Ron Howard appeared on Howard Stern’s radio show Thursday morning, and after discussing whether he ever got a handy from Pinky Tuscadero (we’re assuming), the director laid out some of his plans for his still-in-development adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower with longtime collaborator Akiva Goldsman. As we reported earlier, bringing King’s “magnum opus” to the screen and doing its complex mythology justice will require more than a simple feature film, and during the interview Howard confirmed he is planning two Dark Tower movies, as well as a six-hour miniseries to go in between that would fill in “a lot of the character stuff,” leaving the big-screen features free to “be adventure and action.” Howard also said that the miniseries will be handled through NBC/Universal, meaning it could potentially turn up on any of the corporation’s networks; the smart money would seem to be on Syfy (though wouldn’t it be an ultimate fuck you to Joel Surnow if it aired on The History Channel, just because?).
Finally, Howard acknowledged recent Internet rumors that the two frontrunners to play lead gunslinger Roland are Viggo Mortensen and Javier Bardem, although he did caution that other names were still being considered. Of course, this is all still in the tentative planning stages at the moment, and a project this ambitious could probably fall apart at the slightest setback. Not that you should necessarily go see The Dilemma just to ensure Howard’s industry clout remains intact, but if you’re really pulling for this, maybe consider it? [via /Film]