THE DARK TOWER Film May Have Finally Found Its Director

An adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower has been in the works for years. Originally set up at Universal and then Warner Bros. as an ambitious plan for a trilogy of films with seasons of a TV show in between, the project was cancelled and then resurrected by Sony and Media Rights Capital about a month ago. Now Deadline reports that the studio has found its director: Nikolaj Arcel, the man who co-wrote the original The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and directed the Best Foreign Film Oscar nominee A Royal Affair.

Arcel certainly doesn't have the A-list status of someone like Ron Howard (who was initially going to direct), but this might be what the project needs to finally get off the ground: a younger, hungrier director who absolutely loves King's novels. The Danish director reportedly learned to read and write in English specifically so he could read this series in King's native language, and his huge fandom of the books apparently impressed the studio. The report says that talks will begin shortly to have Arcel rewrite the script and direct.

The plan is still in place for this to be the first of at least a few films, and the TV series is still being developed as a complimentary piece of entertainment to air in between entries. I imagine we'll start hearing about casting soon, so stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.