JJ Abrams Is A Busy Man: Star Trek XI + The Dark Tower

Lost, Alias, and Felicity (I put that one in just for laughs) creator J.J. Abrams has a lot on his plate right now.

Between overseeing Lost, doing movies like last summer’s Mission: Impossible III, and writing screenplays for huge sci fi franchises, Abrams can now add two more projects to his list.

First off he has been attached to direct the next big Star Trek motion picture, set before the original series, but after Star Trek: Enterprise. Abrams had previously written the approved screenplay, and now Sci Fi Wire is reporting that he has also been attached to direct the film as well.

The storyline follows a young James T. Kirk and his first adventures on the Enterprise and meeting Spock. Abrams has stated in the past that the new Star Trek film will not cater to the fans as much as a brand new “reboot” of the film franchise. Several names have been thrown around for casting the young Kirk, including a frequent nod to Matt Damon as the young starship captain. No casting has been done at this time.

The second big project he’s now attached to could possible make or ruin his career, and only because of the extremely large and finicky fanbase that the story contains: Stephen King’s The Dark Tower.

Stephen King has originally stated that it could not be done, or in any case would be very difficult to do simply because of the size and scope that would be needed to complete such a long and (at times) complicated story.

His view on his other books being turned into films is decidedly different than how he feels about his lifework, The Dark Tower being adapted:

King’s quote from the NYC Comic Convention held in February 2007:

Well, I’ve said no to everybody recently, because I just didn’t think that the chances of it being a good movie….I mean, this is my life’s work, in a sense. It’s been there since the time when I was 22 years old and I finally finished it up somewhere in my 50s. So it’s very important to me. Usually, about movies, I don’t give much of a shit. My attitude is ‘go make the movie and if it’s good, that’s terrific, and if it’s bad, well then it will go to the video store, the back shelves of Blockbuster, and I still get royalties on the book.’ I don’t care that much.

Longtime Stephen King collaborator Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile) wanted first dibs on the project, but King told him “Frank, give me a break. You’ve got The Mist, you’ve got The Monkey, you’ve got the prison stories — maybe someday I’ll write another prison story and you’re gonna make that — you know, stop putting so much on your plate that you’ll never eat it all.”

So instead when J.J. Abrams and Lost collaborator Damon Lindelof came to King wanting an option to develop the highly regarded Tower series to film, King offered it to them for $19, a key number that heavily ties into the series.

Nothing has been greenlit at this point, but it is rather exciting to see some kind of big screen development for one of my favorite stories. Even if a screenplay gets approval in the next six months, we still won’t see the first movie until well after 2010.

For a temporary fix of new Dark Tower material, make sure you pick up a copy of The Gunslinger Reborn, Issue #1 at any local comic shop.

Source: Sci Fi Wire (Star Trek), Sci Fi Wire (Dark Tower)