Stephen King's The Dark Tower

faceman

A character from book 7 has been cast. Surely they're not doing the series in one movie???

Zillah

I imagine she's going to be slinking around as a harbinger of dark forces, something like that?

faceman

faceman wrote: »

A character from book 7 has been cast. Surely they're not doing the series in one movie???

I was thinking maybe they were replacing the Susannah/Detta/Odetta character with her perhaps? Not sure why they would though I know that character is going to be tough to pull off on screen and they will likely alter her drastically, wheelchair and racism will be out for sure I'd say.

Maybe the Tirana character will pop up in Tull and have a bigger role throughout then, even that changes a few things.

intheclouds

Unless its just a name change to avoid confusion, so rather than have Susannah and Susan they have Tirana and Susan?

intheclouds

intheclouds wrote: »

Unless its just a name change to avoid confusion, so rather than have Susannah and Susan they have Tirana and Susan?

I could buy that yeah.

intheclouds

Deleted User wrote: »

I could buy that yeah.

Tirana/Detta/Odetta - but it would be a bit odd that they are announcing the name of the character as Tirana if that was it, surely itd be Odetta?

Boo Radley

King just tweeted this:

https://twitter.com/StephenKing/status/704674793145159680

Clegg

From Stephen King:

“[The movie] starts in media res, in the middle of the story instead of at the beginning, which may upset some of the fans a little bit, but they’ll get behind it, because it is the story,” King says.

McConaughey will play Randall Flagg and Elba will play Roland Deschain, the last Gunslinger. The series is hard to explain. It started off as a chase through a barren land as Roland sought Flagg, the man who had knowledge of the whereabouts of the Dark Tower. I won't spoil anymore as the plot must really be discovered rather than spelled out.

Tbh I think these are inspired casting choices.

intheclouds

Brilliant casting for Randall Flagg, terrible casting for Roland Deschain who was originally written with The Man With No Name in mind (ie, Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's "Dollars Trilogy" of Spaghetti Western films).

I think Elba is a great actor but he isnt right for this role. Its going to sharply divide the fans.

I lived these books for 15+ years, waiting on the next one to come out, rereading the previous ones..... Its a lot of time to invest in a character!

Boo Radley

Here's an article with lots of hints and details about where they're taking it:

http://www.ew.com/article/2016/02/29/dark-tower-rises-stephen-king-idris-elba-and-matthew-mcconaughey

Basically it seems they're starting somewhere in the middle-ish, maybe The Drawing of The Three, with the hope the film will do well and the get a run at Ron Howard's vision of a TV series companion to the films.

Anyone else annoyed they are actually using the name Randall Flagg ? Minor gripe, though I guess they have to pick one name and stick with it least people get confused

Beggars belief they are starting in the middle , the 1st two books were a perfect set up for any big screen saga , an epic chase across a desert filled with danger in pursuit of a mystery man for reasons yet unknown, an even more epic shoot out in Tull showing what a bad ass roland is, introduction and loss of the Jake character, ends with Roland on a beach with some beasties approaching.

Whats worse is reading a quote from the linked article by Boo

“A lot of it takes place in our day, in the modern world.”

....and thats me losing any hope I had for this

Boo Radley

Deleted User wrote: »

Anyone else annoyed they are actually using the name Randall Flagg ? Minor gripe, though I guess they have to pick one name and stick with it least people get confused

Beggars belief they are starting in the middle , the 1st two books were a perfect set up for any big screen saga , an epic chase across a desert filled with danger in pursuit of a mystery man for reasons yet unknown, an even more epic shoot out in Tull showing what a bad ass roland is, introduction and loss of the Jake character, ends with Roland on a beach with some beasties approaching.

Whats worse is reading a quote from the linked article by Boo



....and thats me losing any hope I had for this

You make a good argument as to why they could have followed the order of the books but I haven't given up hope yet. If the film does well enough we might get a TV series that gives the opening stories the attention they deserve. If that were to happen the fact the first film starts later wouldn't bother me at all.

They seem to have a game plan so let's hope it pans out.

GerB40

Maybe the desert parts like following the man in black and meeting Jake will be flashbacks meant to explain why he's guilty (there are other words than these) when the movie begins...

RDM_83 again

I wasn't a huge fan of the series of books, I gave up after the 3rd one I think but I thought the basic idea was pretty good and I did read enough to get a mental image of Roland.

Idris Elba as the main character stinks of flavour of the month casting, even leaving aside the skin colour thing* he just doesn't have the physical look to be the aged weathered gun slinger who isn't in the best shape (and this is very much spelled out) and Elba's acting that I have seen (luthor, Wire, Beasts of no Nation) he doesn't "act" in a way that suits his character.

Its just a terrible terrible choice, in my view even if you resticted your casting to only black actors that have been in The Wire you already have a much better candidate,Michael Kenneth Williams, he would be a much better physically for the role





and his acting style seems more suited




* which makes a big difference to the Black supremacist lady character, this isn't changing a protagonist who is a blank slate, other characters interactions and the book itself give a good view of what race he is and how the main character looks

ps Idris for Bond I can very much get behind the idea but this is a bad sign in terms of these films (and Stephen King is a great writer but in terms of movies he has a track record that means you should not have to listen too him).

weemcd

The bad feelings are already starting to set in for me when they said they were starting in the middle.

The opening to the gunslinger has to be one of the most perfect openings to a story ever. First time I saw them quoted I knew I had to read it.

