Stephen Kings "Dark Tower" Film/TV Series

I still say they got the actors reversed; Matthew for Roland and Iris for the baddie.

 

Nah, I feel that this, surprisingly, works. Idris can bring intensity to his roles as can MC but I can see MC playing a dark, disturbed character--he did well with that in "True Detective" (a series that I still insist is all style and no substance with so many silly red herrings that the only thing that saved it was the moody direction and performances).

I think that Idris looking bigger and MC looking smaller (casting against the descriptions of the characters in the novel) could offer some interesting performances and storytelling potential. It doesn't matter if Roland looks thin and weathered--he is the only opponent that The Man in Black (Flagg whatever you want to call him) considers a worthy opponent and, from what I remember, he kind of admires Roland to a degree for his purity of purpose and steadfast mission.

Rather than assume its going to be lousy maybe we can take a wait and see attitude since King himself worked over the various drafts and gave input into what he considered the good, bad and ugly of the script.

Ultimately, in an ideal world, Clint Eastwood 45 years ago would have been ideal for the role since he truly was the role model for Roland but I think we need to have an open mind with how the mythology--including the casting--plays out.

 

Well they are having their cake and eating it too. The horn of Eld allows Roland to reset the journey and while the film will take events from the various books for the film, he has the horn at the beginning of this film suggesting that it is, in a sense, an alternate version of the novels with elements from them but a different journey.

 

That's easy for you to say. So it's more like "inspired by" the Dark Tower.

 

Huh? That's exactly what it is.

 

I think what is even a worse sign is having a Danish director with English as a second language. It's always pretty easy to pick out films directed by foreign directors, there's just this slightly off-beat feel to films made by foreign directors. They have a more absurdist/avantgarde vision in many cases, which results in a slightly strange feel when it's an American production. They tend to be more expressionist about things like costuming and set decoration which borders on the goofy to American sensibilities. Hence my worries about the "discotheque" costumes in that still. There's also the fact that they don't quite have the nuance and inflection of the language down, so often they'll use takes where English-speaking actors aren't delivering lines in the possible way, something an English speaking director would notice, but an ESL director wouldn't. Of course it's a restrained Dane that the helm, so it might be okay. It's the French that really go overboard with the garishness. If Luc Besson were directing this, I'd turn my six-shooter on myself rather than watch it. And if this gets turned into some "Snowpiercer" kind of wild fantasy film, I'm going to be equally turned off. What King does best is tell a tale so realistically that even the implausible seems plausible -- The Gunslinger asked for a dust in the wind director like Sergio Leone and not Ken Russell. And this story, what with giant robotic bears and talking choo-choos, could be completely cloying if the direction is too splashy and absurdist. Once again, if this turns into some kind of John Woo extravaganza with 360-degree flying spins and blazing gun, I'm going to hate it. Low key and natural is what this film calls for to offset the basic nuttiness of the story.

 

OK, this is one really cool example of viral marketing that you have to check out. Go to www.thesombragroup.com, and download the app. Then either pick up the Entertainment Weekly magazine Dark Tower issue, or find an image of the cover on your computer (like I've provided below), and "scan" the cover with the Sombra Group app. Make sure you also have the sound turned up on your phone to get the full experience.

Spoiler: Here's what you get - it's awesome!

! SPOILER

 

Matthew McConnaughey is 46, which I think is a little old for the character of Roland Deschain. If they could've gotten Matthew at 30, he would've been perfect.

 

I did this today with the cover and the app. Pretty cool in virtual 3D.

 

I guess if Stephen King is ok with it (he has read each draft) I'm ok with it.

 

He hasn't exactly shown the greatest tastes in directors or productions in the past. I heard he cut out almost all Roland's dialogue; so he must have at least seen Iris Elba act. Thank goodness.

 

Awful. Just awful. "Only you can save us." Lame.

 

Wait, are you saying that Idris is a bad actor?

 

And to bring this thread up to date: one of the regular critics over on Ain't It Cool News saw about 10 minutes of material from the upcoming Dark Tower movie, and he has some pretty sharp criticisms:

Quint saw the first Dark Tower footage at CinemaCon and says it's kind of a ****in' bummer.

All of his objections sound pretty solid to me. (Be forewarned there are a few giveaways but nothing drastic.)

 

Well Akiva Goldsman is involved. I became increasingly convinced that the script ideas for A Beautiful Mind came from Ron Howard and that the Oscar should have gone to someone else.

Hopefully Akiva did t "Lost in Space" this.

I'm looking forward to seeing it even if they made changes. I read the books years ago and sometimes what works on the page won't work on the screen. The door thing though does bother me...maybe in post they "age" those sci fi things or make the. Ago away.

 

Just started reading the series. Fired up. Appreciate those who have spoiler-warned the most spoiler-y stuff.

 

Be careful because the movie cherry picks elements from the series.

 

That's my impression from the AICN story I posted above. I'm disturbed already that they changed the doors to other dimensions...

 

I realize that I'm in the minority but I'll judge this film only after seeing it. Yeah, I'm silly like that.

 

Have you ever seen a movie that Akiva Goldsman wrote? Any of them?

 

I saw A Beautiful Mind. Great film, he won an Academy Award for his screenplay. And he's only one of a handful of people who worked on the screenplay for The Dark Tower?

Have you even read the screenplay for The Dark Tower? Didn't think so...

 

The script has been widely discussed on the web:

The man in black fled across the desert...and tonight I read "The Dark Tower" script. (spoilers) • r/TheDarkTower
Deconstruct The Script: STEPHEN KING - THE DARK TOWER - THE GUNSLINGER - SCI-FI - ADAPTATION
Quint breaks down the Akiva Goldsman/Jeff Pinkner draft of DARK TOWER: THE GUNSLINGER!
Stephen King made The Dark Tower movie interesting again with one tweet - Geek.com

Bear in mind this is the same screenwriter who wrote the following:

I Am Legend
Jonah Hex
The 5th Wave
Constantine
I Robot
Winter's Tale
Poseiden
Lost in Space
Practical Magic
Batman & Robin
Batman Forever

These were not good or successful films. I'm approaching this one with extreme caution, and I'm basing my expectations on the word of somebody who's actually read one of the scripts and seen 10 minutes of the actual film. I don't have an opinion yet since I haven't seen even a trailer yet, let alone the film. But I think this would be a tough film to pull off by anybody.

Here's a shot from the set:

 

Yes, I'm well aware of AICN and Quinn's articles. The script that you linked to was an old draft that's outdated. The photo with the green screen background means nothing, there have been a lot of photos and images released and I also have a copy of the leaked trailer. So what? As I said before, I'll judge the film only after I see it.

 

I think this sums it up fairly well. To those that have read the books, I think this series is about redemption. And it's a giant circle where he has to keep doing it until he gets it right. This is his next...or one of his next journeys.

Now, what has to happen to get it right? Fewer people have to die? I doubt that. He's a gunslinger. Maybe do it in a way where Jake doesn't die?

 

Or have him die and then have one of those Marvel-type post-credit scenes where we learn he'll be back for the next one (assuming there is one).