Let's look at the timeline:
Feb 13, 2007, word emerges that Abrams is negotiating for the film rights to the series. Despite lots of buzz around the announcement, it turns out that the deal isn't finalized yet.
Let's be generous and assume that they got something in writing by the end of Feb. A little over three months ago.
So, we're expected to believe that in that amount of time they've written a script and gotten it approved by King, secured financing, established a distribution system (they have to know if this is going to be a TV miniseries, a cable series, a motion picture or a series of movies). Hired a director. Sent the script around and hired a cast. Built sets. Established a shooting schedule. Set up production offices.
Oh, yeah--I can see that happening all in a generous 100 days.
Since Abrams is committed to three more seasons of LOST and is supposed to be working on the next Star Trek movie, I would be surprised if there was even a finished script before 2010. The seven novels are about 2500 pages long. Who in their right mind would start filming without a script for the whole thing?
I expect to be eligible for the early bird menu at Denny's before any footage is shot.
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6-19-2007 @ 8:51AM
Marsha said...
I checked with Steve about this and it is not true. Although J.J. Abrams does currently own the option to develop an adaptation of The Dark Tower, no production has actually begun. If any filming is being done, it is without permission and the person responsible can expect to be hearing from a cadre of lawyers.
Marsha DeFilippo, Assistant to Stephen King
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6-20-2007 @ 9:46AM
David Donarumo said...
As of Today, the Blog is gone.
Oh well. I still hope they do turn this series into films at some point.
And speaking of series of books that need to be turned into films, when do we get Zelazney's Amber novels on the big screen or something from Piers Anthony's Xanth books?
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