Liam McPoyle

First on set photos have been leaked, they are on the Daily Mirror site.

For good or for bad its going ahead with Elba.

Agent Coulson

intheclouds

He looks great.

But he isnt Roland.

Kur4mA

intheclouds wrote: »

He looks great.

But he isnt Roland.

Yup, I tried to have an open mind when they announced Elba got the part... but that is not Roland Deschain.

Heckler

Kur4mA wrote: »

Yup, I tried to have an open mind when they announced Elba got the part... but that is not Roland Deschain.

Agreed.

Hows all Odettas railing against the white devil Roland going to work ? Imagine the uproar if they cast a white actress as her.

Like Elba as an actor just fine but this, in context of the story, is bad casting.

Heckler

Heckler wrote: »

Agreed.

Hows all Odettas railing against the white devil Roland going to work ? Imagine the uproar if they cast a white actress as her.

Like Elba as an actor just fine but this, in context of the story, is bad casting.

They can just call him the black devil and I really don't think there would be any uproar if they cast a white actress. Honestly in this day and age all that should matter when it comes to casting is that they cast the best person for the job, skin colour should not be a factor. Elba is a great actor and based on the single photo we have seen which has no context around it looks fine as Roland.

Sad Professor

Casting Odetta as white is a great idea. It's the perfect solution to this non-existent problem of casting a black man as Roland. There's nothing shocking or controversial about a racist white woman. A racist black woman, even if she does have split personalities, would give more pause.

Elba/Roland looks awesome. I'm actually interested in this film now, which I wasn't before. Despite the various descriptions and cover art of Roland looking like Clint or King himself, I always thought it jarred with his personality as written.

Heckler

Deleted User wrote: »

They can just call him the black devil and I really don't think there would be any uproar if they cast a white actress. Honestly in this day and age all that should matter when it comes to casting is that they cast the best person for the job, skin colour should not be a factor. Elba is a great actor and based on the single photo we have seen which has no context around it looks fine as Roland.

Oh FFs. And what about her relationship with Eddie that had colour issues too? Make Eddie black ?

What about the reference to Rolands piercing bombardier blues eyes every second minute ?

Already said I have no issue with Elba as an actor. Hes terrific. Why you think hes the best person for the job is strange. You think hes the best actor in the world ? He's not.

I'd be just as annoyed if they cast Al Pacino/Robert De Niro as Roland. Or take your pick of who you think is the best actor in the world.

Any reader of the series of books knows Roland was based in appearance on the Man with No Name. Never mind in the last book hes said to resemble a certain author.

Sure they can change what you mentioned but why should they ? Just to cast Elba or another black actor ? For what reason ? To appease a demographic ? To be PC ? So everyones gonna be okay with a white actress calling Elba a n****er every 5 minutes ?

Sad Professor

Heckler wrote: »

What about the reference to Rolands piercing bombardier blues eyes every second minute ?

They'll just have to write around this. Hopefully it won't require too many plot changes.

Heckler

Sad Professor wrote: »

Casting Odetta as white is a great idea. It's the perfect solution to this non-existent problem of casting a black man as Roland. There's nothing shocking or controversial about a racist white woman. A racist black woman, even if she does have split personalities, would give more pause.

Elba/Roland looks awesome. I'm actually interested in this film now, which I wasn't before. Despite the various descriptions and cover art of Roland looking like Clint or King himself, I always thought it jarred with his personality as written.

How so ?

Heckler

Sad Professor wrote: »

They'll just have to write around this. Hopefully it won't require too many plot changes.

Haha I get your point but changing a major storyline is going to cause problems for fans.

Sad Professor

Heckler wrote: »

How so ?

I don't know, it just did. He talked too much and was too articulate for me to picture him as TMWNN.

Heckler

Sad Professor wrote: »

I don't know, it just did. He talked too much and was too articulate for me to picture him as TMWNN.

I just wonder why they had to made the change. I find it hard to believe they couldn't have cast a white actor which would have meant none of this messing around with the source material.

Why not make Tom Robinson in To kill a mockingbird white ? Carl Lee Hailey in a Time to Kill ?

intheclouds

Sad Professor wrote: »

Casting Odetta as white is a great idea. It's the perfect solution to this non-existent problem of casting a black man as Roland. There's nothing shocking or controversial about a racist white woman. A racist black woman, even if she does have split personalities, would give more pause.

Elba/Roland looks awesome. I'm actually interested in this film now, which I wasn't before. Despite the various descriptions and cover art of Roland looking like Clint or King himself, I always thought it jarred with his personality as written.

Um, what about the whole Odetta civil rights activism and major involvement in the civil rights movement? There wasn't a white civil rights movement.

Nobody cares what colour a character in a story is, but this guy simply isn't going to (a) match anyone's mental image of Roland and (b) be able to play out certain storylines.

Plenty of us have waited 20+ years to see this story brought to life onscreen, and now from the get go I know it's not going to work.

It might be a good movie, a great movie even, but it won't be The Dark Tower. Not without Roland and his cool blue shooters eyes.

Liam McPoyle

I've read and reread TDT many times over the last 20 years so have the mental image of Roland in my mind. All the graphic novels and illustrations in the hardbacks have him as white, he is described in the books as white.

So I, as I'm sure many, just dont buy him as Roland.

It's a trivial annoyance though and i for one am very excited to see how it turns out. After all the false dawns its brilliant to finally see it in production.