The ONLY Casting For Roland That Makes Sense...

[kingricefan]

Is it just me or does anyone else want to see

Spoiler

the fifth movie just to see the part where Roland dances to an enthralled audience? Lol.

plus...it will be expensive to film

Spoiler

Roland's maimed hand after the Lobstrosity attack

If these are successful films and the entire series is eventually filmed, what do you anticipate the most? So many possibilities.

All they gotta do to film the missing fingers on the hand is tape up the fingers they want gone with green tape. They made Gary Sinise's legs disappear in Forrest Gump by having him wear green pants and then CGI'd them out of the frame. Same can be done with fingers from a hand.

 

[Doc Creed]

All they gotta do to film the missing fingers on the hand is tape up the fingers they want gone with green tape. They made Gary Sinise's legs disappear in Forrest Gump by having him wear green pants and then CGI'd them out of the frame. Same can be done with fingers from a hand.

Didn't know that. Well played, kingricefan!

 

[skimom2]

I honestly don't think it's a filmable story, not and get it 'right', unless someone with passion approaches it. The only reason LoTR worked was that Jackson knows the story inside and out, and was passionate about getting the story right. Because he knew the story so well, he knew what he could cut and what he couldn't, had time to thoroughly develop the project, and he achieved maximum effect with three movies. Contrast that with The Hobbit, where he jumped in late in the game and didn't have time to personally develop the project. Plus, he was strong-armed into dragging one book into three movies. In my opinion, the movies are barely passable because of that. None of the people they've talked about attached to Roland's world so far, on the development end, seem to have any real feeling for Roland and his world--they seem to just want to prove they can do it, and make bucks off Mr. King's name.

Just my opinion

 

[kingricefan]

I honestly don't think it's a filmable story, not and get it 'right', unless someone with passion approaches it. The only reason LoTR worked was that Jackson knows the story inside and out, and was passionate about getting the story right. Because he knew the story so well, he knew what he could cut and what he couldn't, had time to thoroughly develop the project, and he achieved maximum effect with three movies. Contrast that with The Hobbit, where he jumped in late in the game and didn't have time to personally develop the project. Plus, he was strong-armed into dragging one book into three movies. In my opinion, the movies are barely passable because of that. None of the people they've talked about attached to Roland's world so far, on the development end, seem to have any real feeling for Roland and his world--they seem to just want to prove they can do it, and make bucks off Mr. King's name.

Just my opinion

JJ Abrams knows and loves the story and he should be the one to film it. Hopefully, now that he has attained uber-power (such as james Cameron has) in Hollywood for directing the biggest grossing movie in history-Star Wars, he will be the one to do this series.

 

[Robert Gray]

I think Anna Gunn would make an excellent Allie. She has the looks and the acting chops.

 

[AnnaMarie]

He has been mentioned before but that's probably buried in with all the other casting suggestions. I passed his name as well as the others who have been mentioned most often by fans along to the producers when they asked if names had been suggested and what others thought, for or against.

And they ignored it all and said he...Idris Elba is the spitting image of Roland as described in the book.....

 

[GNTLGNT]

Never, oh great giant of the board

 

[mjs9153]

When I saw the name Anson,I thought it might be Anson Williams,that is the only time I ever saw that name before..Potsie probably wouldn't have been a good gunslinger..

 

[GNTLGNT]

When I saw the name Anson,I thought it might be Anson Williams,that is the only time I ever saw that name before..Potsie probably wouldn't have been a good gunslinger..

...Sheb maybe....

 

[prufrock21]

Is considering Leonardo DiCaprio stretching it? Just a thought.

 

[Robert Gray]

Is considering Leonardo DiCaprio stretching it? Just a thought.
View attachment 14159

Perhaps only for the Big Coffin Hunter that was described as a bit of a slime/ladies man. All in all, I'm against too many actors with this kind of baggage coming in. If you are going to have big names like DiCaprio, they should play supporting parts and against their normal type. It lends power to the performance without taking away. Think of it like when Tom Cruise came in almost unrecognizable in Tropic of Thunder to play a serious jerk. There are actors and there are movie stars. You may ask me what the difference is... and I can describe it best as....

If you think of the actor's name first from a movie, being able to remember that more than the character they portrayed, it is a movie star.
If you think of the character, defined in the part first and have to concentrate to remember the performer's name, that is an actor.

To illustrate this clearly, when you think of Silence of the Lambs, you think of the character Hannibal Lector first. There is no hesitation. When you think of Star Trek the Next Generation you think of Captain Picard first. In both cases you can pull up the actor's name, but it is the character they portrayed that leaves the mark. It is a hallmark of their talent. By contrast, movie stars (and I'm not saying they can't act) are still defined by the actor rather than the part... see below.

To illustrate the movie star effect, think of the first Predator movie. The name that comes to mind of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Some of you won't even be able (many of you I'll bet) to remember the name of his character in the film. To be fair, movie stars can be great actors. I'm not saying they can't. What I'm saying is that the baggage they bring with them is themselves. It pulls you out of the immersion. You have a hard time seeing the character beyond them. They are always that movie star first. Even in great films like Gangs of New York, the movie star effect can apply. I'll bet you remember DiCaprio first before the name of the character he played. I think The Dark Tower would be better served by talented unknown actors or simply great actors.

 

[M_Parabola]

Man so many different ideas for Roland, although if you look at them close enough they all sort of look the same. So the casting director has a lot of viable options to work with, it will all depend on the actors themselves. Whether or not they agree to the project, whether or not they are even available for shooting (if they are filming different projects), and all other aspects of business. Say everyone collectively decides they want Viggo to be Roland, but Viggo makes a public statement saying he has no interest in being Roland, then they move along down the line of casting subjects. Say they offer it to Di'Caprio, but cannot offer him enough money for the role OR he's too busy filming other films to participate, again they must run through the list.

