Stephen King's Epic "The Dark Tower" - Part 1

[obin_gam]

More from EW

 

[uchiha_itachi]

I'm very happy that it's a sequel to the books, that's what I always thought the film should be. However I'm not sure I understand what was said about

Spoiler

The horn of Eld
"Roland will possess the Horn of Eld from the very beginning of Arcel's film. This isn't going to be the same artifact that he doesn't take with him on his past trips to the Tower. This is going to be something he has for his journey, and it will change the entire layout of the film."

How is it not the same artefact? To me that says it is the Horn, but it isn't, but it is? haha

I'm also slightly relived that Eddie and Susannah are not included in this film. If there's one thing I've noticed about films with multiple instalments its far better to be patient with character inclusions than cram everybody in one film. I actually have a lot of faith in this film now. It's going to have elements of the books, but because of its sequel nature its free to do it's own thing. which is refreshing in a way, if you want the Dark Tower, read the Dark Tower, I guess, the movie isn't going to take anything away from the books. That being said, it could be awful still haha

 

[Rowsdower!]

So I'll take that as confirmation that Roland won't be wearing a hat at all.

 

[Ipodman]

It's a sequel to the books?

 

[Lighthouse]

So I'll take that as confirmation that Roland won't be wearing a hat at all.

This is the greatest injustice to the source material so far.

 

[Rowsdower!]

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



Seriously, why is it that costume designers these days think the only way to make a character look badass is to dress him in black?

 

[Victarion]

Nice pics. Roland's looking great. I see Jake's got some elements from The Wastelands in two of the pics; the abandoned house and the drawings of Mid-World. I wonder if we're getting the Doorkeeper.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

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



Seriously, why is it that costume designers these days think the only way to make a character look badass is to dress him in black?

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Nice pics. Roland's looking great. I see Jake's got some elements from The Wastelands in two of the pics; the abandoned house and the drawings of Mid-World. I wonder if we're getting the Doorkeeper.

You know what confuses me? If this is a sequel, why does Roland have the same Ka-tet?

 

[childeroland]

If I remember right, at the end of the last book,

Spoiler

Roland has managed to keep the horn and Gan (the Tower) encourages him that things may be different this time and that he might find rest. Maybe the Tower is helping him by guiding him to the same ka-tet this time around to assure that.

 

[Sawyer]

hnnnngh

 

[Marvolo]

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



Seriously, why is it that costume designers these days think the only way to make a character look badass is to dress him in black?

What would you have him wearing?

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Nice pics. Roland's looking great. I see Jake's got some elements from The Wastelands in two of the pics; the abandoned house and the drawings of Mid-World. I wonder if we're getting the Doorkeeper.

I hope so, though Sunannah is obviously not to going to be there to, ahem, 'get pregnant' so to speak.

I always thought the house coming alive in that moment would be great in a movie if done well though.

 

[Victarion]

You know what confuses me? If this is a sequel, why does Roland have the same Ka-tet?

Spoilers for book six, Song of Susannah

Spoiler

I think King told Roland something about how Roland and his entire ka-tet were supposed to make it to the Scarlet Fields where the Tower stands. In the literary cycle of Roland's journey, ka through a wrench into the spanners.

So they may go back to that idea when/if they reintroduced all of the old ka-tet.

 

[Dr. Evil]

I'd rather Susannah appear in the sequel rather than have her being whitewashed.

 

[FunkMiller]

What would you have him wearing?

Roland has been traversing Mid-World for a long time with no respite. He should be clothed in pretty bad looking clothing - tatty, well worn, dirty, faded etc. He should not look like he's just stepped off the set of Blade 4

 

[FunkMiller]

Arcel says Roland has fast healing abilities???

To quote Wade Wilson - "What the ****?" I guess the entire plot point of Roland needing medicine because of the lobstrosities has been jettisoned then? He certainly has all his fingers in those shots.

The more I see of this thing the more I think it's going to be exactly what I expected - an adaptation that misses the mark on so many elements. The Dark Tower is a horror western fantasy, not a post-apocalyptic sci-fi movie. They look overly-concerned with how everything is going to look - a sure sign that they're not going to concentrate on the actual story properly.

The aesthetics just look all wrong. Take The Dixie Pig. It's meant to be a bog standard looking restaurant more or less, but these pictures look like it's a set left over from an episode of Buffy. All way, way too stylised and run through a committee of production designers.

I'll bet you any money you want to throw on the table that when and if we ever see Blaine - he won't be ****ing bright pink.

And I guess storywise we're losing Roland's first meeting with Jake, and, you know, eventually what happens to Jake & the best line of dialogue in the entire series? Not to mention this first film is including elements from books 5 and 6 by all accounts.

I'm all for a different telling of the story - after all, it has quite a lot of flaws from book 5 onward - but this seems like a step too far.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Arcel says Roland has fast healing abilities???

