Entertainment Weekly Reveals More Details About The Dark Tower

Entertainment Weekly has released a few of the articles that will appear in their new issue that should hit newsstands starting tomorrow. Probably the most important bit is a huge spoiler for those that have not read the book is the movie has been verified as a sequel to the novels. From director Nikolaj Arcel, "The hardcore fans of The Dark Tower series will know that this is actually a sequel to the books in a way. It has a lot of the same elements, a lot of the same characters, but it is a different journey." The reason it can be a sequel is in the novels Roland Deschain in his quest to reach the Dark Tower. It turns out very early in his quest he lost the very thing he needed to complete the quest - the Horn of Eld. The novels ended with him once again in possession of the Horn but starting his quest from the beginning. Assuming the first movie is successful, the hope is the can tell the full story of Roland's final attempt to reach the Tower and save his world. Below are other highlights from the articles linked below. EW Articles: Overview | Changes from Books | Idris Elba | Matthew McConaughey | EW Image Gallery Summary: - A scene set in New York being filmed involved the Taheen who are "demonic, half-human creatures" who disguise themselves with masks that are "given away by a scar-like read seam running down the sides of their necks." - Elba on Roland: "There’s a mystical element to him. He’s about 200 years old. He’s been around for a long time, and has a deep-rooted connection with the [supernatural] nature of the film. Roland’s completely tuned into that. When you meet him, he’s very much a stoic man, doesn’t want to talk. But when you get to know him, he really knows quite a bit about the world and his world’s history. And he very much knows the way The Man in Black works. He’s so clued up on that, which is what frustrates him. Because he can’t catch him." - Stephen King did provide input on the script during various drafts. An example, "I took a pen and cut Roland’s dialogue to the bone. The less he says the better off, and why not? Idris Elba can act with his face. He’s terrific at it. He projects that sense of combined menace and security. [Roland] is the Western hero, the strong, silent type: ‘Yep,’ ‘Nope,’ and ‘Draw.’" - The movie takes bit and pieces from all 8 novels for inspiration, with a focus on the themes of sacrifice, friendship, accepting the past. - Eddie and Susannah are not in the first movie but would be in a sequel along with their pet called Oy - Matthew McConaughey on Walter, the Man in Black: "They wanted to go very human and grounded with this. Obviously there are mythical proportions of good and evil in Walter. But we didn’t want to go overly fantastic. That would drop the humanity. So Walter, for me, is a man who exposes hypocrisies. You know, he’s not literally the Devil, but I sure as hell think about him like the Devil. I think like the Devil would. I [Walter] revere [Roland]. He’s really the only true adversary I have. I expose hypocrisies, and he’s the closest to pure there is. It’s his persistent, resilience to be good and altruistic. He’s very precious to me. I almost don’t want to see him go. My want, my need, my mission is to bring down the Tower. My love, my adoration, my muse, my shadow, is Roland." - Walter is always searching for "Breakers" and in New York there is a young boy called Jake that is strong in "The Shine" which would be very helpful breaking the beams that support the Tower. Since Walter wants Jake, so does Roland. As Elba says "Until he meets Jake, he doesn’t have anything to believe in, really. He’s really pent up and releases his soul through [defending] the boy."