The Dark Tower TV is Still Happening!
The simple fact that a Dark Tower movie is not only going ahead, but is currently being edited, still astounds me. If you have read the books, you’ll know what I mean. The Dark Tower is the Crown Jewel of King’s work. It’s his magnum opus that delves into characters and places throughout Kings universe. In fact, The Dark Tower IS Kings universe.
When Ron Howard and producing partner Brian Grazer, bought the rights from J.J. Abrams back in 2010, he had plans for a series of movies and TV series that would run side by side. It was the only way he could conceive of telling the story. But without any company willing to finance such a huge undertaking, the project was on hold for years. It was when director Nikolaj Arcel stepped in that the film finally become green lit. The Tv series seemed to have been put aside, as MRC and Sony Pictures awaited to see how the film would be received.
Yesterday, plans were unveiled for the Dark Tower TV series, however, it will be slightly different from its first vision. Idris Elba is playing Roland Deschain in the films, but the TV series will cast a younger actor, as the Tv series will delve into Rolands past. The show will focus on the fourth book in the saga, Wizard and Glass, which saw Roland talking about his early trials and tribulations as a young gunslinger.
The producers don’t yet have is a distributor just yet, but im sure they will get the series snapped up pretty quickly.
As a tribute to King on his 69th anniversary MRC created this map, a smell gesture for fans, whilst we all await a trailer.
The Dark Tower will be out next year. Don’t forget to drop us a message below and start a conversation about this epic undertaking!
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I am disgusted but not surprised King and Howard would stoop down as to hire a black actor to play a clearly white man’s role. Is black / white political terminology here? No, I simply mean that culturally, Idris is known for Afro American role playing and use of heavy crutches to make his crap acting (and poorly delivered dialogue) work.
Mat McConaughey could make a decent Deschane. Idris is definitely going to help make this mini series yet another campy, wasted King attempt to be edgy and flashy on-screen. It’s not too late King and Howard, to find the right Deschane. You could pick that guy from No Country For Old Men, or Matt.
$ Millions are going to be wasted on this show. The only thing that may remotely, likely not, save this series is if Idris’ agents and his personal talent accredited teachers AND plural acting coaches very seriously help him overcome the hurdles of being a culturally black person. Idris will have to drop his entire schedule of other media he’s involved in, and only work on tDT. Oh, he played in Thor you say? His lines in that movie were limited to a guard role. Even his dialogue about crossing the rainbow bridge was monotone & flat, he was tough in Thor – it was CGI that helped Idris there. Thor’s CGI rendered Idris: not black. In Thor, Idris’ eyes were not typical of any black man’s, his eyes were all colorful, even his skin and costume had CGI. Psh. Please get a REAL actor not dependent on crutches if you want to make tDT worth watching.
Most likely, this show will be another bit of popcorn entertainment people will chat about for a few weeks (and I don’t mean the shills & fake twitter accounts King & Howard will pay to post nonsense & ratings) as people do, then move on in hopes to find something meaningful. Also; having some wild looking clothing, will not make a great movie. I don’t care if Howard can get a production loan to afford original costumes for sets. I want to see strong, deep acting from the MC’s actor. I want something to believe in, follow for a while, & watch again soon. I want to relax & eat my junk food knowing I didn’t have to analyze poorly delivered dialogue because Howard & King finally decided to bring a willing suspension of disbelief. I want to be awed, if this is supposed to be King’s opus. I want to be awed but I don’t want “something I’ve never seen before” unless it’s otherworldly yet still tied to human occurrences. I’m a fully grown adult, I’ve seen everything, so it is going to take a lot for me to believe in a culturally black Roland. A lot. Nevermind that Odetta is overtly black & King hired illustrators to make Deschane white in the books, and Deschane is white in the graphic novel series.
Wizard & Glass? Who will you get to play the crotchety old witch whose decrepit-ness is in part due to the looking glass? She is as important as Roland and his crew.
Unfortunately King has a long & strong history of failure to accurately translate his amazing horror books onto film & tv screens. You know, that’s great; he wants to produce his books into movies, or a director reads a King novel and wants to license it. But in King’s movies and shows, the camp is typically seen in the wrong places: King and his staffs’ inability to kick the crap out of and hold tight onto the reigns of the writers who turn his books into silly screenplays that somehow manage to take his great works and make them into flimsy dialogue. King’s productions are commonly known to hire less than stellar talent to play the roles of timeless characters. Pet Sematary is a great example; great movie, but the talk came across poorly b/c of poor talent. Or, the writers draw out the dialogue or scene sprawl, instead of contracting it, thus losing audiences. Camp is supposed to make horror stick, not vice versa. Action, crescendo, release; don’t drag us out and waste your time and money like you did with The Stand boot and reboots. When you hire crap actors known for strong CGI and costumes to prop up their hack performances, it seldom works as anything lasting.
I’ll give this one a “no-award show” I may watch after the short-lived hype dies, feel dissapointed, then move on to something else. I reasonably believe we will see that, once the series fails, a series continuation & features won’t happen. Then, decades later, after King passed, his great grandchildren may resurrect tDT in a movie my grandchildren will ask if they should spend 32 bucks for a ticket.