Stephen King Dark Tower Movie

Outerspec

I'm a huge fan of Stephen King's 8 part Dark Tower series. It's a simple story of a man trying to make it to a mystical tower but in between he makes a few friends and a lot of enemies. Also he meets a suicidal train. It's Stephen King's self described magnum opus.

It was known before Matthew McConaughey would be playing the infamous man in black and now we know Idris Elba is playing the badass protagonist, Roland the Gunslinger. How many movies they're making or what parts of the book they'll be covering is anyone's guess. I just hope they don't screw it up.

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

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

valiantt

Honestly I can see the first book being translated pretty well into a movie, but the rest of the tower series can result in a very confusing blob of a movie serie.

I feel we might have another Dreamcatcher film(s) here. The stranger/fantastical the King story get, the harder the films seem to translate over.

Robby

Two things.

1-Chronological order books was released isn't really the best way to tell the story. It would honestly work better starting with the origin and then doing the chase.

2- If it gets that far, hopefully they don't do the

! weird meta thing where they actually meet Stephen King an the story is actually a story, complete with magical ability to literally just erase things.
! I don't even mind if the ending is still the ending that everybody hates where it has no actual consclusion. The actual last bit of it being cyclical was fine… it was the cimax leading to the ending that sucked.

But Idris Elba is a fine choice. I never imagined Roland as black, but there's nothing against it either. Certainly a better choice than Russell Crowe.

Also, I know stories grow and change in the telling, and it took him 30 years to finish the series, but going back and changing things in the first volume to make it all fit really feels like cheating.

Outerspec

However they cover it and what elements they touch on and translate over to film I can't see them doing 8 movies like the Harry Potter series. No way. 3…maybe 4 should do it. It would have to be crazy popular and create a stubborn niche and vocal following like the Fast and Furious movies in order for it to achieve anything higher than that. Besides, a lot of those books are heavy on scene chewing and dreams. Of course it's Stephen King book so there are a loooooooot of dreams. So many damn dream sequences. Cut back on those and you might have 6 books instead of 8.

MajinArekkusu

@Robby:

Two things.

1-Chronological order books was released isn't really the best way to tell the story. It would honestly work better starting with the origin and then doing the chase.

But its okay for me to read them in order if I wanna get into the series now right?

Taggerung

Huge fan of the books and huge skeptic of this movie plan but I do applaud going with Idris. He's perfect for role and I just wouldn't think they would give a black actor something like that unless they had major major star power which he doesn't have so I'm delighted.

McConaughey as flag is a solid choice as well.

I heard they were going to ditch the first two books and start at The Wasteland which is probably the easiest place to start turning the books into a modern movie. Huge setting. Lots of action. Cliffhanger ending.

The first book is really slow and not a lot happens. Drawing of the Three is extremely chaotic but not in a blockbuster kind of way. If that rumor is true I understand why they would do it.

Like I said initially huge skeptic of this. It would have been better as a TV show like GoT I think. But we'll see.

Robby

@Outerspec:

However they cover it and what elements they touch on and translate over to film I can't see them doing 8 movies like the Harry Potter series. No way. 3…maybe 4 should do it. It would have to be crazy popular and create a stubborn niche and vocal following like the Fast and Furious movies in order for it to achieve anything higher than that. Besides, a lot of those books are heavy on scene chewing and dreams. Of course it's Stephen King book so there are a loooooooot of dreams. So many damn dream sequences. Cut back on those and you might have 6 books instead of 8.

Well considering it was "finished" after book 7, and 8 was an add on years later…

@MajinArekkusu:

But its okay for me to read them in order if I wanna get into the series now right?

Yes, the published order is the intended reading order. There's just some lengthy book length flashbacks in the middle that are way more interesting than the actual start of the story that theatrically would be a better starting point.

Outerspec

@Robby:

Well considering it was "finished" after book 7, and 8 was an add on years later…

Yeah, but still the 8th book counts which is why I include it in the count. Even if it can be considered a little bit filler.

