The horror author reveals his thoughts on Ron Howard's upcoming adaptation.

Stephen King Wants Twilight Cast for The Dark Tower Trilogy?
September 9th, 2010

It was announced yesterday that Universal Pictures had acquired the franchise rights to Stephen King's The Dark Tower, which is being turned into both a big screen trilogy directed by Ron Howard and a weekly television series. Now, Stephen King has talked with Entertainment Weekly about the upcoming feature film, and he expressed his thoughts and concerns about the production, even mentioning that he'd like to see Ron Howard get the cast of Twilight to play main characters Roland, Eddie, Susannah, and Jake in the movie. But is he joking?

Here is what the popular horror author had to say about The Dark Tower:

The Dark Tower is such a dense series. Did you always think it needed more than a single movie or TV show treatment?

Stephen King: I always thought it would take more than a single movie, but I didn't see this solution coming - i.e., several movies and TV series. It was Ron Howard and Akiva Goldsman 's idea. Once it was raised, I thought at once it was the solution.

What about Ron Howard and NBC makes them a good fit for the franchise?


Stephen King: When working as a director, Ron is very similar to the way I work as a writer. We both tell honest stories that have (I flatter myself) style and substance but not a lot of show-offy frills.

In a perfect world, who would play Roland? Eddie? Susannah? Jake?

Stephen King: The Twilight cast, of course! Just kidding. I haven't got as far as casting in my thoughts, but when I write about Susannah Dean, I always kind of see Angela Bassett in my mind's eye. Mostly I just want good people in those parts. Ron Howard will find them, I'm sure.

And who would you want to play?

Stephen King: I'd love to be the voice of Blaine the Mono.

There's a lot of blood in the series - how much is the TV series going to be censored? It likely would have been easier to join forces with a network without restrictions, à la HBO, no?

Stephen King: I don't see that as a problem at all! We'll have just enough latitude to make a great series. I've worked in network TV before, and every time I was squeezed a little, it just made me look for creative solutions. Besides, I always like to play in the biggest auditorium available!

To read more with Stephen King, be sure to check out Entertainment Weekly.

The Dark Tower comes to theaters in 2012. The film is directed by Ron Howard.