Roland

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SilkySapphire

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Jul 19, 2017
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My rant about this agrees with you, and I think I give a pretty good reason why:

Okay!!! Let Silky's whining commence!- I am a serious fan of Stephen King's works. Almost all of them. (When I read "Cujo" right after reading "Carrie", the first book of his I'd read? I burned "Cujo" in my mother's hibachi and sent the ashes, with an explanatory note, to his editor. "Cujo" was pornography. Took a sweet doggie and made him a slavering killer. BAD IDEA. Beneath someone with SK's talents.) So, yeah, I'm a fan. Have been since I was 16.
But I am a devotee of "The Dark Tower" series. I have been praying for DECADES that SK NEVER sells the rights to ANYONE to make a movie.
Sigh. Seems Stevie K wasn't listening. As usual. Now, there have been some fine and some fantastic, movies made from SK books. None of them were "The Shining" or "Secret Wiindow" or "Dreamcatcher" or "Dark Half" or Creepshow" or "Children of the Corn" (OY!!), or the aforementioned abortion that was "Cujo". And so many others.
The ones they got right? "Stand by Me". "Dolores Claiborne". "Misery". "Shawshank Redemption". "Dead Zone". "Hearts in Atlantis." "The Green Mile". And, by a squeak, "The Mist". (And yes, I'm sure I'm missing some.)
But now.... they have SMASHED 7 books of the Dark Tower series (and, one can only assume, the myriad novelettes like "Wind Through the Keyhole"" into one movie. And Roland Deschain, whom I have grown to admire and, as usual, marvel at King's ability to breathe not only life into a character, but cloak him in a stunningly rich, broad, fascinating, heartbreaking mantle of history. I have grown to love Roland (and Eddie and Susannah and Jake and Oy). And how would I, as a fan, explain Roland to a layman? "Long, tall, ugly and WHITE." Idris Alba (sp?) is, I am sure, a lovely man and a brilliant actor. But... I had a hard time explaining to myself and to the hubs just what my little racist rat brain was saying: was I pissed because a man who is black is playing a character whose physical image I've had lodged in my skull for thousands of days?? I had no answer until today: NO. I said to the hubs, "Here's the thing: You're a huge history buff. What if, after you've studied Churchill for years, you know who he was and what he did, and his perks and grumpiness and stubbornness, he was played in a movie by a 22 year old female Peruvian runway model in a sarong?" He blinked a few times, then said, "Uh.... yeah. I get it now."
And Eddie, Susannah, and Oy? NOT EVEN IN THE CAST LIST. Nor is Mia, AND they have Pimli Prentiss, a 65 year old, hard-case religious nut mama's boy, with a massive, used-to-be muscled stomach gone to riot and is now 50 pounds of flab... played by a 28 year old kid!!
Ucccccccccccccccch!!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand scene.
 

AnnaMarie

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Feb 16, 2012
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It's not different, though. Roland still hasn't completed his initial quest. For the whatever number time, he's headed for the top of the tower AGAIN. Until he reaches the top and blows the horn, the quest he started however many years ago isn't over.

Each quest is slightly different. One step closer. This is an entire new everything.
 

carrie's younger brother

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Mar 8, 2012
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(When I read "Cujo" right after reading "Carrie", the first book of his I'd read? I burned "Cujo" in my mother's hibachi and sent the ashes, with an explanatory note, to his editor. "Cujo" was pornography. Took a sweet doggie and made him a slavering killer. BAD IDEA. Beneath someone with SK's talents.) So, yeah, I'm a fan.
:shock:
 

GNTLGNT

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weavel

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Oct 23, 2012
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Good idea. BTW, these movies are not of the books--they're their own stories. A new shuffle. But you do you.
.....and if you look at Stephen King's website page about the movie.....it's shows all of the books....hmm
Who's fooling who?
Books are always better....too bad this could have been Epic.....do I stay or do I go now?
 

recitador

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Sep 3, 2016
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they have SMASHED 7 books of the Dark Tower series (and, one can only assume, the myriad novelettes like "Wind Through the Keyhole"" into one movie. And Roland Deschain, whom I have grown to admire and, as usual, marvel at King's ability to breathe not only life into a character, but cloak him in a stunningly rich, broad, fascinating, heartbreaking mantle of history. I have grown to love Roland (and Eddie and Susannah and Jake and Oy). And how would I, as a fan, explain Roland to a layman? "Long, tall, ugly and WHITE." Idris Alba (sp?) is, I am sure, a lovely man and a brilliant actor. But... I had a hard time explaining to myself and to the hubs just what my little racist rat brain was saying: was I pissed because a man who is black is playing a character whose physical image I've had lodged in my skull for thousands of days?? I had no answer until today: NO. I said to the hubs, "Here's the thing: You're a huge history buff. What if, after you've studied Churchill for years, you know who he was and what he did, and his perks and grumpiness and stubbornness, he was played in a movie by a 22 year old female Peruvian runway model in a sarong?" He blinked a few times, then said, "Uh.... yeah. I get it now."
And Eddie, Susannah, and Oy? NOT EVEN IN THE CAST LIST. Nor is Mia, AND they have Pimli Prentiss, a 65 year old, hard-case religious nut mama's boy, with a massive, used-to-be muscled stomach gone to riot and is now 50 pounds of flab... played by a 28 year old kid!!
Ucccccccccccccccch!!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand scene.


i'll just pretend the first half of this post didn't happen. as for this . . . they've stated in multiple places they don't plan on this one movie being the whole entire story, with missing characters entirely likely to show up later. and your churchill comparison is a bit ridiculous. they changed the color of rolands skin. one thing about him. same attitude. same talents. same everything else. your example took a political figure and changed literally every aspect of his being and back story. slight difference. considering the whole multiple trips through and every trip is different, your example isn't so much apples and oranges as it is apples and jalapenos.
 