–- Update From New Post Merge ---

@Taggerung:

Huge fan of the books and huge skeptic of this movie plan but I do applaud going with Idris. He's perfect for role and I just wouldn't think they would give a black actor something like that unless they had major major star power which he doesn't have so I'm delighted.

I could've swore Idris Elba had major star power. He's one of the most recognizable black actors in Hollywood or at least to me he is.

Outerspec

So the Dark Tower movies will serve as a "sort of" sequel to the books rather than a direct adaptation of the books. And Roland's dialog will have as little dialog as possible and it was (mostly?) written by Stephen King himself. I'm picturing a Mad Max Tom Hardy like character. A man who speaks more with his actions than his words.

Outerspec

No trailer out yet and the movie comes out in July. Footage has been shown at Cinemacon in Las Vegas though so that's something. Here's a bulletpoint of that footage.

http://screenrant.com/dark-tower-cinemacon-trailer-description/

Trailer is probably dropping soon.

Green_vs_Red

Movie comes out in July and they've barely shown anything publicly?

Welp at least the journey is almost at the end of this movie coming out.

RoboBlue

Has there been any word on a The Talisman movie/TV series/whatever they're turning it into now? IIRC that started the whole Dark Tower concept, and it was a really good book on its own.

KageKageKing

Isn't it anything Stephen King related that it's not the Shining film know for being like real bad?

Nobodyman

@KageKageKing:

Isn't it anything Stephen King related that it's not the Shining film know for being like real bad?

Well, there's also Carrie, Misery, Stand By Me, The Green Mile, and The Shawshank Redemption

KageKageKing

LMAO!
http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/03/31/the-dark-tower-release-date-pushed-back-to-august-4

Outerspec

Oh, come on! For the emoji movie!? Jeez, well, at least it's only a week and not a couple months.

RoboBlue

@Outerspec:

Oh, come on! For the emoji movie!? Jeez, well, at least it's only a week and not a couple months.

Outerspec

Finally, we get an official trailer!

CCC

I… Eh...

Not crazy about the drastic abridging of the story, even if we knew that was coming ("post-book"- yeah, okay). Acting looks fine, but everything else seems super generic at first glance.

I haven't been keeping up with the development of all this, but whose decision was it not to do seven movies? King himself? If any series deserved that treatment, this would've been it...

KageKageKing

Reminds me very much of Priest…

Robby

@CCC:

I haven't been keeping up with the development of all this, but whose decision was it not to do seven movies?

Basically everyone involved I would think. Even with King's name there's no guarantee even this one does well given the track record on King movies, and committing to 7 movies up front is unheard of outside of Harry Potter. And even Potter would have petered out if it hadn't been a success. Just look at how Narnia, Golden Compass, Lightning Thief and Eragon series turned out. And those were only slated as trilogies!

And, honestly, 7 movies directly following the books would never work given the book's structure. The first book is kind of dull and doesn't reflect much of the rest of the series, there's a lengthy flashback right in the middle of the series, and then end starts getting weirdly meta and stuff they were going to have to rework the last two volumes almost entirely anyway. Following the book exactly was never going to work.

That said, if this movie DOES do well, they can obviously do more. Or give it another shot as a tv series in a few years, the A Series of Unfortunate Events route.

TLC

What's the consensus on the books? I heard they're a mixed bag.

Outerspec

A mixed bag is an ok way to describe it but there's more to love than hate. It can be long-winding, boring, and even pretentious at times but the journey is well worth it. It's a genre bending western-sci-fi-fantasy-horror-adventure novel. And while you're following Roland along on his quest you feel like you're a part of his badass wandering companionship, and the side characters are almost as interesting as the main character. But the main character carries the story just fine. All I can say is for anyone who is a fan of Stephen King it would do you good to read the work he considers his best.

Robby

@TLC:

What's the consensus on the books? I heard they're a mixed bag.

Mixed bag is the only way to describe them. The books are… uneven.

Good in spots, great in others, creative, good unique characters, and tie together everything King has ever written, and rightly credited as his opus buuuut... there are also long slow parts, the genres change drastically, there are extended flashbacks that take an entire novel that probably should have been told first, and worst of all...

