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WIRE Buzz: Amazon's Dark Tower finds director; Svengoolie is meeting the DC Universe; and more
Amazon's version of Roland Deschain has found his director in the form of Predator 2's Stephen Hopkins, Deadline allegedly confirmed. While this Dark Tower development wasn't outright reported by the Hollywood-centric outlet, Geeks Worldwide ended up picking out the tidbit (no more than a parenthetical credit for Hopkins) for its own story, which was later shared by Stephen King's official Facebook page.
A veteran of genre in film and television, Hopkins is also known for helming projects like A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, the Lost in Space movie from 1998, Tales from the Crypt, and even the pilot of Fox's 24.
Often considered to be King's magnum opus, the Dark Tower novel series tells the story of a lone gunslinger (Deschain) roaming the fantasy wasteland of another dimension with the intention of reaching the eponymous tower, which is both physical and abstract. Many of the lofty concepts found in these books have found their way into the writer's other unrelated works, giving rise to a connected literary universe that King has become famous for. A film adaptation of the Dark Tower publications (starring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey) was released in the summer of 2017, but ended up bombing hard with critics, fans, and the box office.
Amazon's television adaptation has already cast Sam Strike (Timeless, Nightflyers) as Roland and Jasper Pääkkönen (Vikings, BlacKkKlansman) as the hero's main antagonist, The Man in Black. Michael Rooker (Slither, Guardians of the Galaxy) joined the series in July.
The famous horror host known as "Svengoolie" will meet the heroes and villains of the DC Universe in an eight-page story from DC publisher Dan DiDio, artist Chris Jones, and Svengoolie (real name: Rich Koz) himself.
Going on sale in October, the book (which is broken up by two-page chapters) marks a partnership between DC and MeTV, the latter of whom airs a Koz-hosted block of horror and sci-fi programming every Saturday night at 8pm.
“This is a dream come true for someone who’s been a life-long fan of DC super-heroes since I first got into comics as a kid,” Koz said in a statement. “I couldn’t be prouder to have Svengoolie standing side by side with these iconic characters. I definitely identify with them, too; after all, I have to put on my costume before I can do my job, too!”
In terms of plot, the short comic finds Svengoolie on the run from murderous rubber chickens. He gets some help from Wonder Woman and Green Lantern (John Stewart), but ends up crossing paths with the Joker. Check out the gallery below for a look at the front cover and a few interior pages...
“I’m a huge fan of classic sci-fi and horror movies and I grew up with Svengoolie,” added DiDio. "As a fan and a publisher, I never thought I’d have a chance to have Svengoolie in our books, let alone write the story. This is a fantastic opportunity and I couldn’t be more excited.”
DiDio is also hosting a special panel at New York Comic Con to celebrate the host's 40th anniversary of television iconography. The panel will take place at the Jacob Javitz Center on Friday, Oct. 4 between 2:45-3:45pm EST.
HUP!
If you've binged all of The Dark Crystal: The Age of Resistance, you'll want to check out this 10-minute featurette behind the show that builds on the world Jim Henson first introduced in 1982. Exploring the history and importance of the puppetry medium, the video (basically a condensed documentary hosted by Elvis Mitchell) has executive producer, Lisa Henson, talking about her father's legacy and how this project finally coalesced at Netflix after years of false starts for sequels and animated series.
Watch below:
All 10 episodes of Age of Resistance is now streaming on Netflix. The platform also allows you to stream the original film as well as an hour-and-a-half-long "Making Of" companion documentary for the new show.
