Now 'The Dark Tower' Might Star Russell Crowe, if It Ever Gets Made

Ron Howard's latest attempt to get his adaptation of The Dark Tower going: how about if Russell Crowe is in this goddammer?

As you may recall from any of the inconsequential updates I've begrudgingly posted on the subject, Howard's Stephen King adaptation has been languishing since its inception early last year. The director's plan was to make The Dark Tower even larger than Lord of the Rings (if slightly less tower-filled), spreading the vast, nine-volume tale across three feature films and two limited-run television series.

He'd set the project up at Universal, with Javier Bardem attached to play the lead role of gunslinger Roland Deschain, but the studio dropped the project last July, back when they thought their future was in Battleship sequels. In March, Warner Bros. began cautiously considering Howard's ambitious plan, but their reluctance to get started with things has reportedly cost them once-secured participation of Bardem. So, Deadline reports, Howard and writer Akiva Goldsman have now started talks to their Beautiful Mind star Russell Crowe in the lead role. After all, if Crowe can sell Goldsman lines like, "Perhaps it is good to have a beautiful mind, but an even greater gift is to discover a beautiful heart," maybe he can sell this thing to Warner Bros. If not, then on to Will Smith.