The big story of the day so far has been the rumored interest of Ron Howard in Christian Bale to star as Roland Deschain in his adaptation of The Dark Tower. Well, if that rumor is true, then he didn't come to that conclusion soon enough, as an offer is now out to Javier Bardem.

First suggested to be up for the part late last month, Deadline reports that the ball has officially been placed in Bardem's court. The story says that negotiations have not yet begun, but "here's a high level of enthusiasm internally that they've got their cowboy." Akiva Goldsman, who has regularly written scripts for Howard projects, including A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man, The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, recently finished writing the first film of the trilogy that will be bridged with a television-aired miniseries between each movie. Just yesterday Bardem received his third Oscar nomination for his role in Alejandro González Iñárritu's Biutiful.

While Bardem obviously hasn't committed either way just yet, I remain surprised that they went with such a big name. The scope of this project is unprecedented and it's highly unlikely, should he take the part, that Bardem would be able to make anything else while working on it. Whoever ends up taking the part of Roland Deschain better really love the character, because they will be spending a ridiculous amount of time with them.