Elba's Casting CONFIRMED?!!

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Robert Gray

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My own opinion, and what little weight that carries, is that whomever plays Roland should be talented and relatively unknown (if not entirely). The world is full of great actors. I've no doubt that there is someone out there with the chops and the look to carry it off. Any degree of celebrity would draw away from the immersion. For that matter, I think largely talented unknowns should plays most of the parts. That way there is no baggage; there will just be the Dark Tower.
 

Takoren

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Nov 25, 2015
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The release date for the first movie has already been announced as January 13, 2017 but it is correct that Idris Elba has NOT been signed on for the part of Roland in spite of the misleading wording of the article so that part is still up for casting. He is still in the running, but that doesn't mean he will be the one to play the part.
I was talking about a potential sequel. Assuming the movie is released a year from now (and I strongly doubt it will be), if a sequel is greenlit, it will still take time to pre-produce and film. Going by the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, we could potentially be looking at two years minimum between each release. That's 14 years before it's over, again, potentially.
 

Moderator

Ms. Mod
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I was talking about a potential sequel. Assuming the movie is released a year from now (and I strongly doubt it will be), if a sequel is greenlit, it will still take time to pre-produce and film. Going by the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, we could potentially be looking at two years minimum between each release. That's 14 years before it's over, again, potentially.
Or, they could (hypothetically) film at the same time as was done with Lord of the Rings so that there isn't that lag time in between filming the projects.
 

Takoren

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Nov 25, 2015
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Or, they could (hypothetically) film at the same time as was done with Lord of the Rings so that there isn't that lag time in between filming the projects.
They could, but it doesn't seem like they're going to. LOTR was a huge risk that happened to pay off, but that doesn't mean studios are suddenly willing to take those risks everywhere else. I might be wrong, but it sounds like the only thing "greenlit", and apparently even that is still up in the air, is one movie. Maybe it will include elements of more than one book, but as far as I can tell just the one movie is planned.
 

Takoren

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Nov 25, 2015
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My own opinion, and what little weight that carries, is that whomever plays Roland should be talented and relatively unknown (if not entirely). The world is full of great actors. I've no doubt that there is someone out there with the chops and the look to carry it off. Any degree of celebrity would draw away from the immersion. For that matter, I think largely talented unknowns should plays most of the parts. That way there is no baggage; there will just be the Dark Tower.
I've been saying this for a long time. Think of the Harry Potter movies, or the Lord of the Rings movies. Larger names in supporting roles, perhaps, but unknowns for the leads. And these films managed to supplant head-canon for a majority of readers.
 

Moderator

Ms. Mod
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They could, but it doesn't seem like they're going to. LOTR was a huge risk that happened to pay off, but that doesn't mean studios are suddenly willing to take those risks everywhere else. I might be wrong, but it sounds like the only thing "greenlit", and apparently even that is still up in the air, is one movie. Maybe it will include elements of more than one book, but as far as I can tell just the one movie is planned.
Could be. The Talisman was green-lit and canceled so many times over the years I lost count. And we still do not have a movie to watch.
 

Takoren

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Nov 25, 2015
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Could be. The Talisman was green-lit and canceled so many times over the years I lost count. And we still do not have a movie to watch.
The Talisman, The Long Walk, The Breathing Method, Gerald's Game, Rose Madder, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, hell, there might be almost as many "planned but never made" adaptations as there are actual adaptations.
 

Ebdim9th

Dressing the Gothic interval in tritones
Jul 1, 2009
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As I mentioned on Facebook, to avoid too many major plot complications, what about Idris Elba as Randall Flagg? He changes through each iteration and there's nothing to stop him from showing up this way. And there'd be balance, Susannah being good, and Flagg evil...
 

Takoren

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Nov 25, 2015
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As I mentioned on Facebook, to avoid too many major plot complications, what about Idris Elba as Randall Flagg? He changes through each iteration and there's nothing to stop him from showing up this way. And there'd be balance, Susannah being good, and Flagg evil...
I would have no real problem with Elba as Walter, but there is the fact that Walter and Marten
are now apparently the same person
. Even in the original version, we're meant to believe that this is true.

Elba is not a chameleonic actor, whatever else he may be. It will be obvious whatever way they go,
that Walter and Marten either are or are not the same man.
 

Ebdim9th

Dressing the Gothic interval in tritones
Jul 1, 2009
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So Walter and Marten could or couldn't be played by the same guy? Any actor cast for that role/roles would have to work with another actor playing the other part, or some way done to disguise it being the same person? I dunno, that's something I'd have to go back to reread to get back into the forefront of my head...
 

charlotte98

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Jun 12, 2011
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I just read an article where the director said all the fans that didn't like Idris Elba are racists. So now no matter what, I'm not watching the movies. Not if he is directing. ...Seriously, whoever thinks he is a great choice as Roland obviously didn't read the series AT ALL. I wonder if these same people would be OK with Leo Dicaprio playing Malcom X or Martin Luther King??! It just makes no sense! What the heck are they thinking??!!!!
 

Terry B

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Jul 17, 2006
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The release date for the first movie has already been announced as January 13, 2017 but it is correct that Idris Elba has NOT been signed on for the part of Roland in spite of the misleading wording of the article so that part is still up for casting. He is still in the running, but that doesn't mean he will be the one to play the part.

What about the rumor of Matthew McConaughey playing the Man in Black?
 

Takoren

Well-Known Member
Nov 25, 2015
242
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I just read an article where the director said all the fans that didn't like Idris Elba are racists. So now no matter what, I'm not watching the movies. Not if he is directing. ...Seriously, whoever thinks he is a great choice as Roland obviously didn't read the series AT ALL. I wonder if these same people would be OK with Leo Dicaprio playing Malcom X or Martin Luther King??! It just makes no sense! What the heck are they thinking??!!!!
If it's the article I think it is, that wasn't the director, that was Akiva Goldsman, who wrote the first script for this thing and is still attached as one of four producers. Goldsman is pretty much the dictionary definition of Hollywood Hack, and his involvement on any level has had me worried for the entire time.

Also, I have to agree that using real people as examples of the wrong-headedness of color-blind casting isn't really a good argument. Instead, let's think of fictional characters written as black, and preferably characters from alternate universes as Roland is.

My favorite argument is comparing Ged from A Wizard of Earthsea, who is supposed to look mediterranean or aboriginal, but was portrayed in the SyFy miniseries as a blonde haired, blue eyed boy. The author, Ursula K. LeGuin, blew a gasket as did fans of the book. But his race was completely incidental, so why did it matter then if it shouldn't matter now where Roland is concerned? Could it be because the entire "race is incidental" argument only seems to work if the race in question is white?
 

Takoren

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Nov 25, 2015
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So Walter and Marten could or couldn't be played by the same guy? Any actor cast for that role/roles would have to work with another actor playing the other part, or some way done to disguise it being the same person? I dunno, that's something I'd have to go back to reread to get back into the forefront of my head...
If you get a chameleonic actor known for disappearing into his roles, you can pull this off.

As Marten he could have a big beard, maybe be red-headed with long hair done up in a flamboyant style, and even better, give him some mystic-looking facial tattoos.

As Walter in the past, give him a completely shaven head and powder-white skin.

As the Man in Black, have his skin color go back to normal and give him shoulder-length black hair.