Abbey Lee cast in DARK TOWER movie . . . but as whom??

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raggedyman79

Well-Known Member
Sep 6, 2013
126
602
44
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States
Abbey Lee to star in The Dark Tower | Deadline

Is this a joke? Was there some alternate version of the Dark Tower series I didn't read? Who is Tirana, and why is she being referred to as the female lead?

Some changes are okay, and Idris Elba as Roland is intriguing, but this has me concerned. Is Tirana taking the place of Alice, the bartender in Tull? I could be okay with that, but please don't let her be taking over as female lead from Susannah. Technically, if the first film is only covering The Gunslinger, Susannah wouldn't be the female lead. Mods, can SK shed some light on who Tirana is and what part she would play in the film? He's listed as producer, which I'm assuming means he has some input.

That dude who whined about the root beer in 11.22.63 is not going to be pleased.
 

Matt Taylor

Member
Feb 18, 2016
9
64
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There is a scene in the movie Clerks 2 where a guy gets so upset talking about/defending the Lord of the Rings trilogy that he gets physically ill. I always laughed at that scene and shook my head at the character for taking any movie that seriously. Always found it hilarious in a pathetic sort of way. Now, between the "artistic license" argument behind Elba's casting, the horse CRAP that the dynamic between Susannah and Roland wasn't affected by race, and now this random blonde woman showing up.......Yeah....I want to throw up. Quite literally projectile vomit.
 

Robert Gray

Well-Known Member
Abbey Lee to star in The Dark Tower | Deadline

Is this a joke? Was there some alternate version of the Dark Tower series I didn't read? Who is Tirana, and why is she being referred to as the female lead?

Some changes are okay, and Idris Elba as Roland is intriguing, but this has me concerned. Is Tirana taking the place of Alice, the bartender in Tull? I could be okay with that, but please don't let her be taking over as female lead from Susannah. Technically, if the first film is only covering The Gunslinger, Susannah wouldn't be the female lead. Mods, can SK shed some light on who Tirana is and what part she would play in the film? He's listed as producer, which I'm assuming means he has some input.

That dude who whined about the root beer in 11.22.63 is not going to be pleased.

My guess (and a guess is all it is) is that perhaps they renamed Mia? All in all, it doesn't surprise me a bit that there would be all sorts of new characters in a Hollywood version. I'm not thrilled about it but what can we do... aside from simply not go to see it?

*My guess for Mia is the comment that she doesn't come in until the end but appears in the first film. Hollywood doesn't know (or rarely reads) the books it adapts. So they could mean to use the actress to be the Succubus in the Standing Stones. If they do the books in relative order, she could appear in the first film there... and then return as Mia later. Granted Mia appears in book 6 (not 7th) but that could be them just being idiots. Of course, this guess is based on them even TRYING to remain true to the source material which I think we all know they won't. :D So this is another toss in character like the female Elf archer they threw into the Hobbit monstrosities.
 
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Opopanax

Well-Known Member
Dec 11, 2014
53
263
I do NOT understand why Hollywood thinks every movie needs a 75-pound blonde supermodel to be successful. I was perfectly happy with the casting of Idris Elba, but this... this is really concerning. Tirana is on - what, two pages, six books in? Come on, now.
 

staropeace

Richard Bachman's love child
Nov 28, 2006
15,210
48,848
Alberta,Canada
Like I said before, I do not watch tv or movies. I missed most of the stuff written by Uncle Steve. I just read the works and that was it. I thought I might make an exception with The Dark Tower. After reading about where this is heading, I have changed my mind. Nevermind the fact that Hollywood will take license with any work, this is The Tower....this is different. We have been reading it for over twenty bloody years. They should have taken that into consideration. It would be like making a movie about Christ on the cross and ending it differently. I will never watch this.
 

raggedyman79

Well-Known Member
Sep 6, 2013
126
602
44
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States
I do NOT understand why Hollywood thinks every movie needs a 75-pound blonde supermodel to be successful. I was perfectly happy with the casting of Idris Elba, but this... this is really concerning. Tirana is on - what, two pages, six books in? Come on, now.

Who was she in the book? I have no memory of the character whatsoever.
 

raggedyman79

Well-Known Member
Sep 6, 2013
126
602
44
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States
My guess (and a guess is all it is) is that perhaps they renamed Mia? All in all, it doesn't surprise me a bit that there would be all sorts of new characters in a Hollywood version. I'm not thrilled about it but what can we do... aside from simply not go to see it?

