Deadline reports that Russell Crowe is attached to star in the big screen adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series. The lead role was originally expect to go to Javier Bardem, but it appears that the actor has dropped out. It remains to be seen if financier Warner Bros. Pictures will actually give the long-in-development project a green light, but Deadline claims that a final decision will be made in the next few weeks.

The epic Dark Tower series combines many different genres, including fantasy, sci-fi, western, and horror, and consists of more than eight lengthy novels. Since the story is so long, The Dark Tower isn’t expected to be a single film. Producers Ron Howard and Brian Grazer are planning to make three different movies plus a TV series, if they get the green light.

They’re not the first filmmakers to take a stab at the material. Frequent Stephen King collaborator Frank Darabont tried to get his own movie off the ground, and was later followed by J.J. Abrams and his producing team. Both attempts failed.

Source: Deadline