Robert Gray

Well-Known Member
they changed the color of rolands skin. one thing about him. same attitude. same talents. same everything else.

Well that remains to be seen doesn't it? I think the changes, just from what I've seen in trailers and interviews, are rather far reaching. The color of Roland's skin looks to be the least of the changes made to him. Let's go over a few things we know already:

1. Roland isn't hellbent on the Tower anymore. The most defining drive that defined him in the books is gone. He has to be talked into action by the new Jake. Roland's drive, his snapping turtle tenacity, his absolute refusal to give up is fundamental to his makeup in the books. That is not what we have been seeing and hearing about.

2. Roland dresses like a dandy. I'm sorry, but that is what that outfit screams. He looks like a damn Riverboat Gambler armed to the teeth. Roland has always been about substance over style and it is hard to believe his line in the trailer when he says, "there are no more Gunslingers" when he is dressed like that.

3. Roland isn't hunting the Man in Black in the books to kill him or because he thinks of him as being worse than the devil. He is hunting him to achieve his larger goals which deal with the Tower. The film has clearly changed that as well.

I'm not agreeing with the poster you answered. I'm merely commenting on the fact that Roland has utterly changed for this film; he has been entirely rewritten. Idris is a great actor; that doesn't make him right for the part. All that aside, it doesn't matter WHO plays Roland because if they have rewritten his character, who cares about minor things like his skin color? The film will be out in a few days, but I stand behind my original predictions about how it will open. Having seen the score broken up I can see pretty much the entire film laid out. I hope for the best, but I'm expecting the worst.
 

recitador

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Well that remains to be seen doesn't it? I think the changes, just from what I've seen in trailers and interviews, are rather far reaching. The color of Roland's skin looks to be the least of the changes made to him. Let's go over a few things we know already:

1. Roland isn't hellbent on the Tower anymore. The most defining drive that defined him in the books is gone. He has to be talked into action by the new Jake. Roland's drive, his snapping turtle tenacity, his absolute refusal to give up is fundamental to his makeup in the books. That is not what we have been seeing and hearing about.

2. Roland dresses like a dandy. I'm sorry, but that is what that outfit screams. He looks like a damn Riverboat Gambler armed to the teeth. Roland has always been about substance over style and it is hard to believe his line in the trailer when he says, "there are no more Gunslingers" when he is dressed like that.

3. Roland isn't hunting the Man in Black in the books to kill him or because he thinks of him as being worse than the devil. He is hunting him to achieve his larger goals which deal with the Tower. The film has clearly changed that as well.

I'm not agreeing with the poster you answered. I'm merely commenting on the fact that Roland has utterly changed for this film; he has been entirely rewritten. Idris is a great actor; that doesn't make him right for the part. All that aside, it doesn't matter WHO plays Roland because if they have rewritten his character, who cares about minor things like his skin color? The film will be out in a few days, but I stand behind my original predictions about how it will open. Having seen the score broken up I can see pretty much the entire film laid out. I hope for the best, but I'm expecting the worst.

i get you want it to be a word for word adaptation but you're really spinning your wheels at this point about it. it's probably not ever gonna happen. but on this, you're totally ignoring the times that roland did in fact defend the tower. it may have been part of his larger journey, but he does so several times. so just dismissing any action he takes to save the tower is a bit much, without seeing the movie and knowing all the dialogue. does he have to be talked into action or talked into changing his direction at the time? you're naysaying for the sake of naysaying at this point without knowing the details because it's not an exact enough match for you. you've taken a few minutes of footage, and declared he's totally changed. and the things you're basing it on are rather subtle, and most of those things would be hard pressed to convey in a trailer in an interesting way. they're marketing to the whole world, not just hardcore fans of the dark tower.

you haven't seen the whole movie, so none of what you listed is something you *know*, it's something you're assuming, without access to all the dialogue or the whole story. well, the second thing isn't something you know in either case, it's just your opinion. maybe you're right on some of it, but it sure would be nice if people would stop freaking out about it until the movie actually comes out. far as my opinion goes, any declaration of it as crap or declarations of how the story is going to go by someone who hasn't seen it (which is pretty much everyone at this point) is invalid. don't put the cart before the horse and all that.
 
Feb 4, 2017
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I have no problem with Roland being black......as long as the film is decent. A lot of people are nitpicking the movie by complaining about the lack of Eddie or Susannah. They were not in the first book so I don't expect them to be in the first movie.

I'm patiently awaiting the reviews to come in and if RT gives DT 65% or above, I will be in the theaters Friday. I have low expectations for the film because Sony is one of the worst studios and most of their movies suck. To quote a certain gunslinger....."they have forgotten the face of their father"