Stephen King's 'Dark Tower' Set For Film Trilogy, TV Series

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Thu May 04, 2017 8:59 am

Carpet_pissr wrote:Wait, what?? 'Splain yerrself.

Without knowing what you know, he essentially inserted Harry Potter plot devices (items from the Harry Potter series) into book #5 of The Dark Tower. It was ham-fisted and completely an intentional fan-boy thing that he did, but given that the Dark Tower books span the multiverse it was certainly something that could have happened. However, I didn't enjoy the references or their inclusion as it pulled me out of books. To be fair, he also references Star Wars and Doctor Doom, but at the time it didn't feel nearly as contemporary as Harry Potter stuff - which was actually labeled "Harry Potter model".

Reemul · Post by **Reemul** » Thu May 04, 2017 9:12 am

Not read any of the books and it looked pretty good to me.

Choice between reading the books before or after.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Thu May 04, 2017 9:37 am

After. Always after when you have the choice.

msteelers · Post by **msteelers** » Thu May 04, 2017 10:09 am

Reemul wrote:Not read any of the books and it looked pretty good to me.

It's a small sample size, but the people I've talked to who never read the books thought that the trailer looked really good.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Thu May 04, 2017 11:10 am

msteelers wrote:It's a small sample size, but the people I've talked to who never read the books thought that the trailer looked really good.

It doesn't surprise me, since that's who the movie's probably made for. My sample size came to pretty much the same conclusion.

Post by **ImLawBoy** » Thu May 04, 2017 11:40 am

YellowKing wrote:
msteelers wrote:It's a small sample size, but the people I've talked to who never read the books thought that the trailer looked really good.
It doesn't surprise me, since that's who the movie's probably made for. My sample size came to pretty much the same conclusion.

That's just not true. While they certainly do want to gain new fans, they wouldn't have bothered licensing the IP if they didn't also want fans of the books. The reciting of the Gunslinger's Oath (or whatever it's called) and the slow motion reloading in the trailer are clearly meant to cater to fans of the books. Just because some fans decided long ago that they were going to hate this (that's probably a little harsh, but not necessarily untrue) doesn't mean that other fans aren't looking forward to it.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Thu May 04, 2017 11:45 am

ImLawBoy wrote:The reciting of the Gunslinger's Oath (or whatever it's called) and the slow motion reloading in the trailer are clearly meant to cater to fans of the books.

The Gunslinger's Creed, and yeah, that's my favorite part of the trailer...possibly just ahead of actually seeing Roland's magic speed loading.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Thu May 04, 2017 3:46 pm

ImLawBoy wrote:That's just not true.

I probably should have put a smiley in there. That was a bit of a tongue in cheek statement.

But I can say my hate was never pre-decided. That decision came completely from the trailer.

Combustible Lemur · Post by **Combustible Lemur** » Thu May 04, 2017 6:09 pm

JCC wrote:I have no idea if the movie will be good or not, but they have made it abundantly clear that this is NOT a retelling of the books. It is a follow up to the books. Roland has the horn. And I believe the plan is to follow the movie with a series, but I am sure that won't happen if the movie flops.

Where did you read this? I love behind the scenes spoiler.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

JCC · Post by **JCC** » Thu May 04, 2017 7:48 pm

Combustible Lemur wrote:
JCC wrote:I have no idea if the movie will be good or not, but they have made it abundantly clear that this is NOT a retelling of the books. It is a follow up to the books. Roland has the horn. And I believe the plan is to follow the movie with a series, but I am sure that won't happen if the movie flops.
Where did you read this? I love behind the scenes spoiler.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

King posted a picture of the horn on twitter and various sites have inferred based on that. It's been made clear whether or not it's after the books that it's definitely not a straight adaptation of the books. I think EW reported on the series a year or two ago.

I have read the DT books more times then I care to admit. I am skeptical about the movie, but I thought the trailer looked awesome.

Honestly, good or bad, this movie can't tarnish the Dark Tower any more than King did with the final 2 awful books.

DD* · Post by DD* » Fri May 05, 2017 10:57 am

After repeated viewing with the revised plot outlined in this thread, I'm warming to this one. Obviously the jury is still out, but framing it as a "Gunslinger" movie rather than a LOTR-type adaptation of the King series helped, I think.

And I have to say that whoever it was that implied people's issues with the casting is because Idris is black, that's a crap statement. He just does not even come close the much-described appearance of Roland.

Here is the mental image I see when picturing Roland Deschain (click to embiggen):

DD* · Post by DD* » Fri May 05, 2017 11:09 am

Holy tentacles! I stand corrected, it's a perfect match. How could anyone think, "hmmm, not quite who I saw in that role based on the gazillion books, images, comics, etc, that picture and describe Roland." Could be twins.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Fri May 05, 2017 11:15 am

If Ka can change things like how Jake is apparently not in 1977 anymore or allow Roland to seemingly walk around Time Square (which he never did), I'm guessing it can also change melanin levels.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Fri May 05, 2017 11:18 am

Walking around the desert for years tends to have an impact.

