Jon Hamm is to battle it out against a string of action heroes to star in the adaptation The Dark Tower.
The Mad Men star has been named along with James Bond actor Daniel Craig, X-Men’s Hugh Jackman and The Lord of the Rings’ Viggo Mortensen as being considered to play the lead role of The Gunslinger Roland of Gilead in Universal’s film trilogy and TV series based on Stephen King’s series of sci fi books.
Director Ron Howard confirmed in an interview with The Los Angeles Times: “Sure, those are some names and on The Dark Tower fansites they’re all about Viggo.”
Ron is directing the first film in the series from a script written by Akiva Goldsman.
Akiva wrote the screenplays for Batman And Robin, I, Robot, and I Am Legend and has also previously worked with Ron, writing the scripts for Cinderella Man, A Beautiful Mind, The Da Vinci Code and Angels And Demons, all directed by Ron.
Ron admits there is pressure in bringing King’s The Dark Tower series to the screen.
He said: “Filmically, there are tones in this that I have never used before, tones of fantasy menace and elements of horror and real fear.
“And there’s the burden, on the characters, of this journey that is really palpable. That’s what we need to get on the screen. I think there’s something about [the Frank Darabont films] Green Mile or a Shawshank Redemption, the complexity and the ballast of them, those are two [of the Stephen King adaptations] where you do get the horror and suspense that’s there on the page.
“We’re charging ourselves with the responsibility of getting a real understanding of the material and utilising many of the best aspects of the books and graphic novels.”
