Ahoy, squirts! Quint here.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, n, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
No.
Really? The writer of BATMAN & ROBIN and LOST IN SPACE, Akiva Goldsman, to write THE GUNSLINGER film? Really?
This news scares the shit out of me. I hope to all the Gods that have ever existed and will ever exist that either the reliable Borys Kit is wrong on this one or that this proposed deal falls apart.
Here's what the Heat Vision Blog is reporting. Akiva Goldsman, Brian Grazer and Ron Howard are circling Stephen King's epic horror/fantasy/sci-fi/action-adventure/western THE DARK TOWER.
Now, their approach is actually a very good one... They want to make THE GUNSLINGER into a motion picture (most likely at Universal) and then continue the series as a long-form TV series. Not a bad idea at all, especially if that means they can go to HBO or some other cable channel that will let them go a little crazy.
But who am I kidding? Akiva Goldsman writing this means it'll more than likely be homogenized and stripped of what makes the book series so special. I love those books because they bend genre, they get a bit trippy, they're violent and unpredictable.
You might remember JJ Abrams, Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof had the rights for a while and it was going to be their big post-LOST project until they decided they couldn't do the world justice and let the rights revert back to King.
I know King is very protective of this series, so I only have to hope that he's something in Howard, Grazer and Goldsman that I don't. I think this is a horrible move... and I say this as someone not on the Ron Howard hate-train.
It's not just me, right? Or am I just a knee-jerk fanboy on this one?
PS For the record, I'm sure Goldsman is a totally nice dude, so I don't mean this as a personal attack on him. I am a Dark Tower junkie and have been dreaming of this series adapted to the big screen in some form since I was 13 years old. I just don't have the faith in him to adapt it and bring that unmolested vision to the screen.
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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