I wont go see the DT movie because...

[Kapo]

...I refuse to let Hollywood corrupt the characters that the book has created in my mind.

Same reason I wont watch the Jack Reacher movie(s). You think for a moment while reading the series I pictured Reacher looking like Tom Cruise? lol...not even close....

So, what's your reason?

*Personal note for Mr. King....
Since it looks like the movie will become a reality I would like to try to help you out here. From the very first moment I heard Oliver Wood perform the song "Luckiest Man" I just knew that somehow it had ties to Roland Deschain. Since you are a musician yourself, please take a listen. I'm sure you too will hear the connection. This song belongs in your movie!

Be assured I have no affiliation with Oliver Wood, his band or his music. I just know a good tune when I hear it and have been a fan of this very talented man for many, many years*

 

[doowopgirl]

I have to agree with you. One of the reasons I disliked the mini series of The Stand is that the casting was millions of miles from what I had in my head and I'd like to keep the pictures I have.

 

[carrie's younger brother]

Because I haven't seen most of the SK book to movie adaptations. Just not my thing.
Because I rarely go the movies anymore.
Because the last SK adaptation I gave into was Under the Dome and I am still emotionally scarred by it.

Enough said.

 

[not_nadine]

Heys! Thanks for trying to help out Sai King!

Welcome to the boards.

 

[GNTLGNT]

...Hi Kapo...

 

[Spideyman]

You still have the books- the true journey . The books are and always will be--- take the journey again and enjoy.

 

[chief4db]

Lee child said something once that changed my mind. I always would hate the movies bc 95% of the time they wreck it. He said he went over to his book shelf and something amazing happened. The book was still there. With all the pages. So now I go and see them but with an open mind. Even dark tower. With my favorite of the 4 I have read so far dt2 has been my favorite. But with roland being black I guess they will either have to change the book or omit it completely. Roland whole relationship with detta walker is based on racism. Well guess that's out the window. Usually I would forego, even just a few months ago. But now after hearing child speak about it I have had a change of heart

 

[Kapo]

Yes! A support group! Lol....thank you...

Over the years I have read the books 3 or 4 times. I've listened to the audio books countless times and will continue to do so. So i have a lot of time invested in the "movie" that plays in my mind's eye. MY characters have evolved, matured and defined themselves perfectly. They meet all my needs and desires in every respect. I will not give them up without a fight! I will not sell them out. I will not surrender them to die in vain.

I wish your movie much success, Mr. King, but its a thinny. I will not be lured in...

 

[carrie's younger brother]

Each reader needs to make a decision: You either give in to the interpretation on the screen and enjoy/judge it solely on its own merits or you don't go see it and just enjoy the books (which is what I have done with about 75% of the SK book-into-movie adaptations). No one is ever going to make an adaptation that makes everyone happy.

 

[Saigrim]

Yes! A support group! Lol....thank you...

Over the years I have read the books 3 or 4 times. I've listened to the audio books countless times and will continue to do so. So i have a lot of time invested in the "movie" that plays in my mind's eye. MY characters have evolved, matured and defined themselves perfectly. They meet all my needs and desires in every respect. I will not give them up without a fight! I will not sell them out. I will not surrender them to die in vain.

I wish your movie much success, Mr. King, but its a thinny. I will not be lured in...

I could not have said it any better. You sound just like me. I wrote this whole movie off some time ago, and have come to peace with the fact that this is not The Dark Tower I know and love. Just a Hollywood rendition of a masterpiece, that has been gutted and reworked to hopefully appeal to the mass market. I had to laugh at some posts awhile back that said this was being done to garner a larger market aside from just the fans. Then everyone gets excited about this being the final journey where Roland gets it right. See, that's the funny part. Anyone without any frame of reference couldn't give a pinch of owl sh!t in a high wind storm about any final journey. So I stand my ground that this will just leave people scratching their heads, wondering what the hell they just watched.

All I can do at this point is keep reminding the friends and family who know how much I love this story that this is not, in any way, Stephen King's The Dark Tower. Why can't I just be excited about whatever it is they are concocting? Well, Walter said it best.

I can't go for that. No. No can do.

