The Dark Tower Casts Jake Chambers

A new actor has joined Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey in The Dark Tower. Newcomer Tom Taylor has been cast as Jake Chambers. Jake is one of the core characters of the series, first introduced in the first novel of The Dark Tower series and plays an important part in the character evolution of Roland Deschain (Elba). If Tom Taylor does not seem familiar it is likely due to only have a few roles on TV in the last year or so.

The Dark Tower Bumped to February

Just a little over a week ago it was revealed that The Dark Tower was greenlit, has a core cast, will take place in the present and was being released on January 13, 2017. Most of that remains true but Sony has further tweaked their schedule and now the movie is set for release on February 17, 2017. Only a change of a month. Considering how well Deadpool did in the same time frame, as long as the movie itself (and its marketing) is solid, there is little reason to think The Dark Tower cannot do as well.

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.

The Dark Tower Casts Role of Tirana

It seems the movie adaptation of The Dark Tower is very very slowly moving forward. Deadline is reporting that Abbey Lee (Mad Max: Fury Road) has been cast in the role of Tirana. The character is described as "she’s sexy and dangerous, she has fake human skin and cold snake-like eyes. She doesn’t come in until the seventh volume, apparently, but she’s going to be starring in the first film." I read the seventh book and I don't recall the character. Based on looking at various Dark Tower sites, she apparently an incredibly minor character described as "A low woman in the Dixie Pig." The use of the name could be to clear any legal problems (yep the names of characters in movies and TV have to clear legal hurdles cause people will sue claiming "that is me"). My theory is the name is a fake-out and she was really cast in the role of Susan Delgado who was the first girlfriend of teenage Roland Deschain (the lead character of the Dark Tower) but only suggesting that because there really isn't a character (or a combination of characters) that fit the description above in the books that I can recall.

Idris Elba as Roland Deschain, Matthew McConaughey as Walter?

Deadline is reporting that Idris Elba (Luthor, Pacific Rim) has potentially been tapped to play the lead role in The Dark Tower movies. No deal is signed but apparently director Nikolaj Arcel and the producers are interested. The actor might be facing off against Matthew McConaughey who would plan Walter O'Dim aka Randall Flagg aka...well he has a lot of names but from the first movie he is simply the Man in Black and the series main big bad. If talking about casting again it seems like a good sign the film might go forward again. I am very interested to see how they interpret the books which are not really ideal for a movie series but probably be just fine for a TV series a la The Walking Dead. Turns out there was some controversy in some quarters on the casting choice but Stephen King gave it a seal of approval.

To me, the color of the gunslinger doesn't matter. What I care about is how fast he can draw...and that he takes care of the ka-tet.

— Stephen King (@StephenKing) December 12, 2015