Although rumours have been circling various actors for a while placing Bardem as the first choice along with Viggo Mortensen and Christian Bale, this is the first we’ve heard of any official news in regards to the casting of Ron Howard’s adaptation of The Dark Tower. According to the folks over at Deadline, Javier Bardem has been offered the lead as Roland Deschain. The planned project has a reportedly colossal scope, and though there are no details on the offer made it will presumably require him to sign up for 3 films and the TV mini-series we’ve been hearing about.
Formal negotiations have not yet truly begun but the offer is in place, all in all it has been a busy week for Bardem, who on Tuesday celebrated both a surprise nomination in the Best Actor category at the Oscars for his role in Biutiful and the birth of his son with his wife Penelope Cruz. This is a role that could do wonders for Bardem’s career, his sublime Oscar winning performance in No Country for Old Men put him on the map and this role in this meta project could catapult him to super stardom.
The first film and TV series will be directed by Ron Howard with his screenwriting collaborator Akiva Goldsman penning the script. No word yet on when this will start shooting or when we will see the first film, but the scope we’ve been hearing its a long way off.