The book were written over the course of 30 years and the fact that King had zero master plan shows. He had to rewrite chunks of the first book later on to fit the later books, the points where he hits writers block are super obvious, and the events of the later books were just... clearly not in any sort of early plan.

There are events later on that just completely break the series for me and make it flat out stupid and I would have given up on the series entirely at that point if I hadn't already invested years into it.

And the ending is awful. Not just the last couple page which is what people gripe about, but the entire last two books. Lots of let downs and deus ex machinas.

If you're already a King fan, and will appreciate how it ties everything together, go for it. If you're not... eh.

The movie looks like its going to condense a lot and cut out a bunch of the BS, so it might actually be stronger for it.

Noqanky

Kinda wish they had done this as a TV series. It's weird seeing just roland and jake when so much of what I enjoyed of things like the second and third book was the deep dive into each of the main characters. And then there's moments like Blaine the mono that just stand out as super memorable.

Fourth book is where I remember just dropping off entirely. The flashback really kills the momentum from the third book.

Outerspec

I never agreed with people's disdain for the ending of the book, last pages or otherwise, but I understand where the complaints come from. Especially the specially meta plotline where Stephen King wrote himself into the storyline as if he couldn't resist.

Either way, I wouldn't recommend this series for anyone who isn't already a fan of Stephen King's work because while it showcases all his positive writing traits it also amplifies the negatives. Everything is done in an epic fashion and not by mistake, so when you don't like an occurring plotline that's developing and it looks like it won't be done with for a while you really don't like it. It's too bad too. Sometimes it feels like King's own hubris gets the better of his work.

CCC

Loved the books. Every page, every minute. The long flashbacks, the meta author insertion, the weird training camp to kill robots, everything about the ending. It was one of those series that made me feel hollow upon finishing, like I'd just suffered a loss.

@Noqanky:

Kinda wish they had done this as a TV series. It's weird seeing just roland and jake when so much of what I enjoyed of things like the second and third book was the deep dive into each of the main characters. And then there's moments like Blaine the mono that just stand out as super memorable.

This is kinda the point I was trying to make. The singleton movie (judging from the trailer, anyway) just looks really watered down. Generic action movie, missing so many of those memorable elements. And in their place, giving Randall Flagg a more visible, active role, just because McConaughey.
I'd subscribe to HBO again if they'd done a Dark Tower miniseries

Kaiolino

The original plan was to do three movies and do a variety of tv series inbetween (with the same actors).

choperman

Hey guys I just started reading the books for this series and I just wanted to know if magic in general is considered evil in this fictional universe

Outerspec

@choperman:

Hey guys I just started reading the books for this series and I just wanted to know if magic in general is considered evil in this fictional universe

I believe, like in most universes magic is associated with it, magic is a neutral force that can be used for good or evil. In the story of the Gunslinger it's just used largely for evil purposes since our protagonist is not someone who uses magic but our antagonist does in large doses. Naturally, I can understand why people would think magic is evil but you'll find Roland's Ka-tet is a bit magical.

–- Update From New Post Merge ---

Oh, and the Dark Tower is getting shitty reviews so there goes my weekend plans.

MajinArekkusu

Trailers promised nothing good, so it doesnt surprise me the movie is shite.

CCC

Bleh. That's a shame, but yeah- kind of expected.

It really deserved a faithful mini-series on premium cable/netflix/hulu and not some 2-hour explosion-filled sequel/reimagining.

Sakonosolo

It's not even 2 hours. It's 95 minutes.

MajinArekkusu

It's like a tv pilot for a new show, but not on HBO or another high quality network, but ABC or Syfy, lol.^^

choperman

Just reread the first book, I'm so ridiculously confused about the differences between, Walter, Maeten, and the crimson king, and randall flagg

RoboBlue

@choperman:

Just reread the first book, I'm so ridiculously confused about the differences between, Walter, Maeten, and the crimson king, and randall flagg

What was changed?

Supernova

I looked up a blog spot about how to read Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series. It told me to start with the Uncut Version of the stand. While Indo enjoy the stand. It has some long winded parts where I start to wonder why its even in the book. I'm on chapter 24. Good read but a little long winded.