tl;dr spoiler-free version: Nikolaj Arcel replaces Ron Howard on the first The Dark Tower movie.
(Heavy spoilers ahead)
There’s a late scene in Stephen King’s mostly overrated magnum opus in which, I kid you not, one of the main villains uses the Golden Snitch from the Harry Potter series’ game of Quidditch to fight the heroes. How about another famous moment in which warriors on horses with Dr Doom masks carry Star Wars lightsabers into battle? Not a joke. Both scenes do exist as described, and are important, serious moments in King’s most significant work.
I sincerely hope acclaimed Danish director Nikolaj Arcel stays very close to the source material which also includes a supporting role for Stephen King himself, a giant cyborg bear, a talking train, and what appears to be a second Pennywise. The BAFTA-nominated director of A Royal Affair has officially been chosen to send Roland on his “epic” journey, as producer Ron Howard bowed out to adapt something else instead: Inferno, the fourth Robert Langdon novel (a novel that, by the way, is actually better than some of the Dark Tower works).
Sadly, Arcel can’t just start production. First, he’ll have to co-write a new draft with the help of Academy Award-winning bore Anders Thomas Jensen (The Salvation). I’m just not sure why. They have a first draft by the writing duo of Jeff Pinkner, the third billed screenwriter of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and Akiva Goldsman, writer of screen classics such as Batman & Robin, I Am Legend, and Winter’s Tale, which is probably great already as it is. Maybe Arcel just wishes to add some Danish spark to it?
Meanwhile, let’s just hope Russell Crowe is still interested in playing King’s tribute to the Man with No Name, and that Aaron Paul is still open to play another multi-layered drug addict in Eddie Dean. They’d be perfect. Angela Bassett for Odetta?