*My guess for Mia is the comment that she doesn't come in until the end but appears in the first film. Hollywood doesn't know (or rarely reads) the books it adapts. So they could mean to use the actress to be the Succubus in the Standing Stones. If they do the books in relative order, she could appear in the first film there... and then return as Mia later. Granted Mia appears in book 6 (not 7th) but that could be them just being idiots. Of course, this guess is based on them even TRYING to remain true to the source material which I think we all know they won't. :D So this is another toss in character like the female Elf archer they threw into the Hobbit monstrosities.

I could dig the succubus/Mia thing. I support artistic license, but this franchise will sink or swim on the support of the Constant Readers. If you change too much from the books, the die-hard fans will be alienated and your seven-installment mega-project dies. This is different from something like 11.22.63, which has already been completed and I'm guessing will be aired in its entirety by Hulu no matter what. The filmmakers of The Dark Tower can change things, but for this to be so drastic right up front is disconcerting.
 

AnnaMarie

Well-Known Member
Feb 16, 2012
7,068
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Other
I could dig the succubus/Mia thing. I support artistic license, but this franchise will sink or swim on the support of the Constant Readers. If you change too much from the books, the die-hard fans will be alienated and your seven-installment mega-project dies. This is different from something like 11.22.63, which has already been completed and I'm guessing will be aired in its entirety by Hulu no matter what. The filmmakers of The Dark Tower can change things, but for this to be so drastic right up front is disconcerting.

They are NOT after us. They are trying to appeal to everyone else. Someone is assuming we'll go just because it says "based on the novel by Stephen King".

If this character is from the scene in the standing stones, how would that make her the "female lead"? In a part of the story she didn't even exist in.

(Maybe someone took my suggestion of turning Susannah into a white dancer seriously. ;) )
 

Robert Gray

Well-Known Member
They are NOT after us. They are trying to appeal to everyone else. Someone is assuming we'll go just because it says "based on the novel by Stephen King".

If this character is from the scene in the standing stones, how would that make her the "female lead"? In a part of the story she didn't even exist in.

(Maybe someone took my suggestion of turning Susannah into a white dancer seriously. ;) )

Could be. Who knows. I have no intention of seeing it until it shows up on Netflix, and only then if the reviews are aren't absolutely terrible. I have the books. They can't take those from me. It is clear that whatever is being concocted is not the story we know and love.
 

César Hernández-Meraz

Wants to be Nick, ends up as Larry
May 19, 2015
605
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Aguascalientes, Mexico
And... this is high time I stopped reading casting articles.

Some comments from that page just spoiled the status of one of the characters' legs for me.

Perhaps I should stop waiting for the whole book series to come out in a boxed set. I wanted all the books to look similar (even if they were paperbacks), but I may have to buy the currently available editions, even if they are different styles and sizes.

About this casting, if she is part of a group of villains who appear in book 6, if done well, an early appearance might be good. But only if they are not made bigger and more important than they are meant to be, I suppose. If they are low men (judging by their group's name), then they should remain that way, and not be made into big-time antagonists.
 

TrueGeneration

Well-Known Member
Jun 15, 2014
6,354
22,711
NY
Maybe Smeagle will make an appearance....

;-D

Next casting: Paul Rubens as Jake. :rolleyes: Seriously, I hope it works for someone, somewhere, to justify the cost. I'm not interested at all anymore.

Same here, skimom. I'm starting to think if this movie 'adaptation' is going to follow the books at all (so far the chances look very slim)
 

Takoren

Well-Known Member
Nov 25, 2015
242
815
46
We could use Ms. Mod's input here. I'm pretty sure this is official, but maybe she can help us understand just how official terms like "female lead" are.

Because as it stands, this is the final nail in the coffin for me. The confirmation that we're getting The Dark Tower in Name Only. The confirmation that whatever this thing ends up looking like, it will bear about as much resemblance to the series as The Lawnmower Man or The Running Man did to their sources.
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
62
Cambridge, Ohio
...I'm with many, I don't recall this character or any marked impact she made in the tale-so Hollywood wants us to lose our minds in celebration and the sounding of horns over a willowy blonde beauty with a nose ring?......I'm totally for piercings, but not for someone who was cast as a babe in a redux of Mad Max....
 

Moderator

Ms. Mod
Administrator
Jul 10, 2006
52,243
157,324
Maine
The Tirana from the books is described in Robin Furth's Concordance as one of the Can-Toi. This is the text from her entry in the Concordance:

TIRANA: When we meet this obese low woman in the Dixie Pig, she is wearing a strapless, silver evening dress. Detta Walker rips off her mask and exposes the rat beneath. VI: 365-71, VII: 13-15, VII: 25.
-------------------------


I don't have any more information than you do at the moment as to why/how this character is going to fit into the movie but will try to find out. I might not be able to release anything more if the producers do not want that information to go out publicly yet, though.