Apparently THE DARK TOWER Film Was Plagued With Problems Because of "Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen"

It has been a long road to get Stephen King's The Dark Tower to the big screen. There's been a lot of hiccups along the way, but even when it finally went into production, the film was still plagued with problems.

Before I go on, I have to say that I love what I've seen in the trailer for the film and I'm excited about seeing it. I especially like the fact that the movie will serve as a sequel to the books. I have no idea what the finished product of the film will look like, but I hope these reports aren't any indication that it's going to be a hot piece of trash. I hope the movie ends up being as awesome as it looks, but we'll just have to wait and see.

There's a recent report from Variety that details all of the issues that The Dark Tower has run into since it's been in development. They say that during the post-production process, the series was "plagued with problems and clashing visions." 

According to inside sources, an early cut of the film was met with concern by Executive Producer Tom Rotham. He was reportedly so unhappy with the cut that he wanted to bring in a more experienced filmmaker to complete the editing process. Another source says that "Rothman spent hours in the editing bay offering his input." He denies these allegations, as does director Nikolaj Arcel, who made a statement regarding these allegations saying:

“On a film with two studios and powerful producers, obviously there is much passionate creative debate on how to work certain ideas or beats. But I felt supported throughout, and they all looked to me for answers. If someone had jumped into my editing room and taken over — I would have left instantly.”

Of course, they're going to deny these things if they are true! They don't want the film to get any bad press. Even if these things aren't true, you can't deny what the audiences of the test screenings are saying. According to the report, audiences "couldn’t understand the mythology and rated the film poorly." That's not good! I hate hearing stuff like this, especially with a film project that I'm so excited about. Rotham goes on to spin the audience's confusion in a positive way saying:

“It’s a fantasy film and so yes, it’s complicated; it’s intricate and ambitious, but that’s a good thing because with the complexity of the stuff on television now, theater audiences want ambition.” 

It's not a good thing if the audiences are rating the film poorly! Inside sources explain that a lot of the film's issues come from the fact that there were a lot of people who had the power to veto all aspects of the film. The report explains: 

Sources paint a more acrimonious picture of the production, one that was enabled by the unique nature of the deal that Sony struck with MRC — a pact that allowed competing power centers to emerge. The two companies split costs, and in return MRC was granted “kill rights” on everything from the marketing campaign to the final cut of the picture. If one company didn’t like a trailer or a cut of the film, it had to be scrapped, making it difficult to achieve consensus. It’s a rare type of partnership, with the kind of sign-off that few production companies enjoy. That led to a case of “too many cooks in the kitchen,” according to one insider. King also had a great deal of input. In return for the rights to his work, he retained veto approval of almost every aspect of the film.

So you have three major parties with the power to veto what was being presented to them. No wonder it took so long to get a trailer for the film and that the release date kept getting pushed back! With this kind of crazy deal in place, it's a shock that the movie actually got made!

This worries me because movie history shows that when you have too many cooks in the kitchen, the finished product could end up being a mess. I hope this film is a rare exception to that.

I'm still excited about the movie and I hope that regardless of what issues plagued the production, fans will be left with a great film that they'll enjoy.