Summary
TheStephen Kingfandom has been enticed with the concept of a live-action adaptation ofThe Dark Towerbefore, but now, thanks to Mike Flanagan’s extraordinary visions of breathing life into numerous horror books, it’s finally being brought to screens. Even though the series is still in its early development stage, Flanagan has an idea of who he wants to star in it. The creator of TV favorites like “The Haunting of Hill House,” “Midnight Mass,” and “The Midnight Club” acquired the rights to adapt King’s “The Dark Tower” book series, which he will be producing alongside Trevor Macy, who Flanagan worked with on his previous endeavors.
In 2017,The Dark Towerfilm, directed and co-written by Nikolaj Arcel and starring Idris Elba as the Gunslinger, was loosely based on King’s novel series and only grossed $111 million worldwide on a $60 million dollar budget. The sci-fi western, unfortunately, didn’t shape up too well and received a 16% on Rotten Tomatoes, with many calling it “unmemorable” and “weird” as it seemingly shied away from what made the novels so popular. Amazon had initially ordered a pilot for the proposedDark Towerproject, but executives came to the conclusion that it posed too many challenges in translating the source material, so,The Dark Toweradaptation was ultimately canceled.
Mike Flanagan Has Clear Ideas About Casting The Dark Tower
Speaking withCinemaBlend, Mike Flanagan confirmed that even though theStephen King adaptationwas still in very early stages, he did have somewhat of a concept of who he would like to cast inThe Dark Tower. As Flanagan fans will know, the filmmaker tends to hire reoccurring actors that have been a part of his previous projects, like his wife Kate Siegel, who starred inThe Fall of the House of UsherandThe Haunting of Hill House.This time, however, Flanagan is keeping his cards close to his chest as, even though he has a good idea about the series' cast, he hasn’t told the actors yet, just in case they get their hopes up in the fragile early stages of the show where anything could happen.
Flanagan also states that there are times in the past that he messed up and unleashed information that maybe shouldn’t have been told just yet, which is why he is so secretive about who he wants to be cast inThe Dark Toweradaptation. However, he did mention that his wife is clued-up when it comes to collaborating on his projects and knows all the ins and outs of his thought process when it comes to what he’s working on, who also seems to do a much better job at keeping secrets too.
“I have not told anyone my plans because the last thing I want to do is get actors hoping or expecting things before I can tell them that it’s… My favorite version of things is to go to an actor and say, ‘This is what I see for you, and here’s an offer to do it.’ If I can’t do that, then I don’t; I try not to say anything.”
Having directed adaptations ofGerald’s Game,Doctor Sleep, and theyet-to-be-releasedThe Life of Chuck, Flanagan has helmed three King adaptations to date. It remains to be seen what his version ofThe Dark Towerwill be, but the filmmaker has had incredible success throughout his career and with him now behind the series' steering wheel,The Dark Toweris seemingly getting the adaptation it cried out for and deserved all along.
