Sony Pictures has reportedly found a director for "The Dark Tower," is the first film in a planned transmedia adaptation of Stephen King's sprawling fantasy epic.
According to Deadline, "A Royal Affair" writer/director Nikolaj Arcel is expected to begin talks with the studio for a deal that will also allow him to oversee a new draft of the screenplay.
The ambitious project, which calls for a movie trilogy and interlocking television miniseries, was abandoned in 2011 by NBC Universal following delays over the budget, only to be shopped around for years by producer Imagine Entertainment as it sought new financing and a new home. Sony Pictures and Media Rights Capital finally stepped up in April, announcing this first film, written by Akiva Goldsman Jeff Pinkner, and based largely on the first novel "The Gunslinger."
Deadline notes that the Danish Arcel, who wrote the screenplay for 2009's "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," taught himself to speak and read English so he could enjoy King's novels in their native language.