Petition to stop Idris Elba from playing Roland

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Robert Gray

Well-Known Member
You can sign all the petitions you like but it would be an exercise in futility. The contracts are signed and the movie is going forward with Idris Elba as Roland.

Yep. The only realistic way you have to vote now is with your wallet. There is no reason to lose too much sleep over it. As I said a while back, the casting of Idris Elba was worrisome to me mainly because it indicates just how many OTHER changes are coming. I think, in retrospect when we have seen the film, we are going to think of that casting as minor compared to all the other things we don't really recognize. :D Anyway, it is all moot as the die has been cast. The energy expended trying to get petitions to stop something is just wasted. Save it for a Fan-based Kickstarter for a remake later. :D
 

Saigrim

Well-Known Member
Dec 20, 2009
53
177
Kansas
This petition will be about as useful as a screen door on a submarine. If they actually worked we would not have half the terrible movies we do today.

Just man up like me, jump up and down, and whine like a spoiled brat. It really does help.
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
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Robert Gray

Well-Known Member
Since the film rights have been sold, it would be up to the same team that currently holds them whether they would be willing to sell them to someone else to do a Netflix version.

Netflix has been doing some really good work these days. I know I would be 100% behind such an idea. Of course, whether or not the current owners of the rights will sell them (and at what price) depends a great deal on how well or how poorly the movie released next year does. If it tanks, they would likely be willing to sell them. The odds of making another film would be low (and it was hard enough for them to get it done the first time). If it does well, we might as well resign ourselves to never (in our lifetimes) seeing the story version close to the books brought to the screen.

I'm torn. I never want any project to fail. I tend to root for artists even when they are doing things I don't really like. Still, as I know this won't be the journey to the Tower I walked alongside Roland in the books, I can't say I want it to be huge because then I won't live to see literary version brought to life.
 

Saigrim

Well-Known Member
Dec 20, 2009
53
177
Kansas
I'll just go ahead and say it....

It will not be a success. As much as a few of you are looking at the glass half full, I have no such illusions. As I said in an earlier post there is far too much material to cram in a single movie to make this even remotely digestible to the average movie goer. Unless you know the books, the whole concept of parallel universes, ageless wizards, cowboy knights, robots, Ka, Beams, (I could go on and on) will be lost on the vast majority. People will be saying to themselves "what the hell did I just watch?". Any of the Dark Tower taken out of the whole and context as we the Constant Reader understand it will be lost upon most.

As someone else on here pointed out, without the opening story of Roland chasing the man in black, there will be no "hook" to let people know they are in for one hell of a ride. How great would the culling of Tull have been for the first time on screen to set the pace and introduce the Roland we all know and love? The first encounter with Jake at the Waystation? The Slow Mutants? The encounter with Walter on the shore of the ocean? Ah, Discordia. So much potential.....I won't say lost. No. I'll have to say postponed. I believe someday, someone, somewhere will pull out their proverbial head and bring us that story to the screen.

In the meantime, we can only sit back and let this boil fester, pop, and slowly heal. Then after the memory of it fades I fully believe someone with honest love for the story, with the know how and clout, will step forward and do this justice. Someone like Jackson, who's true admiration of Tolkeins work led him to a phenomenally visual and mostly true to the book movie. (I'll forgive him the Hobbit as he tried to pass that torch off in the first place.)

That's the realization I have come to terms with. It just means more time. Barring I don't choke on a chicken bone or some other unfortunate untimely incident, I should be around to witness it.
 
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Robert Gray

Well-Known Member
I'll just go ahead and say it....

It will not be a success.

That is a bridge too far for me. I'm not so bold as to say that. Success in Hollywood is measured in Box Office. The film doesn't even have to be good to be a success. :D While I think most Constant Readers already know the film will fall short of what we want, it doesn't mean those who have never cracked the books will know any difference. After all, those who have never had the finest chocolates, think that Nestle Crunch is da'bomb. :D The film doesn't have to be a critical success. It doesn't have to be a success with us. It just has to make enough money riding out image and Sai King's name for them to consider it a moneymaker. The bar is set very low by Hollywood. We must be realistic.

Despite the fact that I want the books translated to the screen, it is hard for me to root for the movie to fail. I say this even if a Hollywood version of success means neither we nor Sai King will get to see the true Gunslinger stride across multiple worlds. To put this in terms straight out the Dark Tower series, you want to see the thing done even if you know it is wrong. It is like taking up one of the bends of the rainbow, the nasty pink one from Wizard and Glass. You know what you see will be upsetting and yet you HAVE to see. Or think of it like "breaking" that the Breakers were doing KNOWING that they are destroying something and yet there is a feeling of accomplishment in doing something. I think making a horrible translation of a film is kind of like that. :D
 

Saigrim

Well-Known Member
Dec 20, 2009
53
177
Kansas
You, Sir, hit the nail smack square on the head.

The people making this movie? Breakers!

Come on, Eddie! I'm waiting. Open a godd**n door to me and I'll help you stop them.
 
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Saigrim

Well-Known Member
Dec 20, 2009
53
177
Kansas
And fear not, Mr. Gray. I will wait on the other side of the bridge for your arrival. And if it looks like you may not make it, I will double back and help you. Hurry now. Lud awaits us!
 
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warmlander

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Mar 8, 2016
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Netflix has been doing some really good work these days. I know I would be 100% behind such an idea. Of course, whether or not the current owners of the rights will sell them (and at what price) depends a great deal on how well or how poorly the movie released next year does. If it tanks, they would likely be willing to sell them. The odds of making another film would be low (and it was hard enough for them to get it done the first time). If it does well, we might as well resign ourselves to never (in our lifetimes) seeing the story version close to the books brought to the screen.

I'm torn. I never want any project to fail. I tend to root for artists even when they are doing things I don't really like. Still, as I know this won't be the journey to the Tower I walked alongside Roland in the books, I can't say I want it to be huge because then I won't live to see literary version brought to life.
Couldn't agree more. But this one time, I kind of want it to fail - if that would mean we'd get a shot at a series instead. It's so frustrating! This last few years have really showed us the true potential of (say) Netflix/Hulu etc (just take a look at "Daredevil"), and I'm sure this would be the right format for TDT. To be able to take it slow, build it up as they go and stay true to the source. Man, I would totally invest money in such a show ...
 
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You are assuming that a series would adapt the book as it was written. There's no guarantee that would happen either. Unless things have changed recently, there are still plans for a TV series (I don't know what network that is as there have been at least two discussed previously) to continue from where the movie leaves off. I'll need to confirm if that's still the case, though, as things can change on a dime with film productions.