With news that Stephen King’s enormously popular book series The Dark Tower will be coming to a big and small screen near you, Entertainment Weekly reached out to the bestselling author to get a few more answers about the highly-anticipated project. Here’s what he had to say:
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: The Dark Tower is such a dense series — did you always think it needed more than a single movie or TV show treatment?
STEPHEN KING: I always thought it would take more than a single movie, but I didn’t see this solution coming — i.e., several movies and TV series. It was Ron [Howard] and Akiva [Goldsman]‘s idea. Once it was raised, I thought at once it was the solution.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What about Ron Howard and NBC makes them a good fit for the franchise?
STEPHEN KING: When working as a director, Ron is very similar to the way I work as a writer. We both tell honest stories that have (I flatter myself) style and substance but not a lot of show-offy frills.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: In a perfect world, who would play Roland? Eddie? Susannah? Jake?
STEPHEN KING: The Twilight cast, of course! Just kidding. I haven’t got as far as casting in my thoughts, but when I write about Susannah Dean, I always kind of see Angela Bassett in my mind’s eye. Mostly I just want good people in those parts. Ron Howard will find them, I’m sure.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: And who would you want to play?
STEPHEN KING: I’d love to be the voice of Blaine the Mono.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: There’s a lot of blood in the series — how much is the TV series going to be censored? It likely would have been easier to join forces with a network without restrictions, à la HBO, no?
STEPHEN KING: I don’t see that as a problem at all! We’ll have just enough latitude to make a great series. I’ve worked in network TV before, and every time I was squeezed a little, it just made me look for creative solutions. Besides, I always like to play in the biggest auditorium available! (Reprinted from EW.com)
Posted by Larry Fire 