To quote Wade Wilson - "What the ****?" I guess the entire plot point of Roland needing medicine because of the lobstrosities has been jettisoned then? He certainly has all his fingers in those shots.

The more I see of this thing the more I think it's going to be exactly what I expected - an adaptation that misses the mark on so many elements. The Dark Tower is a horror western fantasy, not a post-apocalyptic sci-fi movie. They look overly-concerned with how everything is going to look - a sure sign that they're not going to concentrate on the actual story properly.

The aesthetics just look all wrong. Take The Dixie Pig. It's meant to be a bog standard looking restaurant more or less, but these pictures look like it's a set left over from an episode of Buffy. All way, way too stylised and run through a committee of production designers.

I'll bet you any money you want to throw on the table that when and if we ever see Blaine - he won't be ****ing bright pink.

And I guess storywise we're losing Roland's first meeting with Jake, and, you know, eventually what happens to Jake & the best line of dialogue in the entire series? Not to mention this first film is including elements from books 5 and 6 by all accounts.

I'm all for a different telling of the story - after all, it has quite a lot of flaws from book 5 onward - but this seems like a step too far.

 

[Victarion]

The series has always had a post-apocalyptic SF feel to it, going back to the original edition of The Gunslinger where King included more direct references to our world in Mid-World. The Beam Guardians, the dogans and the technology that the Crimson King's agents scavenged had a very strong SF feel, albeit they blended it with fantasy where it came to using the machinery to harness the demon elementals, and possibly to create the taheen.

The Pig's exterior in the book looked pretty standard, same as the redbrick facade we see in some of the set pics. From what I remember of the interior, it was a bit of a horror show; the descriptions of the interior we get from the EW article sounds like they kept the general idea of the restaurant housing the Crimson King's horrors. Replace the Arthur Eld tapestry and the Grandfathers' Feast with the skin room, for example.

I don't expect to see Blaine or Lud in this iteration. It would be a pleasant surprise if either showed up though.

 

[Loden Greatstorm]

I literally have no idea what this movie is about.

 

[Inhuman117]

I literally have no idea what this movie is about.

Then Read The Books like me Right Now

 

[FunkMiller]

I literally have no idea what this movie is about.

Giant tower at centre of existence. Bad guy in black want it destroyed. Dude in cowboy hat wants to find it and save it.

Tower stands on beams guarded by totems. One of which was in IT. Sort of.

Oh, and there's a rose in a vacant lot in NY. Which is also the universe.

And a big psychopathic pink train.

It's all quite easy really.

 

[FunkMiller]

I don't expect to see Blaine or Lud in this iteration. It would be a pleasant surprise if either showed up though.

So it's pretty much going to be another bog standard post apocalypse sci fi flick then?

Urrgh.

This is why I never wanted this condensed into a movie. You need the time and attention of a series to keep the nuance, surrealism and character of the story intact. If things like Blaine, Lud, Shardik, lobstrosities etc. are lost in the desire to make an action packed movie for the blockbuster crowd, we'll get exactly that - same old ****ing dull ass ********. I don't need another hero vs villain flick with BIG STAKES.... everything simplified to the lowest common denominator. I want giant killer robot bears, the wizard of Oz, doors on beaches and big nasty insane train!

 

[Victarion]

Its hard to say at this point. They're apparently keeping the vampires and taheen as well as the Breakers, so the unique science-fantasy of the books seems to be intact. We'll need more leaks or something to see how it all pans out, though I'm not familiar with post-apocalyptic SF outside of Road Warrior, Beyond Thunderdome and Fury Road, so I couldn't tell you what the baseline is.

My chief concern in adapting Lud, should Lud make it, isn't necessarily Blaine's color so much as the character of the mono and the city itself. The god drums, the bodies hung from street lamps, the Grays vs Pubes, possibly the Ageless Stranger.

I personally want the Wolves, the Doorkeeper, and the demon elementals in the speaking rings.

Do you have any film titles in the post-apoc film genre that come recommended?

 

[Victarion]

I literally have no idea what this movie is about.

From what's been revealed thus far:

In a world where the apocalypse has come and gone, and magic is back on the rise, Roland Deschain the last gunslinger of Gilead pursues the Man in Black in an attempt to protect the Dark Tower. It is said that the Tower is the lynchpin of existence, holding back the tides of magic and primordial chaos. Standing against Roland is the wizard Walter O'Dim (aka the Man in Black), Prime Minister to the Crimson King and ranks of creatures born from the primordial chaos: the bestial taheen and the vampires. Along the way Roland stumbles across a boy named Jake Chamber, who is an especially strong psychic that possesses a talent known as the Shine. Walter O'Dim has also set his sights on the boy, for he needs Jake's psychic superpower, the Shine, to further the destruction of the metaphysical beams that support the Dark Tower.

When the Tower falls, the Tower's occupant - a spider-demon known as the Crimson King - will be unleashed, along with the darkness between the worlds, home to a host of elemental demons and Lovecraftian monstrosities.