Stephen King's The Dark Tower -Trailer

Well, that looks terrible. Another kids movie marketed towards adults.

IT is also being remade and looks 100% better than the first movie

a reply to: Sillyolme

Well, the world is ending. LOL You and I agree on something. I was so mad when I got to the end of the books. He took the most predictable ending to the series.

Such a waste.

I can barely contain my excitement. I made a thread over a year ago about this, the general response was "not happening".... Well, pshaw! It's happening, and by the looks of it, I don't think it's going to get screwed up too badly. My worst fear was seeing Odetta, Eddie or Oy in the preview of the first movie.

originally posted by: Jungian

originally posted by: WeAreAllTheSame
a reply to: watchitburn

Not off to a good start, changing his race for no apparent reason.

The dude is supposed to have that Clint Eastwood look, and is descended from the line of King Arthur.
That said, that reload was pretty darn cool looking.

Race? They are both humans. Movies are hardly ever like their source material, so Im fine with this.

The thing is Roland is white. Explicitly white. He is more than just white - he is "Old White Daddy" to DW. His race matters in the books, it is made integral to one of the storylines.

There is a big play on social issues; King draws on the possibilities of the multitimeline/multiverse to explore the clash between a black woman (or, two, sort of) born in the late 1930's and a young white 1980's man who grew up with drugs rather than race as the main social issue, and a white man who have never heard about our racial issues and comes to represent a white supremacist of sorts for DW who is "angry and alone amongst whites".

THAT is why fans go "what the hell?!", when Roland suddenly black. It is a severe alteration with ramifications for the story (and and the same time it signals to the fans that canon has gone bye bye and that little of the source material will be considered holy. That is part of the reasons why we react with disapproval.)

a reply to: Jungian

I should really read these books cuz I've been hearing a lot of good things about them years but first I have to read the Game of Thrones books and man, that's a lot of reading.

a reply to: Slave2theTruth

I would add The Green Mile, Stand By Me, and Misery to that list.

Also Carrie, Christine, and Children Of The Corn are horror classics.

The movie version of The Mist was better than the novella thanks to the new ending by director Frank Darabount, who also directed The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile.

originally posted by: Martin75

originally posted by: horseplay

originally posted by: Martin75
a reply to: Jungian
Oh Heck yeah! That looks freaking awesome!!!!! I cannot wait to see how this goes. I loved the books! Second only to The Long Walk.

Did you mean The Green Mile? which was an awesome movie I thought.

I loved the dark tower books, looking forward to the movie !

No I meant The Long Walk. If you have not read it, pick it up. You are missing out on one of Stephen King's best books!

So true!

It might be worth noting that many copies are still sold under the Richard Bachman pseudonym though.

a reply to: Jungian

Personally I always thought Sam Elliot was perfect for Roland - dry, style and swagger. Although I'm a big fan of Idris Elba I'm disappointed at the impact to some of the themes of the series. Suppose they can flip other roles too.

For me Roland's back story was amongst the more interesting aspects of the series. However given the way Stephen King wrote himself in as a character (and ruined the series for me) I think a lot of poetic licence is a good thing.

Just hope they make Oy a beast and not some cutesy Disney crap (shudder....Jar Jar Binks ....shudder).

Will watch with interest!

Bob

originally posted by: Noncents
Black Roland's totally going to mess with Odetta.

Hate has to go somewhere. Poor Eddie.

originally posted by: DupontDeux

originally posted by: Jungian

originally posted by: WeAreAllTheSame
a reply to: watchitburn

Not off to a good start, changing his race for no apparent reason.

The dude is supposed to have that Clint Eastwood look, and is descended from the line of King Arthur.
That said, that reload was pretty darn cool looking.

Race? They are both humans. Movies are hardly ever like their source material, so Im fine with this.

The thing is Roland is white. Explicitly white. He is more than just white - he is "Old White Daddy" to DW. His race matters in the books, it is made integral to one of the storylines.

There is a big play on social issues; King draws on the possibilities of the multitimeline/multiverse to explore the clash between a black woman (or, two, sort of) born in the late 1930's and a young white 1980's man who grew up with drugs rather than race as the main social issue, and a white man who have never heard about our racial issues and comes to represent a white supremacist of sorts for DW who is "angry and alone amongst whites".

THAT is why fans go "what the hell?!", when Roland suddenly black. It is a severe alteration with ramifications for the story (and and the same time it signals to the fans that canon has gone bye bye and that little of the source material will be considered holy. That is part of the reasons why we react with disapproval.)

Exactly. It would be like casting Steve Bannon as Hispanic in a bio piece. Bannon's whiteness is central to his asshattery!

a reply to: Slave2theTruth

That list needs to be a bit longer :

Cujo, Christine, Carrie, Firestarter, Misery, Silver Bullet, Children of the Corn, Maximum Overdrive, Pet Semetary, Apt Pupil. I didn't mind the IT mini-series. There's others that weren't bad: Creep Show, Salem's Lot, The Dark Half, Dreamcatcher, etc.

I've read and listened to this series more than any other....it is my go to for lack of anything else......

And I always imagined a Clint Eastwood type as Roland......I don't know, I'll give it a fair go, but I imagine Roland twice this guy's age, twice the weathered look, and three times the scars, lumps, and anti-social skills.

the movie is supposed to be a sequel to/adaptation of the stephen king series. i cant quite figure how that is supposed to work...how do you tell a sequel to a seven part saga while adapting it? isnt there supposed to be a chronology? where the hell did eddie and odetta go? considering how the man in black came about and everything. and thats not even mentioning how the series ended in the books. im still confused about what happened to the gunslinger and whether or not he completed his quest. is that what the movie is supposed to do? wrap up all those threads nicely in a couple hours of storytelling? hmmm.

originally posted by: TzarChasm
im still confused about what happened to the gunslinger and whether or not he completed his quest.

*******SPOILER******





































He got a 'do over', after learning he has been to the Tower many times. He starts his quest over again, this time with the Horn of Eld.

originally posted by: DrBobH
a reply to: Jungian

Personally I always thought Sam Elliot was perfect for Roland - dry, style and swagger. Although I'm a big fan of Idris Elba I'm disappointed at the impact to some of the themes of the series. Suppose they can flip other roles too.

Ever since I read the books, there was only one actor I could envisage as Roland Deschain - Viggo Mortensen.



Lean build, intense at times, does the world-weary thing very well and IMO was just Roland brought to life.

Elba's casting was a bit of a shock initially because of the obvious changes to the book storyline which would be incurred by not having a white actor playing Roland, but I'm interested now to see what he does with it given that they're obviously not following the book very closely.

I have been waiting to watch this because I didn't want to be disappointed.

Ended up with goose bumps. So happy for this to finally come.

a reply to: Slave2theTruth

Green Mile adapted pretty good to screen I thought also.

a reply to: theantediluvian

The Running Man was good.

Been watching the ebb and flow of the possibility of Roland and company coming to the big screen for years! (not nearly as long as I waited for the last three books however. )

There certainly has been an outcry over them casting Idris Alba as Roland as it will change the story between the troupe.
The scenario exists to where this is not the actual journey from the book but could be one of many previous journeys to the dark tower.

When we read, we have the unique opportunity to put our own flair into the story being told and I always find it interesting how others interpret the same exact words read. Will be a very awesome experience to see this summer methinks!!!