Of all the big tentpole projects being cooked up right now, The Dark Tower is the biggest, and I keep expecting to see a report that the whole thing has fallen through. Ron Howard and Brian Grazer seem intent on keeping this very large ball rolling, with plans for multiple flicks and a TV series in the works. Adapting Stephen King's massive series of novels, a mix of western, sci-fi and fantasy elements, is no easy task. So it only makes sense that if you're going to do it, you better have one heck of a lead actor to front the whole thing. Enter: Christian Bale.
We've heard previously that Viggo Mortensen and Javier Bardem were the two frontrunners to play the lead character of Roland Deschain, but now the New York Post puts Bale's name up there as well. They site his Academy Award nomination as the catalyst for this decision, which is silly and basically ignores the stellar career and reputation he's had before. The only question is whether or not his schedule will allow such a time consuming production, and if he even has a desire to jump into another huge franchise so soon after completing one. He's still got the Terminator franchise on the table as well.
Naomie Harris(28 Days Later) and Jennifer Carpenter(Quarantine)have been mentioned as possibles for the primary female role of Susannah Dean. Expecting some of these roles to start getting locked down within the next few weeks, if not sooner!