Post by **ImLawBoy** » Fri May 05, 2017 11:18 am

It's done. He's cast. The movie has been made. Time to get over it.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Fri May 05, 2017 11:40 am

DD* wrote: Here is the mental image I see when picturing Roland Deschain (click to embiggen):

Bah, too many fingers.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Fri May 05, 2017 11:52 am

Also they decided he's not going to wear a hat like he does throughout the entire freaking series. Because...no reason. Other than to apparently piss me off.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Fri May 05, 2017 11:54 am

The Magnificent Seven only earned ~$160M. Westerns aren't cool this decade.

Post by **ImLawBoy** » Fri May 05, 2017 12:07 pm

YellowKing wrote:Also they decided he's not going to wear a hat like he does throughout the entire freaking series. Because...no reason. Other than to apparently piss me off.

I have determined that you need to hope that Hollywood never adapts any books you like.

DD* · Post by DD* » Fri May 05, 2017 12:39 pm

Jeff V wrote:
DD* wrote: Here is the mental image I see when picturing Roland Deschain (click to embiggen):
Bah, too many fingers.

Tis early...

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Fri May 05, 2017 11:46 pm

ImLawBoy wrote:I have determined that you need to hope that Hollywood never adapts any books you like.

<shrug> My opinion isn't out of line with what a bunch of other folks around the internet are saying, many of them professional journalists. I'd be pleased as punched if I'm wrong and this movie kicks ass.

KKBlue · Post by **KKBlue** » Sat May 06, 2017 11:02 am

naednek wrote:never read the books, thought the trailer looked cool.

Agreed adding, I would see the movie when I can watch in my home.

Grifman · Post by **Grifman** » Sat May 06, 2017 2:31 pm

I can totally understand where YK is coming from . . .

. . . that said, never read the books and know just a smidgen about them, and I thought the trailer looked pretty cool, especially the gunslinging part.

Madmarcus · Post by **Madmarcus** » Sat May 06, 2017 9:04 pm

I don't think anyone could play the Roland I have in my head. Action movies have moved on and he's being portrayed as a modern action star not a mythic lawman from an old western. Elba is also at least 10 years too young. Roland needs at least a hint of being old and tired.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Mon Jun 05, 2017 2:42 pm

New teaser trailer posted yesterday. This looks a bit more like a summer-action movie than I would like to see. If I can somehow disconnect my brain and keep reminding myself it's not the books, maybe...

Moliere · Post by **Moliere** » Mon Jun 05, 2017 2:47 pm

ImLawBoy wrote:It's done. He's cast. The movie has been made. Time to get over it.

You seem unfamiliar with how the internet works.

DD* · Post by DD* » Mon Jun 05, 2017 3:44 pm

Moliere wrote:
ImLawBoy wrote:It's done. He's cast. The movie has been made. Time to get over it.
You seem unfamiliar with how the internet works.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Jun 20, 2017 10:44 pm

Ever since a tweet of a very important prop was posted to Twitter last summer, fans have assumed that the upcoming Dark Tower movie is a sequel to the books. And now, the film’s director has confirmed that.

“It is, in fact, a continuation,” director Nik Arcel told IGN. “It is a canon continuation. That’s exactly what we intended and what Stephen King has signed off on.”
...
To explain why that horn and text is so important, it’s necessary to spoil the ending of King’s series. So if you are planning on reading the books before The Dark Tower is out in August (which I recently did) you may want to go away. But if not, keep reading. Just know that the movie has been structured and conceived so it’s not necessary to have any knowledge of the books, which also fits in with the world.

Spoilers at the link.

Gizmodo

em2nought · Post by **em2nought** » Tue Jun 20, 2017 11:03 pm

Next big thing in films could be conglomerate efforts. King and Suess together could be creepy as hell. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztxEHtrgTRg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9KZ6DkbZ_M

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Wed Jun 21, 2017 8:33 am

King has seen a final version and had this to say:

"After he saw the film for the first time, (King wrote to me), "This is not exactly my novel, but this is very much in the spirit and the tone. And I'm very happy."

I'm probably reading too much into it, but that sounds like a lukewarm reception to me. "I'm very happy" is what you say when you find out your ex-girlfriend who you're still in love with just got married, and you're trying to put on a brave face.

" At one point he said, "I have some notes for script." And he sent us a hard copy of the script, with hand-written notes. He was very polite and very respectful. It was always like, "Maybe Roland doesn't talk so much here"... he was just like the groundskeeper of the characters."

Translation: We were seriously fucking up this movie because we don't understand the characters and aren't true fans, and King was trying to be polite.

