Howard Jazzed by "Dark Tower" Project

Director Ron Howard is obsessed with adapting Stephen King’s seven-novel Dark Tower series into a movie trilogy bridged by two TV series. Howard told The Washington Post, “I really can't stop thinking about it. We've been meeting and talking, and I've been reading and researching and just kind of living with it.

I've been constantly going through stuff, and I've just been relistening to it (on audio books) on my iPod, and we've been sending e-mails back and forth, 'What about this approach? What do you think of this idea?' We're finding the shape of it. We're moving quickly now, as quickly as we can, and I feel challenged in the most exciting ways."

King’s seven Dark Tower novels encompass a mammoth 3,795 pages and have collectively sold over 30 million copies. Last year King announced that he was working on an eighth book in the series, The Wind Through the Keyhole. Marvel Comics has created a popular comic book adaptation of The Dark Tower, but Universal’s ambitious combination of movies and TV series marks the first really serious attempt to dramatize the groundbreaking fantasy saga.

Howard is working with writer Akiva Goldsman and producer Brian Grazer on The Dark Tower project--the same team responsible for the Oscar-winning A Beautiful Mind

Pee-Wee on HBO in 2011

HBO has announced that it will shoot a special performance of The Pee-Wee Herman Show on Broadway for airing on the network in 2011. The Pee-Wee Herman Show will end its limited six-week engagement at the Stephen Sondheim Theater on January 2nd; HBO will shoot a performance immediately following the conclusion of the engagement.

HBO aired a special taped from Paul Rubens’ original Pee-Wee stage show in 1981. It was directed by Marty Callner, who will also direct the 2011 special.

Rubens’ revival of his character continues to follow the path of its launch 30 years ago, which began as a stage show that was made into an HBO special. It remains to be seen whether Rubens can also engineer the transition to feature film and TV series that made the character a household word in the 80s.

Stargate Universe Cancelled!

Syfy has canceled Stargate Universe, according to Deadline Hollywood. The remaining ten episodes of the show’s second season will be aired in the spring, with no more to follow. This apparently marks the end of the Stargate franchise, at least as far as series are concerned. The first series ran ten seasons; Stargate Atlantis was canceled after five seasons.

A Stargate Atlantis-Stargate Universe crossover movie was greenlit last summer. At one point a Stargate movie, Stargate: Extinction was also planned

Spidey's High School Nemesis Set

Numerous reports from Hollywood indicate that Chris Zylka (Hannah Montana) has won the role of Flash Thompson, Peter Parker’s high school nemesis in Marc Webb’s reboot of the Spider-Man franchise, which begins production this week. Thompson is a high school football star who mercilessly bullies Peter Parker, but who also, in a marvelous example of how Stan Lee manages to humanize his villains, greatly admires Spider-Man’s exploits.

Flash Thompson didn’t have much of a presence in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy, but since Webb is taking Parker back to high school, the nasty jock’s role should figure more prominently in the reboot. The Wrap has confirmed that Zylka will get the key role of Flash Thompson.

Zylka, who recently played a dimwitted surfer in Gregg Araki’s Kaboom, joins a stellar cast that includes Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Martin Sheen, Sally Field,Irrfan Khan, Dennis Leary, Camp Rhys Ifans, Bell Scott, Julianne Nicolson, and Anne Parisse .

Mekhi Phifer Joining "Torchwood" for Fourth Season

American actor Mekhi Phifer (ER, Lie to Me) is joining the cast of the fourth season of the Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood, which is being co-produced by Starz and the BBC for a run on both networks. Phifer will be working with a trio of original cast members that includes John Barrowman, who plays the central role of con man Captain John Harkness, Eve Myles who portrays key team member Gwen Cooper, and Kai Owen who plays Gwen’s husband.

According to Deadline, Phifer will take the role of a new character, Rex Matheson, a CIA agent, “a fast-tracked, high-flyer with a lethal sense of humor” who will become the series’ third lead.

Titan Publishing has launched a Torchwood comic book series, which is based on the TV show, which has managed to build a strong following through its first three series.

HBO Renews hit series True Blood for 4th Season

HBO has renewed the hit show TRUE BLOOD for a 12-episode 4th season, it was announced today by Michael Lombardo, president, HBO
programming. Created by Alan Ball, the series will begin production of new episodes next year in Los Angeles, with debut set for summer 2011.

“The new season of TRUE BLOOD is off to a terrific start, as enthusiasm for this unique show continues to build among both subscribers and critics,” noted Lombardo. “We’re looking forward to more chills from Alan Ball and his gifted team next year.” “I am beyond thrilled to be able to continue working with this amazing cast and crew,” says Ball. “This is the most fun I have ever had.”

Mixing romance, suspense, mystery and humor, TRUE BLOOD takes place in the not-too-distant future, when vampires have come out of the coffin, thanks to the invention of mass-produced synthetic blood that means they no longer need humans as a nutritional source. The show follows the romance between waitress Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), who can hear people’s thoughts, and her boyfriend, 173-year-old vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), who went missing at the end of season two, and is now the object of a frantic search. Alan Ball created and executive produces the show, which is based on the best-selling Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris.

The 12-episode third season of TRUE BLOOD, which launched June 13, has already inspired critical raves, with Entertainment Weekly calling it “faster, sleeker, more vicious, more fun than it already was,” as well as “summer’s best TV.” USA Today hails the show as “fabulously wild,” while the Washington Post describes it as “electrifying.”