It's kind of crazy that Hollywood is still actively trying to adapt The Dark Tower. Despite its huge, sprawling, dense - quite frankly - mind-boggling nature (not to mention all those late-stage meta twists that you can only see really working in book form), it's kind of surprising that the studios have even attempted to get a movie going in the first place. Of course, every single one of said attempts has ended in failure thus far - The Dark Tower has been "shelved" a bunch of times, the project left to linger in development hell... Heck, even the long-rumoured TV series never happened, and that seemed like it genuinely would. Right now, though, a film is legitimately in the works by way of a joint venture with Sony and Media Rights Capital. There's even a "confirmed" release date (late 2017) and a director (Nikolaj Arcel, the guy behind the brilliant A Royal Affair) - total shocker, right? Still, the inherent problem that goes with adapting something like The Dark Tower relate to its status as a somewhat popular book series, but one that has never penetrated the mainstream. Then there's the fact that are are eight very long and - let's face it - potentially confusing books which outright refuse to run in linear order. The fourth book is essentially one big flashback, after all - how do you begin to make that work on screen? And yet The Dark Tower is - without a doubt - one of the greatest works of fantasy ever produced, medium be damned. Stephen King has crafted one of the most unique and epic adventures of all-time, and the series - thrilling and genuinely clever in equal measure - deserves a cinematic adaptation that does proper justice to the great source material. Pulling it off won't be easy, of course, but here are 10 things that Hollywood must get right to ensure that - when the time comes - the studio have the best chances of a success...
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