Argh, don't listen to me guys. I'm just a cynical bitter old man. But I'm not getting warm fuzzies. Prove me wrong, movie. Prove me wrong.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Wed Jun 21, 2017 9:15 am

I'm with you re: the "this is not exactly my novel" comment. That invokes a specific tone immediately when I read it, and not a positive one.

OTOH, potentially so what (that it's not "exactly his novel")? As a big fan of the books, I found the trailers exciting, and will definitely see this. Doesn't have to correspond exactly to the book (for ME), but I still admit to completely getting pulled out by the casting decision for Roland. It's just jarring after reading so much description about Roland's physical description and minute details about his appearance in those...how many pages? 8 billion?

Post by **ImLawBoy** » Wed Jun 21, 2017 10:16 am

I'm assuming most here have seen the two filmed versions of The Shining. Kubrick's version was not exactly King's novel, but it was awesome. The later version that was pretty much exactly King's novel pretty much sucked.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Wed Jun 21, 2017 10:23 am

Yeah, the Shining is a great example as I believe King doesn't like the original version but had nothing bad to say about remake.

The Dark Tower is a bit different. Not only is it his largest single body of work (spanning his entire career) but it is tied into so many of his other seemingly unrelated novels that I can't imagine he's able to provide an unbiased review of the film. While I wouldn't necessarily expect him to praise it, I'd agree that his comments sound neutral at best. More of a "they took my general idea of what it was all about and converted their own ideas into a movie." I'd almost be willing to say it sounds like he's beginning to distance himself from it all.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Wed Jun 21, 2017 11:15 am

Since I've found the books rather "meh" so far (maybe one day I'll try to soldier on and read book 5), I rather consider this potentially a good thing.

Post by **ImLawBoy** » Wed Jun 21, 2017 12:03 pm

Smoove_B wrote:Yeah, the Shining is a great example as I believe King doesn't like the original version but had nothing bad to say about remake.

The Dark Tower is a bit different. Not only is it his largest single body of work (spanning his entire career) but it is tied into so many of his other seemingly unrelated novels that I can't imagine he's able to provide an unbiased review of the film. While I wouldn't necessarily expect him to praise it, I'd agree that his comments sound neutral at best. More of a "they took my general idea of what it was all about and converted their own ideas into a movie." I'd almost be willing to say it sounds like he's beginning to distance himself from it all.

Is that really so bad? The occasional Shining or Misery notwithstanding, it's not like King movie adaptations have a stellar success rate.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Wed Jun 21, 2017 12:28 pm

ImLawBoy wrote: Is that really so bad? The occasional Shining or Misery notwithstanding, it's not like King movie adaptations have a stellar success rate.

A lot of his books focus on character development often with little action until the climax, and aren't especially suited for movies. He's still probably generated more hit movies than any other author I can think of; starting with his very first book, Carrie.

Part of the problem I have with the Dark Tower series is that I just don't like the characters, and some of the situations they find themselves in seem silly and resolution implausible. Much of this is due to crossing too many genres. I'll allow that it's possible to distill a coherent (and enjoyable) story by creating more consistency throughout all aspects of the story. We'll see, I guess.

DD* · Post by DD* » Wed Jun 21, 2017 2:55 pm

Jeff V wrote:
ImLawBoy wrote: Is that really so bad? The occasional Shining or Misery notwithstanding, it's not like King movie adaptations have a stellar success rate.
A lot of his books focus on character development often with little action until the climax, and aren't especially suited for movies. He's still probably generated more hit movies than any other author I can think of; starting with his very first book, Carrie.

Part of the problem I have with the Dark Tower series is that I just don't like the characters, and some of the situations they find themselves in seem silly and resolution implausible. Much of this is due to crossing too many genres. I'll allow that it's possible to distill a coherent (and enjoyable) story by creating more consistency throughout all aspects of the story. We'll see, I guess.

Ka

TiLT · Post by **TiLT** » Wed Jun 21, 2017 3:15 pm

YellowKing wrote:I'm probably reading too much into it, but that sounds like a lukewarm reception to me.

I think you're reading too much into it, particularly with the fresh announcement that this is a canon sequel to The Dark Tower novels. It's not the exact same story and it's not supposed to be. Stephen King is not just aware of this, he approved it.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Thu Jun 22, 2017 8:39 am

As much as I love Stephen King, he's approved a LOT of utter crap based on his work.

I do like that it's confirmed to be post-novels, even though I think that's a bit of a cop-out.

DD* · Post by DD* » Thu Jun 22, 2017 3:40 pm

YellowKing wrote:As much as I love Stephen King, he's approved a LOT of utter crap based on his work. I do like that it's confirmed to be post-novels, even though I think that's a bit of a cop-out.

Silence, heathen! This stuff was pure gold - Emilio should've won an Oscar!