Stephen King's Epic "The Dark Tower" - Part 2

[harlequinade]

Interestingly enough lots of people here in Poland would love Jackman to play Geralt

 

[FunkMiller]

Netflix To Produce ‘The Witcher’ TV Series

I basically melted into a puddle of j*** when I read this.

 

[TheVileOne]

Interestingly enough lots of people here in Poland would love Jackman to play Geralt

I love Jackman, but it's too much like a Wolverine archetype. Second of all, he's a little too old to play Geralt right now. Granted he's in pretty great shape for his age.

 

[Fallen Angel]

 

[FunkMiller]

Well, they're ****ing boring, aren't they?

And Roland's in New York as himself, with all his [BLACKOUT]fingers[/BLACKOUT], perfectly well, with no Eddie in sight.

I know the excuse is '[BLACKOUT]but it's another loop[/BLACKOUT]' but the vast and sweeping changes are making it a different story altogether, which is just wrong.

I'm all for changing things up for this time around, but this thing looks like it's mashing the story together, removing vast swathes of it, and giving us a bland interpretation that is just a bag of bones compared to the novels.

 

[Rowsdower!]

That's a really awesome Dark Knight Star Trek Into Darkness Inception Dark Tower poster.

 

[Guts]

Well, they're ****ing boring, aren't they?

And Roland's in New York as himself, with all his [BLACKOUT]fingers[/BLACKOUT], perfectly well, with no Eddie in sight.

I know the excuse is '[BLACKOUT]but it's another loop[/BLACKOUT]' but the vast and sweeping changes are making it a different story altogether, which is just wrong.

I'm all for changing things up for this time around, but this thing looks like it's mashing the story together, removing vast swathes of it, and giving us a bland interpretation that is just a bag of bones compared to the novels.

Its like the screenwriter really enjoyed the New York scenes from The Drawing of the Three and decided that there should be more of that. Only not as entertaining.

 

[Rowsdower!]

LOL, yeah.

Screenwriter: "Hey guys, I've talked with a lot of people, and they all agree that 'The Drawing of the Three' is the best book in the series, so let's just adapt that! Only we'll cut out all the Eddie and Susannah stuff and just make the movie about Roland wandering around New York like Crocodile Dundee! Sound good?"

Sony Execs: "Sure, whatever. Here's $60 million."

 

[FunkMiller]

LOL, yeah.

Screenwriter: "Hey guys, I've talked with a lot of people, and they all agree that 'The Drawing of the Three' is the best book in the series, so let's just adapt that! Only we'll cut out all the Eddie and Susannah stuff and just make the movie about Roland wandering around New York like Crocodile Dundee! Sound good?"

Sony Execs: "Sure, whatever. Here's $60 million."

So horrifically close to the truth, probably.

 

[Roose Bolton]

Wasn't Aaron Paul gunning for the role of Eddie a while ago? That could have been something, in another iteration of the film.

 

[FunkMiller]

Wasn't Aaron Paul gunning for the role of Eddie a while ago? That could have been something, in another iteration of the film.

He was. Quite how Eddie and Susannah will fit into this now is anybody's guess - if at all. If Roland visits NY as himself straight away with Jake via Dutch Hill in the first movie, it rather destroyed the entire plot of The Drawing Of The Three. I guess Eddie and Suze can be dragged into the ka-tet another way, but it'll be done in a completely different manner, I guess - and one more boring and straight forward, I'm sure

 

[The Guard]

He was. Quite how Eddie and Susannah will fit into this now is anybody's guess - if at all. If Roland visits NY as himself straight away with Jake via Dutch Hill in the first movie, it rather destroyed the entire plot of The Drawing Of The Three. I guess Eddie and Suze can be dragged into the ka-tet another way, but it'll be done in a completely different manner, I guess - and one more boring and straight forward, I'm sure

Aside from, you know, the whole bit about the actual drawing of the three.

The idea that Eddie and Susannah suddenly wouldn't fit into a story where Roland has already traveled between worlds is a bit much.

It may well be that Roland traveling to New York in this movie is just more or less him learning that he can, in fact, travel between worlds, and setting up some some of the stakes for future films. I don't see anything that suggests that he'll be time traveling to different periods on Earth just yet. And even if he does, how does that preclude Eddie and Susannah from fitting into the story?

 

[green]

It doesn't matter. This movie aint going to make it to franchise status...we will never see Eddie and Susannah.

 

[Rowsdower!]

It might though. The budget is low enough that even if it makes average numbers at the box office, they could greenlight a sequel. But the trailer is so bland I see this thing making Victor Frankenstein-type numbers and then disappearing quickly.

 

[green]

It might though. The budget is low enough that even if it makes average numbers at the box office, they could greenlight a sequel. But the trailer is so bland I see this thing making Victor Frankenstein-type numbers and then disappearing quickly.

If they hadn't alienated the core audience I could see it maybe happening, simply because Sony is desperate. But with the majority of the book fans writing this off I don't see how it'll do well at all.

