Javier Bardem & Viggo Mortensen Frontrunners For The Lead In The Dark Tower

Just under a week ago, a shortlist of actors were announced of who could take the lead role in Ron Howard’s mega-production of Stephen King’s epic fantasy series The Dark Tower. Now it seems that Javier Bardem and Viggo Mortensen are the two frontrunners to take the role, beating out people like Jon Hamm and Daniel Craig as favourites.

According to reports at the NY Post, Bardem is the first choice with Mortensen as the back up. The project is only in early stages with regular Ron Howard collaborator Akiva Goldsman leading the scripting duties. The theory is that The Dark Tower series will encompass three films with an interlinking television series to cover all the details of the plot.

Goldsman and Howard will work on the first film and the first season of the TV series with the lead actor being present for both. Requiring huge commitments for whoever takes the lead role, its not impossible to imagine that the production will be on the same scale as The Lord of the Rings trilogy. So far this is only rumor, these two actors are simply just on the wishlist of possibilities. I haven’t read the books but the idea of a multi-platform film is definitely an intriguing one.