Golden Globe winner Christain Bale has pulled ahead of Javier Bardem and Viggo Mortenson to star as the lead character, Roland Deschain, in the screen adaptation of King’s best work, the ‘Dark Tower’ series. Ron Howard and Stephen King himself are handling the major casting decisions and Ron is slated to direct the movie and the associated TV series. A source said “Dexter” star Jennifer Carpenter is rising on the short list for the role of Susannah, Roland’s lost love, as is French/Moroccan Ghita Tazi.
The production plan is to put out a series of three movies interwoven with a TV series. The first movie will be released and then the first season of the show will run – then the second movie and the second season of TV. It all wraps up with the Third movie concluding the franchise.
The actors in the ‘Dark Tower’ movies will also play in the TV series since the two are part of the same ongoing story. Since ‘The Soprano’s’ made TV respectable we have seen an increasing number of A-listers working in the medium. Given that a weekly format allows a story to be told in much more detail, unfolding at a richer pace than that made possible by the 100 minute demands of the Hollywood big screen, it makes sense that if the resources are provided, TV series can be of a higher quality than films.