Which still makes Mount a viable option because he's currently available, would not request an inordinately large paycheck, and would probably express interest in the role if given the opportunity. There is a lot more that goes into making a casting decision than capability, compatibility, and likability. So many factors can affect the casting of a role, especially in a movie so up in the air as Dark Tower. A film that has been intended to be a film for years now, has run down the list of directors over and over again before settling on one. What if an actor dislikes the director and refuses the role because they do not want to work with them? Or what if they look at the script and their agent decides it's not suitable for their client and encourages the actor to pass?

Etc, etc, etc. I do like all the suggestions made, and I'm actually working on a fan-made teaser trailer for the movie with some of the casting suggestions on this list. It'd be interesting to have it wrapped up nice and tight and showed to the casting director to encourage them not to make a huge casting mistake. Which looking at their choice for Roland right now, universally the Dark Tower fanbase is in agreement that would be a casting mistake. It just does not work the way they see it in their minds, I can understand why they might have thought that way, but Idris Elba is simply no Roland.

Anson Mount, Viggo, Di'Caprio, sheesh ANYONE OF THESE MEN would be suitable. All suggestions in this thread work so much better, probably because everyone here has such a love for the books (at least I do) and has come to know each and every character in the series personally. If you feel like you know Roland, and you see him in your head, then see them picking a person who is the polar opposite it incites backlash. A studio does not want backlash because backlash means low box office, so I'm hoping they'll see these things through logically and pick a cast that will encourage fans to see the film rather than drive them away from it.

 

[prufrock21]

I agree that there are many variables that go into casting. For a role as iconic as Roland, I would expect a casting director to exercise a stricter standard. I would expect a casting director to consider an actor who is competent, whether famous or not, dedicated, available, committed, and above all, willing to stay for the haul.
Since the Dark Tower will be more than one movie, how many actors, famous or not, would be willing to involve themselves with a project that will take years? Not many, I'm sure. Not only the actors, the situation will be the same for others involved in the project as well.

Therefore it has been a mystery to me why Peter Jackson hasn't been approached to consider this project.

 

[M_Parabola]

I agree that there are many variables that go into casting. For a role as iconic as Roland, I would expect a casting director to exercise a stricter standard. I would expect a casting director to consider an actor who is competent, whether famous or not, dedicated, available, committed, and above all, willing to stay for the haul.
Since the Dark Tower will be more than one movie, how many actors, famous or not, would be willing to involve themselves with a project that will take years? Not many, I'm sure. Not only the actors, the situation will be the same for others involved in the project as well.
Therefore it has been a mystery to me why Peter Jackson hasn't been approached to consider this project.

I concur! Someone signed on to play a role is subsequently contracted to that role for years, movies are tedious projects (another reason I think Mount would be good, again he's not doing anything lately nor is he in such high demand as someone like Di'Caprio who might rather do multiple movies rather than contract to one).

I also am confused that Peter Jackson didn't take an interest in adapting the films. I mentioned earlier in the thread having the Dark Tower series approached similarly to how Jackson handled The Lord of the Rings. Either way, my top 3 directors for Dark Tower would be Peter Jackson, Frank Darabount (he's done many other King films), and J.J. Abrams (both King and Abrams are on notoriously good terms).

I also got bored with Photoshop today and created a photo with how I picture the casting in my head. Feel free to disagree it's all subjective and I had nothing better to do. I stuck with my main choice of Mount as Roland, Aaron Paul as Eddie, William Dafoe as Randall Flagg (Walter, Man in Black), Zoe Saldana as Susannah Dean, and went out a bit into left field for Jake Chambers and picked Aiden Flynn. Honestly for Jake I have NO CLUE, but in that photo that's kind of how I pictured him in book 1. Obviously in subsequent books he'll have to grow and age with the series so it's important to not pick a child actor too old for the role, otherwise they'll be far too old by the end of the series.

 

[nate_watkins]

I thought Abrams once had the rights to Dark Tower along with Damon Lindelof, but they backed out saying it was too big a task, and they didn't want to be responsible for messing it up.

 

[M_Parabola]

I thought Abrams once had the rights to Dark Tower along with Damon Lindelof, but they backed out saying it was too big a task, and they didn't want to be responsible for messing it up.

I've heard that too... but Abrams just did STAR WARS. I think if Abrams can do Star Wars and universally be accepted as doing it well he could do Dark Tower lol

 

[kingricefan]

I've heard that too... but Abrams just did STAR WARS. I think if Abrams can do Star Wars and universally be accepted as doing it well he could do Dark Tower lol

Steve sold the rights to the DT story to Abrams for a dollar. Yes, since Abrams is now the Golden Boy of LaLaLand, he's got enough clout to get the DT story on film.

 

[M_Parabola]

I mean Abrams and BadRobot are the ones handling the 11/22/63 mini-series on Hulu. Is it still wrong to wish for a Peter Jackson directed series though? Lol.

 

[kingricefan]

I mean Abrams and BadRobot are the ones handling the 11/22/63 mini-series on Hulu. Is it still wrong to wish for a Peter Jackson directed series though? Lol.

If Jackson has the passion for this series, then yes, he'd get my vote.

 

[Neesy]

View attachment 14152 View attachment 14153 View attachment 14154
These are the guys who could play Roland blindfolded.

I like the last guy (the one with the weird name).