Does The Dark Tower have its Roland?

Source

Ah...The Dark Tower movie. I don't know if I should be excited (overly so) or concerned (rightfully so).

Rumors abound as to who will play who in this epic story. The above linked article lists Oscar Winner Javier Bardem. Another prominent person I've seen mentioned has been Christian Bale. Also, Jennifer Carpenter, you know, Deb from Dexter (again, ) , to play Roland's only love, Susan Delgado, from Wizard and Glass, the fourth book of the series.

Directed by Ron Howard (director credits)
So, it appears it will be like this:

Movie

Televised Mini-Series

Movie

One televised season

Movie

So fellow Dark Tower fans, what do you think? Who should play who? Will it live up to your expectations? Is Sai King possibly ruining a great thing?

Discuss!

Long days and pleasant nights...

I'm pretty sure Stephen King said he was thinking of Clint Eastwood in the old spaghetti westerns when he imagined roland, I doubt Eastwood is up to it now though.

Yup, I have no idea

To be honest, I don't believe any director/producer/actor/screenwriter will ever make a movie that lives up to the potential of what the book has. I really wish they would just leave this book series alone and let it live on in the imaginations of King's readers.

I honestly see the movie going a number of directions. Who's to say they don't "tame" the entire thing down and make a Disney cartoon of it? Or they pull a "Hearts in Atlantis" move and cut out half or more of the book. This is what scares me about King selling the rights of the book, with the track history of Hollywood over the last decade (can anyone say remake, remake, remake?), and they're uncanny ability to make a really terrible movie. Oh wait! At least it will be filmed in 3d.

Sorry, had to rant a little, as I don't see any possibility that "any" Hollywood director pulling this off.

I am both excited and absolutely horrified that this series of books, a huge part of my life, in a sense, is hitting the screen.

To be honest, my mental "Roland" is probably closest, at least aesthetically, to a slightly younger Bruce Cambell, so my expectation set is already shot to Hell, as it were.

Another thought for me is that I have mixed feelings about any project that might involve King himself... When he takes a major role in the creative process with his works... Well it's hit and miss for me. King being involved with scripting is a great plus. But when he gets involved in the film making, I truly think the end results are lacking.

But since it's going to happen, most likely, whether or not we approve, I say....

The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed...

Here's hoping the visual journey lives up to its lineage.

~Heff

Agreed with the above. My cynicism thinks they will f' it up, however I believe they know how much of a risk they are taking by undertaking such a task.

I will say this much, Lord of the Rings was decent. If they can match that, then I will be pleased.

I really wish King wouldn't make his books into movies. Too many of them have been absolute stinkers. The studio execs always wind up dumbing his books down and smoothing the edges so they show can show them to the widest audience possible. Some things just weren't meant to be tinkered with and most books fall into that category. Either put the whole thing on screen as it was written,were possible,or leave it alone.

Since they're probably going to botch the whole thing (Ron Howard,ewww!),they might as well ham it up and get Bruce Campbell,Jim Carrey or Rowan Atkinson to play Roland.

When I thought of Roland I always pictured a younger Eastwood too, maybe Charles Brolin wouldn't be bad.

reply to post by saabster5


The TV series is gonna be on NBC!! No swearing, nudity or graphic violence!! That means like half the story will already be missing!! DAMN YOU OPIE!!!

reply to post by SLAPurMAMA


Amen Brother! I think of what they did with "The Stand" and the miniseries was awesome, but you read the book and suddenly the movie stinks really bad. I just can't fathom the journey under the mountain on primetime tv being as entertaining as reading that part of the book in the middle of the night. I'm just really disappointed that it's finally coming to fruition. Don't get me wrong though, I will definitely be investing some recliner time in front of the tv for this event.

By the way. Best opening line of a book in your sig. Love it!

This makes me very sad. So few King stories made into movies are worth anything. Only exception I can think of is the Green Mile. Every other story made into a movie or mini series just stinks to high hell. I really fail to see how they think they can do this with this story. This is the absolute center of the Stephen King Universe. Every single one of his other books intersects with the Dark Tower series in one fashion or another. Not a single actor out there with their salt good fill Roland of Gileads boots.