According to Entertainment Weekly, Ron Howard has approached Javier Bardem to play the star in an adaptation of Stephen King novel, “The Dark Tower”. If Bardem takes the role, he will portray dark hero Roland Deschain.

First reported by Deadline, Imagine Entertainment confirmed the news about the possibility of Bardem playing the role as well as the high level of excitement surrounding the offer.

For Bardem this has been a great week; not only is his acting career at a high–he received the Best Actor nomination for his work in “Biutiful”, but he and wife Penelope Cruz have also welcomed into the world a new baby boy.

The plot of “The Dark Tower” focuses on Deschain, a post-apocalyptic cowboy, the last surviving member of a heroic group of Western heroes. Deschain is the only hope for humanity; he must find the Dark Tower, or else, civilization will fall apart. For Universal, Howard and co-producer/screenwriter Akiva Goldman, they see the Dark Tower series as their own version of “The Lord of the Rings”, citing that the wild-West feel gives the film an apocalyptic, otherworldly America. (King and Imagine Entertainment’s Brian Grazer are also producing the film.)

The first part of “The Dark Tower” is set to be in theaters May 17, 2013.

Javier Bardem