As cool as it would be to see James Mangold (3:10 to Yuma, Knight & Day) in charge of the first film in Stephen King's fabulous series The Dark Tower, that's Ron Howard's baby, for better or for worse. No this 'The Gunslinger' is a modern day, revenge-Western about an an ex-Texas Ranger who sets out to punish the men who killed his brother" and it'll have a lot less magic and fantasy than King's book. According to THR - this one films in the spring, and The Playlist have heard Josh Brolin could be in consideration to lead!* As cool as that would be, would Brolin really be interested in yet another Western themed thriller after No Country For Old Men, Jonah Hex and True Grit in quick succession? The film is setup at New Regency after Warner Bros. put it in turnaround and I've had the John Hlavin written, 2009 blacklisted script in my folder for a while now but haven't cracked it open. Hlavin is the guy behind Donkey Punch and it's that movie and this thriller screenplay that got him the writing gig on Underworld 4: New Dawn. Mangold is of course a director with one of the more diverse list of genre work of anyone making movies today. Girl Interrupted, Copland, Identity, Walk The Line, 3:10 to Yuma and Knight & Day. All good to great movies... and we expect nothing less from The Gunslinger.*We would also be quite pleased if Josh Brolin was cast for the lead role of Roland Deschain in The Dark Tower.