Javier Bardem Closing in on “The Dark Tower”

When the rumors surfaced in January it just made too much sense for it not to happen.

Javier Bardem is all but signed to play the gunslinger Roland Deschain in Ron Howard's adaptation of Stephen King's classic "Dark Tower" series, reported Deadline. The goal is to turn the seven books into three films, with a short TV series to play between each installment.

"Roland is the hero of the Dark Tower series. He is his world's last-and perhaps greatest-gunslinger. His quest is to find the Dark Tower, the nexus of the time/space continuum," according to the StephenKing.com. The sereis was inspired in part by Stephen Crane's 1855 poem, "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came."

The story is set in “an alternate Americana, one part post-apocalyptic, one part Sergio Leone," in the words of writer-producer Akiva Goldsman, whose written the script. In it, Deschain is focused on one thing and one thing only, finding and climbing the Dark Tower, which is believed to be at the center of all existence. Like any quest, things turn out to be a little tougher than anticipated.

Bardem has shown a steely, cool resolve in films like "No Country for Old Men" and "Biutiful," that would seem to work perfectly in King's imaginary world.

But we're still trying to get over Howard's romcom, "The Dilemma," and see nothing in his career that suggest he possesses the vision or technical skill to tackle something this huge. Here's hoping he proves us wrong.

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