Earlier today Ron Howard seemed pretty optimistic that his Dark Tower adaptation would be coming in at budget and perhaps moving forward in the near future. The director is now throwing all of that optimism into question as Variety reports that he is in early talks to direct the Formula 1 biopic Rush. Written by Frost/Nixon scribe Peter Morgan, Rush focuses on three-time F1 champion Niki Lauda who returned from a fiery crash in 1976 just in time to continue his rivalry with fellow driver James Hunt. Paul Greengrass was interested in heading Rush before taking the helm of Sony's A Captain's Duty adaptation.As for what this means for Howard's Dark Tower, it's important to note that the director is still attached to Dark Tower and that his Rush talks are in the very early stages. Given that Dark Tower is a massive undertaking and is moving along slowly/cautiously as a result, it makes sense from a professional standpoint that Howard would dip his toe in other projects while waiting for the go-ahead from Universal. If anything, news of his interest in Rush reaffirms what we already knew: that the Dark Tower series adaptation still has a lot of work to do. That said, if Howard ends up taking on Rush, it should act as evidence that Tower is further away than his recent sentiments may have suggested.