Elba's Casting CONFIRMED?!!

[Tiny]

Under the Dome :The name of the town was "Chestermills" and the WAS a dome...but other then that...

and now....
now we are going tohave a dark Tower sags, that has little or nothing to do with the books
.....wooooptie Dooooo....!

 

[Senor_Biggles]

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??!!!!

There’s no reason that you have to be happy about the casting of Idris Elba as Roland, and if the director actually did say that anybody who doesn’t like it is a racist then he’s an idiot, but the comparison you make is not reasonable,

Roland is a fictional creation in a series of fantasy novels whose race is more or less completely incidental to his character and his actions. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X were real people whose entire lives were impacted by their race and who made history and became icons by fighting inequality and striving to show others that they did not have to de defined by the colour of their skin.

I’m not the greatest fan of the Dark Tower series and I have no particular hopes for the adaptation. I like Idris Elba as an actor. I’ve yet to be convinced that he has the greatest range, then again Roland himself doesn’t have a lot of range. If you want someone who can do haunted and driven and tragic and relentless, then I’d say he could cover that.

 

[AnnaMarie]

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 the only part he read is The Gunslinger, he would have a point. In The Gunslinger, even though Roland is described as looking like Clint Eastwood, it doesn't really matter to the actual story.

But then, along comes the second book. Objecting does not make me racist. I want the backstory of the characters and if Roland is black, you cannot do Susannah's backstory justice.

~~~

Either he wants to do a hatchet job, which I'm not interested in watching, or he's rewriting and just using the title and a few character names (like UTD) and I'm not interested in that either.

 

[GNTLGNT]

....Does Marten drive a Lincoln?.....

 

[MadamMack]

I for one think Idris is a Dark Tower.

. . .and I mean that nicely . . .if you know me, then you'll get this.

 

[GNTLGNT]

I for one think Idris is a Dark Tower.

. . .and I mean that nicely . . .if you know me, then you'll get this.

...fess up, you just want to blow his horn...

 

[MadamMack]

...fess up, you just want to blow his horn...

Yep . . .I do.

 

[AnnaMarie]

Lol.

He was discussed as The Doctor and I'd love to see him in that part. (Not to soon though. I'm loving Capaldi.)

 

[OldDarth]

But then, along comes the second book. Objecting does not make me racist. I want the backstory of the characters and if Roland is black, you cannot do Susannah's backstory justice.

Sure you can. It would have a different flavour but the tension between two characters - one from a world where skin colour is of no consequence versus one where it is - is ripe with dramatic possibilities.

 

[AnnaMarie]

Sure you can. It would have a different flavour but the tension between two characters - one from a world where skin colour is of no consequence versus one where it is - is ripe with dramatic possibilities.

You can do a great story, but it's a different story. And why would you rewrite her back story while keeping the tension colour related? He wouldn't. He's going to eliminate it and call fans of the actual book racist.

Maybe he'll make Susannah a dancer too.

 

[OldDarth]

Maybe. Because all adaptations differ from the source material.

 

[Takoren]

Maybe. Because all adaptations differ from the source material.

There is a huge difference between making a few changes to streamline the story or because something is unfilmable vs just randomly making a very striking visual change to the main character.

I repeat; there is no reason to do this! There are only excuses! It's just not good enough.

 

[OldDarth]

When business decisions are being made involving millions of dollars - they are not made on random whims.

 

[Takoren]

When business decisions are being made involving millions of dollars - they are not made on random whims.

so why make this change? And do not tell me it's because Elba's the best choice. He isn't. Nor is he the only choice they have.

 

[OldDarth]

 

[Robert Gray]

When business decisions are being made involving millions of dollars - they are not made on random whims.

You think so? Waterworld? Sahara? Cutthroat Island? Business decisions, whether they involve ten bucks or millions of dollars, are made by people. In general, the larger the sum of money and risk, the more idiotic people become. That is why our best (and greatest) films are often made on a budget by dedicated artists, and blockbusters made by Hollywood which thinks it knows better than the people who created the stories, churn out garbage... albeit very expensive garbage. Whims are followed in the higher tax bracket all the time. Don't delude yourself.

 

[OldDarth]

Bay of Pig scenarios can arise with group think but I refuse to subscribe to such a cynical view. I'm a half glass full kind of guy.

PS - I'm also a realist and subscribe to Sturgeon's Law that 90% of everything is garbage. Even with the best intentions.

 

[Senor_Biggles]

From the big man himself (apparently):

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.

 

[Takoren]

Here is what I said on the IMDB about the "they'll make changes anyway" argument.

And please, for the love of Gan, stop with the whole "well, they're gonna change things anyway" argument. Of course they're going to change things. It always happens. But this isn't a necessary change. The book wasn't crying out for the lead's race to be updated. This is not a series devoid of black characters or racial sensitivity. This is not a story or character set we've seen adapted to film countless times, such as Robin Hood or King Arthur or Shakespearean plays that are traditionally all-white and need updating for this next outing.

No one's even attempted to do this once as written. This will be THE FIRST TIME we see Roland on screen before our eyes. We don't want to see an actor playing Roland. We don't want to see a reinterpretation of Roland. We want to see Roland.

 

[Takoren]

From the big man himself (apparently):

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.

I hate to say this, but this doesn't carry a lot of weight with me. I'm trying to be diplomatic and not sound like I'm dissing Sai King, but he's been known to gush with praise over some of the worst adaptations of his material out there. He was all effusive praise for the Under the Dome series, and response from CR's has been, well, considerably less praising.

He also seems to love the work of Mick Garris, who I think is among the worst directors ever to do a King adaptation, and I know I'm far from alone.

There are also several reasons why King might say such a thing other than that he really believes it. I'm not a mind-reader, so I won't suggest it's true, but the argument has been made before that if he were to say to any member of the press that he wants the Gunslinger to remain white, he would be excoriated as a racist who wants to deny black actors equal opportunity. And I believe that would happen, considering how people have reacted to fans who have stated they want him to stay as written.

And now, I'm pretty sure this post will be deleted.