Recovery from our Dark Fest 2012 weekend is not coming easily (fear not, there will be a debrief, both on Saturday's podcast and here on the site by week's end) but I've still managed to scrounge up this here bit of news that should please fans of Stephen King's Dark Tower novels. We've reported here before about Ron Howard's doomed three-film, two-TV series adaptation of King's magnum opus, which Universal Studio's canned due to a variety of concerns. Well, Deadline reports today that the project may now be picked up by Warner Bros. with Howard still directing and Javier Bardem still in the role of The Gunslinger himself, Roland Deschain. No word yet on whether or not the story will be told during a trilogy of films and two seasons of a TV series. This is an ambitious project, one that feels unadaptable. But I have to admit, I am curious to see if it can be pulled off. Probably not, but we'll keep you posted.

It was first reported that Javier Bardem and Viggo Mortensen were director Ron Howard's top choices for the role of Roland in the big-screen adaptation of Stephen King's Dark Tower series. But word broke across the web today that Batman himself, Christian Bale, has become the front runner. The guys over at JoBlo report it was Bale's Golden Globe win for The Fighter that pushed him to the top. The announcement is a shock given I don't remember Bale even being in the running. Of the three, he's my top choice. Bale's a great actor and can play moody really well. He also looks kinda like Clint Eastwood, who King obviously modeled Roland on. The Dark Tower hits theatres in May 2013.

We reported in September that Ron Howard is moving ahead with an epic adaptation of Stephen King's fantasy yarn The Dark Tower, promising to turn the seven-novel series into three films with TV seasons bridging the movies. Love the idea or hate it (I hate it, but that's just me being me), the project is moving forward, and the New York Post reports Javier Bardem (the villain from No Country For Old Men) is the director's top choice to play hero Roland Deschain with Viggo Mortensen a close second. For the record, both men are excellent choices for King's Gunslinger. No matter what I think about the idea of turning King's great books into films, at least Howard and company want to assemble a top cast. And it's also good news that the cast will stick with the adaptation through all three movies and two TV seasons. Why don't I want to see the books adapted? Easy: I'm scared Hollywood is going to fuck them up. The novels are dark, violent and spectacul...

I don't know if this is good news or not, but Stephen King's The Dark Tower is finally hitting the big screen and the small screen. Universal Pictures and NBC Universal Television will produce both a film trilogy and a TV series based on King's series of books, the companies announced Wednesday. Ron Howard is attached to direct the first film and first season of the series, which screenwriter Akiva Goldsman will pen. The Dark Tower series, which dates back to 1982, is comprised of seven books, short stories and comic books. The fantasy follows a gunslinger's long quest to find The Dark Tower, a building said to be the nexus of all universes. For the record, the books rock. Save for the seventh volume, which has the worst ending of any series in history. "I've been waiting for the right team to bring the characters and stories in these books to film and TV viewers around the world," King said in a statement.  "Ron, Akiva, Brian along ...