Frank Darabont Explains Why He Declined To Adapt Stephen King’s The Darkish Tower

After directing quite a few films primarily based on Stephen King tales, Frank Darabont reveals why he did not adapt The Darkish Tower. Frank Darabont’s Stephen King variations embody The Shawshank Redemption (1994), The Inexperienced Mile (1999), and The Mist (2007).

The Mist opens with David Drayton (Thomas Jane) portray an image of The Darkish Tower‘s protagonist, Roland Deschain. King beforehand shared at New York Comedian Con in 2007 that Darabont was curious about adapting the books, however the writer turned the director down as a result of he already had an excessive amount of on his plate.

Throughout an interview with IndieWire, Darabont clarified that he was really the one to show King down. Whereas Darabont was “flattered and really honored” by the provide, he was already “exhausted” at this level in his profession and acknowledged that it will take a few years to do The Darkish Tower justice. Try Darabont’s feedback under:

Truly, I can appropriate that: I really turned Steve down. He known as me as soon as, and it’s not the one time he ever known as me, however he known as me as soon as and requested me if I used to be curious about taking over “The Darkish Tower.” I used to be very flattered and really honored that he requested me. However man, a lot of that story is so internalized. It’s so within the heads of the characters, and it’s this huge, limitless story as effectively. I assumed, oh my god, this could possibly be the following 10 years of my life and miss the mark, as a result of it’s a diabolically tough factor to adapt. And at that time, I used to be simply exhausted anyway.

And I stated, “Steve, I like you… Thanks for asking, however I gotta not do that.” I’d have frozen in place if I had. He was very, very variety about that after which moved on with it. A few years later, once we have been having a dialog, I stated, “So wait, what’s occurring with ‘The Darkish Tower’? I don’t know, I would rethink that.” He stated, “Oh, no, it’s with someone else by now.” So you realize, that could be the place the he turned me down factor comes from.

You already know, who is aware of? These have been simply actually idle conversations that happen every so often between me and Steve King, one of many world’s biggest folks. I actually owe him a lot. You’ll be able to think about, my complete directing profession, I owe to Steve King.

The Darkish Tower was in the end tailored right into a 2017 film directed by Nikolaj Arcel and starred Idris Elba as Roland, Matthew McConaughey as Walter Padick, and Tom Taylor as Jake Chambers. With a 16% Tomatometer rating and 44% Popcornmeter rating, it was poorly acquired by critics and common audiences.

A Darkish Tower collection from Mike Flanagan has been within the works because it was first introduced in 2022. Flanagan can also be a frequent adapter of King’s work, with credit together with Gerald’s Sport, Physician Sleep, The Lifetime of Chuck, and the upcoming Carrie collection at Prime Video.

Throughout a panel moderated by ScreenRant‘s Joe Deckelmeier and Grant Hermanns at Motor Metropolis Comedian Con in November, Flanagan admitted that The Darkish Tower collection is taking “a very long time” to make, partly due to the challenges that come from securing the rights to sure characters.

As for Darabont, he got here out of retirement to direct episodes 3 and 5 of Stranger Issues‘ ultimate season. Previous to this, his final directing credit have been for episodes of TNT’s Mob Metropolis in 2013 and the final film he directed was The Mist in 2007.

Darabont returned to directing as a result of he and his spouse have been already enthusiastic Stranger Issues followers. He was initially solely speculated to direct episode 5, however ended up helming episode 3 as effectively after the unique director needed to drop out as a consequence of a scheduling battle.

By way of whether or not he would direct once more after Stranger Issues, Darabont shared that he would take into account it so long as it is “a pleasant place the place they’re going to belief the filmmaker.” Whereas Flanagan will likely be The Darkish Tower showrunner, and the variation continues to be years away from releasing its first season, Darabont’s feedback make it doable that he may direct an episode or two beneath the appropriate circumstances.