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."

King Confirms Dark Tower Casting, Production Start and Release Date

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Dark Tower author Stephen King and director/co-writer Nikolaj Arcel confirmed some information about the first movie. The pair verified that Idris Elba has been cast as the Gunslinger Roland Deschain and Matthew McConaughey as the man in black (who has numerous names). They also verified that the plan is to start filming in late April to hit an January 13, 2017 release date.

“The thing is, it’s been a looong trip from the books to the film,” King says, putting it right in context: “When you think about it, I started these stories as a senior in college, sitting in a little sh-tty cabin beside the river in Maine, and finally this thing is actually in pre-production now.” He laughs. “I’m delighted, and I’m a little bit surprised.” “What Stephen King does best is mixing the everyday, or what you might call the mundane, with the fantastical,” says Arcel. “In my view, [The Dark Tower] novels are a mix between sci-fi and fantasy and modern times. That exact mix is so Stephen King.” King says the movie will open with the first line from the first book. “It should start that way,” he says. “I’ve been pretty insistent about that.” “[The movie] starts in media res, in the middle of the story instead of at the beginning, which may upset some of the fans a little bit, but they’ll get behind it, because it is the story,” King says. Arcel declined to specify which books his movie focus on, but he did offer this clue: “A lot of it takes place in our day, in the modern world.”

The Dark Tower is a bit hard to describe briefly but the gist is the Tower is connected to all of King's creations over the decades but by extension it connects to the multiverse and all of creation. In short, the Tower falls, everything ends. The Man in Black wants to end it all, Roland seeks to stop him while also trying to use the Tower to save his world (which is suggested to be a future post-nuclear annihilated Earth) that is dying. In his quest to reach the tower Roland is joined by three (Eddie from the 70s, Susannah from the 60s, and Jake from the 80s) to create his "ka-tet" (a group that is both best friends and family at the same time, formed by destiny). it would take little effort story wise to update the characters to circa 2016 which is about the only aspect of the story that fits the "in the modern world" tease from the director since the Dark Tower series is ultimately a classic western with technology and the supernatural woven in here and there. It will interesting what new direction they are planning. While I am a fan of The Dark Tower, each book represents the decade it was written starting in 1978 until completed in 2006 but more backstory added via Marvel comics over the last 10 years. A faithful translation would be slog to watch and unlikely to succeed but the core story with the core characters that drops a lot of side story and irrelevant sub-plots that ultimately didn't go anywhere could make for a great series of movies. It sounds like the plan is not to take the "Harry Potter" route of faithful adaptation of each book, one movie at a time but instead treat it as one really long story, focusing on certain key points within that timeline. As always time will tell.

Director and Writer Locked Down for The Dark Tower

A month after the initial rumor, Sony Pictures have revealed they have officially signed Nikolaj Arcel (A Royal Affair) as the director of The Dark Tower. In addition Arcel recruited Anders Thomas Jensen (Election Day) to help write the film building on some of the script work from Akiva Goldsman and Jeff Pinkner. The current plan is a combination of movies and TV series to tell the entire 8 novel story of Roland Deschain and his quest for The Dark Tower.