EW: Unlocking the film version of Stephen King's The Dark Tower

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Bev Vincent

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Dark Tower EW Cover: Stephen King adaptation gets first look | EW.com

13700013_10154420716904701_1868479378971257519_n.jpg
 

OldDarth

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This is fantastic! Great to see EW behind this and the other King projects. The Dark Tower movie getting the EW ComicCon cover is a big feather in their cap. Awesome that staff writer Anthony Breznican is a huge King fan.

Fav Elba quote from the article - "It's an iconic character. I want to get it right."
 

cat in a bag

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Based on those two articles, it sounds like the core story is there. I am getting more excited about this than I was at first. I am loving the pictures. Elba doesn't look too bad, really, as Roland. The more I see, the more I believe it. And I am glad he said he wanted to get it right.

I also wasn't sure about MM as Walter, but he sounds like he is having such fun playing a bad guy, and the pics of him are great, too.

I don't know, this may turn out A-OK!
 

Anduan Pirate Princess

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Just saw this on Facebook. I have to say, they look great on this cover! Now it all feels real, and I think I can get into it. One thing, though. Did anyone catch that bullet point saying that Roland has "forgotten the face of his father" as he pursues the Man in Black? Ummm, no. That whole sentence feels wrong. I know they're just probably trying to introduce as much of King's DT speak as possible to the public, but...unless I'm wrong; then feel free to smack me and tell me what I'm forgetting!
 

Bev Vincent

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Just saw this on Facebook. I have to say, they look great on this cover! Now it all feels real, and I think I can get into it. One thing, though. Did anyone catch that bullet point saying that Roland has "forgotten the face of his father" as he pursues the Man in Black? Ummm, no. That whole sentence feels wrong. I know they're just probably trying to introduce as much of King's DT speak as possible to the public, but...unless I'm wrong; then feel free to smack me and tell me what I'm forgetting!

I think Roland has forgotten the face of his father by the beginning of The Gunslinger. What he does to Jake (in the book)? He's gone down a very dark and narrow path.
 

Anduan Pirate Princess

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I think Roland has forgotten the face of his father by the beginning of The Gunslinger. What he does to Jake (in the book)? He's gone down a very dark and narrow path.
Yeah, you're right. I guess that's probably what they mean. My initial reaction was just, WHAT? Roland NEVER forgets the face of his father! He's the one who tells everyone else not to, lol!
 

TheOneTC

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This one has some spoilers -- I'm trying to remove the hyperlink title!

What the film changes (and keeps) from Stephen King's books

From this article...

By the end of the books, Roland has come into possession of an artifact known as the Horn of Eld, and blowing it is like hitting a cosmic reset button. Every time Roland does this and starts the quest over again, it changes in big and small ways.

Has the author of this article really read the story?
 

Robert Gray

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Based on those two articles, it sounds like the core story is there. I am getting more excited about this than I was at first. I am loving the pictures. Elba doesn't look too bad, really, as Roland. The more I see, the more I believe it. And I am glad he said he wanted to get it right.

I also wasn't sure about MM as Walter, but he sounds like he is having such fun playing a bad guy, and the pics of him are great, too.

I don't know, this may turn out A-OK!

It does? Did we read the same article?
 

Robert Gray

Well-Known Member
Sigh. Why are people always asking me if I really read things when I offer my opinion?

It is just my opinion. That is all. Agree or disagree as you please. But I do not enjoy being called out like I did not comprehend what I just read.

I wasn't calling you out. I simply asked because I suspect there must be more than one article on this and my reading of the EW one leads me to the entirely opposite point of view. If I was being snide or snarky I would have put a smiley face on the end. I didn't because it was a serious question. Since we did read the same article, that is now established, I'd like to know what you think the core story is in the Dark Tower series that is translating to the film (at least as far as that article indicates)?

I'll be happy to point out the divergences which I don't think are minor and fundamentally alter the story.

1) The Man in Black is a pervasive undefined threat. He isn't the star of the show in the books. He is the shark from Jaws, getting an ominous scene here and there with just enough teeth or shadow in the water to make him into legend. The Man in Black is context. The story is Roland and Roland's companions. In this film it is clear he is going to get equal (if not greater) screen time to the others. That isn't the story. That is Hollywood. Moreover, the Man in Black hates Roland for many IMPORTANT reasons. The actor's reinterpretation of the magician aside, it is a fundamental change in things which would take pages and pages to cover properly.

2) In the film, Jake is being given the "Excalibur" treatment, i.e. the normal boy whose importance is suddenly the key to the battle between good and evil. In the books, he is a useful for a petty revenge and trap to try and kill the Gunslinger. If Jake was just the tool the Man in Black needed he would have just whisked him off to join the other Breakers rather than making sure he died and got put in the Gunslinger's path. These are fundamentally different motivations and context for Jake.

I'm going to stop with just those two, but I could go on. My interest is what you see as the core story because it clearly is very different from mine.
 
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cat in a bag

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The core story to me is that Roland is on a quest to defend and save the Dark Tower, the nexus of all the "other worlds" line we are all so fond of. He meets and finds and loses members of his Ka-Tet along the way, and learns things about himself as well.

We know this will not be a faithful adaptation. But that "core" is still there. Is there more to the story than that? Of course.

This adaptation is what we are getting, though. I was simply saying that it doesn't sound like it will be completely unrecognizable to the Constant Reader.

Again, just my opinion.
 

GNTLGNT

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It does? Did we read the same article?
....usually, I concur and support your opinions and convictions-but this comment was wholly inappropriate and you owe her an apology....you should NEVER infer that one's opinion-because it doesn't reflect yours-is somehow intellectually retarded....and putting a smiley face at the end, would not have made it all better....
 

cat in a bag

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....usually, I concur and support your opinions and convictions-but this comment was wholly inappropriate and you owe her an apology....you should NEVER infer that one's opinion-because it doesn't reflect yours-is somehow intellectually retarded....and putting a smiley face at the end, would not have made it all better....
Thank you for that but no apology is necessary, it's all good. I am not feeling well and worried about a bunch of real life stuff and I was being too touchy. I apologize for that.