The first big screen adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower book series has been in the works for quite some time, and now the folks at Sony Pictures Entertainment and Media Rights Capital are reportedly eyeing their top choice for the director's chair.
According to Collider, Nikolaj Arcel (director of A Royal Affair, co-writer of the Swedish film adaptation of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) is the number one name to direct The Dark Tower feature film. Negotiations are expected to begin soon, with the ultimate goal of having Arcel direct The Dark Tower, as well as rewrite the latest script adaptation penned by Akiva Goldsman and Jeff Pinkner (the latter is also executive producing the project).
A supposedly avid Stephen King fan, Arcel taught himself English to devour the Master of Horror's books, including The Dark Tower series.
This first feature film adaptation is expected to focus on the storylines from King's The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger, following Roland of Gilead and Jake Chambers, the Kid from Earth.
No official casting announcements have been made at this time. A Dark Tower TV series that would act as a companion to the feature films is also in development at MRC.
Stay tuned to Daily Dead for more updates. In the meantime, if you're not familiar with the seven-book (not including the spin-off novels) Dark Tower series, here's the synopsis for The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger, the first installment of King's epic adventure:
"In the first book of this brilliant series, Stephen King introduces readers to one of his most enigmatic heroes, Roland of Gilead, The Last Gunslinger. He is a haunting figure, a loner on a spellbinding journey into good and evil. In his desolate world, which frighteningly mirrors our own, Roland pursues The Man in Black, encounters an alluring woman named Alice, and begins a friendship with the Kid from Earth called Jake. Both grippingly realistic and eerily dreamlike, The Gunslinger leaves readers eagerly awaiting the next chapter."
Nikolaj Arcel (photo via Jan Buus):
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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