The Man in Black fled across the desert and... Christian Bale followed?
Yes, the opening of Steven King's epic "Dark Tower" series is perhaps the author's most famous line ever, but according to The New York Post, it may be about to get a major rewrite, as Christian Bale is now the leading contender to play the Gunslinger in the new big budget adaptation from director Ron Howard and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman.
"The Dark Tower" series, which King began back in 1982 and which he is still working on, follows the adventures of Roland Deschain -- aka The Gunslinger -- and his band of otherworldly acolytes as they quest through time and space to reach the Dark Tower for reasons that have taken King over 3700 pages to explain and therefore are beyond the scope of this paragraph. What you need to know, though, is that The Gunslinger is an original badass, being a cross between Clint Eastwood, Han Solo and your grandfather back when he was in the war.
And because of how awesome the Gunslinger is -- and the fact that, with a trilogy of movies and TV series already announced, the series is poised to be a major moneymaking tentpole for years to come -- every cool actor in Hollywood is vying for the part, including Viggo Mortensen and Javier Bardem.
Now, though, it appears that Christian Bale, who knows a thing or two about headlining a franchise (see: "The Dark Knight") has pulled into the lead for the role. Of course, even Bale has had his misfires (see: "Terminator: Salvation") but this seems to us like the ultimate match of role and actor, as Bale has just enough sand in his belly to pull off the gruff anti-hero to perfection.
The first installment of "The Dark Tower" is slated to land in theaters in 2013.