 

[green]

Would Susannah even make sense in this take of the story ? Is she gonna be a white slave ? I am not sure how that would work & how the general audience would react. Susannah would basically have to be completely changed

The minute Elba was cast the whole dynamic changed. :sad:

 

[The Guard]

Isn't the main thrust of the "dynamic" between Susannah and Eddie?

Again, why does Susannah have to change significantly?

 

[Infinity9999x]

The minute Elba was cast the whole dynamic changed. :sad:

It wouldn't have to change. Susannah constantly makes references to Roland being a "honky" and such in the book, something Roland never fully understands since his world didn't have the race dynamic. In this, she could just hurl derragatory terms for him not being "true" to his race, again something Roland wouldn't understand fully.

The main dynamic was that the Detta side of her is a violent split personality formed because of her upbringing in the 60s as a black child in a wealthy black family, based on racial sterotypes.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

It wouldn't have to change. Susannah constantly makes references to Roland being a "honky" and such in the book, something Roland never fully understands since his world didn't have the race dynamic. In this, she could just hurl derragatory terms for him not being "true" to his race, again something Roland wouldn't understand fully.

The main dynamic was that the Detta side of her is a violent split personality formed because of her upbringing in the 60s as a black child in a wealthy black family, based on racial sterotypes.

That is a completely different dynamic. Completely.

 

[Infinity9999x]

That is a completely different dynamic. Completely.

Were Roland an American man, who had an understanding of American racial relations, then yes, I would agree with you. And I will say that the connotation is still obviously different. An African American character being antagonistic to what she perceives as a white American character based on racial perceptions, opposed to an African American character being antagonistic to what she perceives as a Black American character obviously hold different connotations.

However, since in both situations the receptor of the aggression is unaware of the social and racial history that formed the aggression, the dynamic remains largely the same. The connotations are different, but the dynamic isn't. Roland still regards Odetta as a dangerous side to Susannah's personality, and Odetta still inherently dislikes Roland because she knows he's a dangerous man.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Were Roland an American man, who had an understanding of American racial relations, then yes, I would agree with you. And I will say that the connotation is still obviously different. An African American character being antagonistic to what she perceives as a white American character based on racial perceptions, opposed to an African American character being antagonistic to what she perceives as a Black American character obviously hold different connotations.

However, since in both situations the receptor of the aggression is unaware of the social and racial history that formed the aggression, the dynamic remains largely the same. The connotations are different, but the dynamic isn't. Roland still regards Odetta as a dangerous side to Susannah's personality, and Odetta still inherently dislikes Roland because she knows he's a dangerous man.

Its not a question of simply how Roland responds. It is the resentment on her part. It is something based in reality, and comes from a certain place even if it is to the extreme at times because of her situation.

 

[FunkMiller]

Its not a question of simply how Roland responds. It is the resentment on her part. It is something based in reality, and comes from a certain place even if it is to the extreme at times because of her situation.

I'd imagine there's a good chance the whole Detta/Odetta element of Susannah's character will probably be dropped. They seem quite keen to streamline the whole thing right down to the broadest strokes, so it wouldn't surprise me. On that front, they'll probably also jettison Henry Dean & Jack Mort. I can see a lot of characters getting short shrift in the desire to cram everything into the running time of your average movie.

 

[The Guard]

Y

It wouldn't have to change. Susannah constantly makes references to Roland being a "honky" and such in the book, something Roland never fully understands since his world didn't have the race dynamic. In this, she could just hurl derragatory terms for him not being "true" to his race, again something Roland wouldn't understand fully.

The main dynamic was that the Detta side of her is a violent split personality formed because of her upbringing in the 60s as a black child in a wealthy black family, based on racial sterotypes.

This.

The main thing that throws Roland is the sudden, violent outbursts, not the meaning of them. He doesn't understand the meaning of them.

Nevermind that as Detta, she is essentially acting that way because she is more or less crazy and unable to control herself.

There's really no reason she couldn't use "honky" on him even if he's not white, if it's part of her disorder. I think that would potentially be more interesting than if he was white and she called him that.

We could also potentially see her turn the violent outbursts on Eddie, who may still be white. Given where they end up, that could make for some interesting interactions.

Or they may simply drop that bit. It's far from the most interesting element of Susannah's character, in any respect. The split personalities and her evolution into a Gunslinger despite her disability alone are easily interesting enough to work with.

 

[Infinity9999x]

Its not a question of simply how Roland responds. It is the resentment on her part. It is something based in reality, and comes from a certain place even if it is to the extreme at times because of her situation.

Something based in reality....in that it's also based on Susannah mimicking a sterotype. And if the main source of Odetta's hostility toward Roland was his race, I'd be inclined to agree.

But it isn't. Odetta has a fear and hatred of Roland because she knows he's dangerous. That is the basis of the antagonistic relationship. Roland isn't one of the young white men Odetta targeted to rile up and then leave with a case of blue balls. She did that specifically because they were white. She hates Roland because he frightenes her. His race is a secondary thing. She'd hate anyone who frightens her.

 

[The Guard]

Apparently this is fourth in a Fandango poll of most anticipated Summer movies.