The one that ‘The Dark Tower’ has been going around for decades. You know that Hollywood He has spent years trying to make a megafranchise with the immense work of Stephen King with films for the cinema (there is that of Idris Elba) that would have been accompanied by a television series (the last project was from Amazon).
A cursed project but what It seems that he has his new Messiah: Mike Flanagan (‘Midnight Mass’) has revealed in an interview with Deadline that it is already working on the television adaptation of this complex saga through Intrepid Pictures, its production company.
Of course, it is something that it is doing “apart” from the recently signed deal with Amazon Studios, having negotiated directly with Stephen King:
“This has happened because I sent him [a Stephen King] a very, very detailed outline of what he wanted to do with it. And in response to that, he gave us the rights. With a project like this I wouldn’t want to be involved if we took it in a direction that was blasphemous towards Stephen King material, but he’s been very, very supportive of us and he’s very excited about what we’d like to do with it.”
Flanagan’s dream project
It is not, in fact, the first time that we associate the horror writer-director with ‘The Dark Tower’ since it is his dream project (his “Holy Grail”) and on more than one occasion he has spoken publicly of his interest in adapting it in its splendor (the last time was this past October). But it is now when it seems that the project has really started.
The plan? Flanagan is not cut and it really is something much more ambitious than other of his series. His idea is to do five seasons that will be followed by two separate movies. Of course, his priority is to develop the television side first so as not to derail prematurely:
«I have written a pilot, we see it as if it were a series that will last at least five seasons. And having lived with this project as long as I have, I have a huge amount of it running through my brain. But I have a pilot script that I’m excited about and a very detailed outline for the first season and a broad outline for the following seasons. I think if we do make progress at the end, there are some writers that I want to carry that process with that I’ve worked with before; I think they would be great for a very small, intimate script room where we can continue to unravel it.
I’ll tell you, more than half my life, I’ve closed my eyes and been able to watch a lot of this unfold, I’ve dreamed about it. That close-up that comes right with the incredible first sentence of the first book, ‘The Gunslinger’, I have had that image hanging around my head since I was a student. He’s going to have to get out of there at some point, I really need to get him out of my head.
The pilot script is one of my favorite things I’ve ever worked on. It’s surreal to work on it. We are impressed and grateful that Stephen King trusted us with this, something so precious to him, and we look forward to finding the right partners to make it happen.”
Let’s remember that It is not the first time that Flanagan has messed with the work of Stephen King since he is responsible for ‘Gerald’s game’ and ‘Doctor Sueño’, both with lauds. So now it will be necessary to see if this play really turns out as well as the magnum opus of the master of terror deserves.