The Dark Tower Movie News

For those of you who don’t know, Lost Executive Producer J.J. Abrams bought the rights to The Dark Tower Series for a incredible 19 dollars (presumably in keeping with the recurring number in the books). Abrams is quoted as saying this in regard to the upcoming project’s status:

“Damon Lindelof and I talked to Mr. King. We got the rights for ‘ The Dark Tower’ as a film. Damon is obviously still on ‘Lost’, and we’ve been working on ‘Star Trek’ together. As soon as ‘Lost’ is done, hopefully we’ll begin tackling that.”

The plan is to make seven films out of the seven books in the series, a la Harry Potter.

Lindelof had this to say about the series’ potential:

“The Dark Tower is to me every bit as daunting an adaptation as the Lord of the Rings trilogy must have been for Peter Jackson, except we’ve got seven books we’re looking at. And the idea of doing that at the same time Carlton and I are bringing Lost to a close is simply not viable. There are always Dark Tower conversations, but the figuring out of what this will look like as a movie has not begun. If The Dark Tower were in the right hands, I would love to see seven movies executed just right. But you have to get people to see the first one to get them to come and see the second one.”

I think that with J.J. Abrams, The Dark Tower is in pretty good hands. Even if your not a fan of everything he has done, you cannot deny that he takes  pride in all his projects and strives to make the best possible movie or TV show that he can.

UPDATE: SORRY TO SAY, BUT THE PROJECT IS APPARENTLY OFF. I SUPPOSE THERE’S NO TELLING WHEN OR IF WE WILL SEE ROLAND AND HIS KA-TET ON THE BIG (OR LITTLE) SCREEN…

Review of Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter DVD

Those of you who have read the book know well the story of the sea captain driven mad after an attack by the demonic crew of The Black Freighter. In this animated retelling of the comic-book-within-a-comic-book, we have 300’s Gerard Butler as the voice of the sea captain, minus his inexplicable Scottish accent he used for his Spartan character in 300. The animation is great, and it is nice to experience the tale outside the realm of the larger Watchmen story. In a way, it pulls you deeper into the captain’s world as he slowly loses his grip on reality. In the book, the tale serves as reinforcement of what is happening in the main story, but is difficult to appreciate in and of itself. This DVD allows that to occur. The Tales of the Black Freighter (subtitled Marooned! in the graphic novel) clocks in at 26 minutes.

Also on the DVD is Under the Hood which is done in a documentary style. Not only does it have Hollis Mason (the first Nite Owl) talking about the formation of the Minuteman, but it also pulls other elements of the Watchmen mythology into play as well. For anyone who has seen the movie, this DVD takes you deeper in the the Watchmen world. The DVD has a behind the scenes look at both features, too. If you have seen the movie, but haven’t read the book, you will want to watch this feature (called Story within a Story: The Books of Watchmen) first so you understand it’s place in the story. Or better yet, buy the book to truly get the full Watchmen experience. Aside from this is a behind the scenes look at the animated Green Latern movie and chapter one of Watchmen, the motion comic. This feature is essentially screenshots of the orginal comic with sound effects and voice talent. The latter of which is the most horrendous example of acting I have ever witnessed. It’s almost as if they recorded these actors as they read the script for the first time.

And for some inexplicable reason, the voice of Laurie Juspeczyk/Silk Spectre 2 is performed by a guy.

Luckily this feature is not a main proponent of the DVD, but more of a little extra thrown in for our amusement (it amused me, at any rate). The DVD as a whole is a must for fans of the movie, and even more so for fans of the novel.

Alan Moore Talks Watchmen

Alan Moore talking about his graphic novel, Watchmen, back in 2007…