 

[mal]

I will not pay to see the Dark Tower movie because...it is obviously written by that other Stephen King on the Amazon.

 

[Cheffie1983]

I don't think I can bring myself to watch it. The books are so masterful, so passionate. The stories, the side stories, and the linking of other worlds from other books into 1 is astounding!!! Unless they make this into a 7 part movie, much like Star Wars, I can't. They won't stick to the book...everything is an "adaptation" of his books. I wish once...just once...they would stick to the books. Bag of bones was the closest I've seen.

 

[Robert Gray]

It suffices to say that I've zero interest in it. The only caveat being that if the reviews come back amazing and people on this site whom I trust tell me I'm missing out.... well I suppose I'd consider it then. The problem with movie adaptations of books is that they will ALWAYS be judged by the source material. In that vein, it is impossible for this movie to come up anything but wanting. I'm a strange duck when it comes to adapting books to film. My general rule is:

Only do bad or mediocre books that failed to deliver on a decent idea. In this case, the movie/television can be as good or better. Take the "Dexter" series from Showtime (ignoring the final season) as an example. The books upon which that series was based are awful, i.e. the worst kind of garbage possible. It was an interesting idea, but wretched beyond that. The series had nowhere to go but up. It was, on the whole, great television. This same logic applies to remakes of films. Don't try to remake great films. It is silly. Remake the bad movies that didn't get it right the first time. An example of this would be the wretched film from the 70s, i.e. "Last House on the Left." The remake is brilliant. The original was just trash. Adaptations/remakes aren't compliments or an homage. They are crass attempts to cash in on the success of others. If you truly respect and want to honor the source material, make a film which is true to the source material. It can be done. We have seen it.

Let's face it, there isn't a lot of excitement for this movie. We are at ground zero for Stephen King fans and most of these threads are pretty quiet. As fans of the author, we want the film to be good and we don't want to be negative. As fans we are mostly unhappy with the clear course being taken. Even those people who are putting on the happy face and doing a Julie Andrews impression deep down would like to see story from the books done first. They are just adapting to the adaptation faster than the rest of us. So, for the most part, we don't say much about it at all. I know I throttle back simply to avoid being a Debbie Downer. Every now and then I fail (like today) to keep it inside. I hope the film is good, even if I don't believe it will be. Good or bad, what I will be waiting for is another movie to be made in my lifetime which is the story I know and recognize.

 

[AnnaMarie]

Same reason I wont watch the Jack Reacher movie(s). You think for a moment while reading the series I pictured Reacher looking like Tom Cruise? lol...not even close....

I didn't really love The Killing Floor. But I did love talking with my son about the movie, thought neither of us has even seen it. He loves talking about the camera tricks in Cruise's movies.

 

[AnnaMarie]

I should say....I call them camera tricks....he doesn't.

 

[danie]

putting on the happy face and doing a Julie Andrews impression

Perfect.

 

[AndPoundFoolish]

I am extremely excited and so are all my SK fan friends. But I'm also a fan of Star Wars and Star Trek so I'm used to the niche groups inside the fandom that dislikes certain things. Books to movie adaptations are always a struggle because a movie can never be as grand and lush as it is in our own minds.

But that's never stopped me from watching another version of the story I love. Tho I thoroughly understand those that are unable to see another version of the tail they hold sacred.

I've just stated this in another thread, regarding the Susanneh and Roland race issue with Idris Elba cast:

I don't see that as a problem at all. Detta/Odetta didn't see things as they were, she saw them as she thought they were. She could easily see Roland as white and she could easily behave in exactly the same manner. Because it was never actually about Roland, it was always about herself. I don't see there being a need to change anything. I see this as being very simple.

 

[OldDarth]

Great thread for posterity's sake to check out come next February when the movie is released.

 

[jt0565]

But who is Detta gonna call a honk mahfah? Jake? I will miss that particular bit of racism from the books that can't be replicated with this casting change. Like it or not there are huge racial differences being explored at the forefront of the early books that can not be replicated by this casting choice.

I love Idris Elba and the fact that this is a sequel to the books. I don't like the fact it is being billed as Stephen King's The Gunslinger because it is anything but.

 

[OldDarth]

It is but another level of the tower.