'Dark Tower' Status Report from Ron Howard

All is not well in Mid-World. April was flush with announcements of a Dark Tower movie trilogy/TV franchise multimedia package deal, directed by Ron Howard and with Javier Bardem all but a lock for the role of Roland, the Gunslinger.

Then, not so much. Reports of budget problems, complete cancellation of the project, and even worse, rumors that it would happen, only with huge story and budget cuts.

Surely Howard and co. are aware of the Dark Tower's rabid fan following, and are smart enough to know that it would be better to just walk away than to half-ass it. So what, exactly, is the deal?

Howard tells EW:

“We had to pull back to our September start date due to budget delays and ongoing story development and logistical issues, but Dark Tower is moving forward,…We’re thinking of starting in early spring now. I can’t really say who’ll be in it yet, but Javier Bardem has shown a great deal of interest. We’ll know by the end of the summer, when our flashing green light goes solid.”

So a time-out, then. Holding off on plans, and contract negotiations and the like until all the money is on the table and everyone knows what's what. Speaking for the Dark Tower fans, I think that they'd be insane not to make this happen, but they'd be morons to do do a low-budget TV movie - and they'd be dipshits if they made it a Michael Bay production with Ryan Reynolds as Roland.