Ron Howard Makes Us Even More Confused About His The Dark Tower Project

Remember when Javier Bardem was set to play gunslinger Roland Deschain in a film and television adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series? And then when it was completely canceled because of budget issues? Then it was back on. Then it was coming to HBO. Take a deep breath, director Ron Howard is now saying it’s not happening anytime soon. 

Howard is currently at work on the Formula One racing drama Rush starring Chris Hemsworth which he jumped on board with when The Dark Tower was delayed. While speaking about that project he was of course asked about the novel series that was originally set to be a film trilogy plus two seasons of television.

“We are continuing to work on the script to find ways to make the budget more manageable and still deliver the work in a way that the project deserves,” he said. “We were always racing and fast-tracking the project, so I always wince when I see something written about it and there’s a release date in there.” That supposed release date is still a ways away on May 17, 2013.

“These kinds of projects often take years to come together in the right ways,” Howard continued. “But I am in love with the material, and the minute it can come together in the right way, I am fully committed to it.”

So when is it ever going to come together? Let’s not forget, besides Rush, Howard still has that Arrested Development movie/tv episodes to work on too so he’s got a pretty full plate at the moment. It’s safe to say this project won’t ever be off the table entirely due to its popularity but it may be a very, very long time before it finally surfaces. I, for one, would be happy with it being entirely on HBO à la Game of Thrones rather than trying to make such an epic thing out of it. What do you think?

(via Blastr)

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Jill Pantozzi

Jill Pantozzi is a pop-culture journalist and host who writes about all things nerdy and beyond! She’s Editor in Chief of the geek girl culture site The Mary Sue (Abrams Media Network), and hosts her own blog “Has Boobs, Reads Comics” (TheNerdyBird.com). She co-hosts the Crazy Sexy Geeks podcast along with superhero historian Alan Kistler, contributed to a book of essays titled “Chicks Read Comics,” (Mad Norwegian Press) and had her first comic book story in the IDW anthology, “Womanthology.” In 2012, she was featured on National Geographic’s "Comic Store Heroes," a documentary on the lives of comic book fans and the following year she was one of many Batman fans profiled in the documentary, "Legends of the Knight."

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