Age of The Nerd
The Man In Black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed …
The Dark Tower, one of Stephen King’s longest and most famous works, is picking up steam as production looks like it is finally moving forward. The news broke earlier this week that Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey have signed on to star in a film adaption of the books. The Dark Tower spans eight novels, several comic books and short stories, and much of King’s lengthy body of work includes characters that reside in the world of The Dark Tower.
Idris Elba has been confirmed to play the gunslinger Roland Deschain, the hero of the story and Matthew McConaughey will tackle the role of Roland’s evil mystical enemy , the Man In Black a.k.a Walter. Nikolaj Arcel who is best known as the director of the 2012 film A Royal Affair, and co-writer of the Swedish version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, will direct the film. Arcel will share the writing credit with Anders Thomas Jensen, Jeff Pinkner, and Akiva Goldsman. The movie will be produced by the team of Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, and Erica Huggins of Imagine Entertainment.
It’s official: The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed. #DarkTowerMovie @McConaughey @IdrisElba
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) March 1, 2016
The Dark Tower will start shooting in South Africa seven weeks from now and Sony Pictures is hoping to have the film in theaters on January 13, 2017. Let’s hope these plans come true. Fans of the book series have been waiting for an adaption for years. There have been a couple attempts in the past to make the film, but things seem to have always gotten in the way. Hopefully this series gets its much overdue film adaption that it truly deserves.
I remember reading years ago that Stephen King got the inspiration for the gunslinger character by watching Spaghetti westerns starring Clint Eastwood, who at one point he wanted to star in the film. King now claims that he is thrilled with the choice of Idris Elba as Roland, as their vision for the character is completely in sync. The Dark Tower books tell the tale of the fallen land of Mid-World told through the words of Roland. Roland does not fight his battles with a sword, but instead battles with a pair of revolvers. Roland, along with his ka-tet (a group of specially selected individuals) are on a journey to save his dying world. He must travel to the Tower to save his land and prevent the Man In Black from getting in his way.
