The Dark Tower Movies - Characters and Thoughts

I’ve finished reading The Gunslinger and am about a quarter ways into The Drawing of the Three. One of the great things about reading through The Dark Tower series this go around is reflecting on how certain aspects of the novels will translate into the movies. Out of nowhere, I’ve been inclined to write about some of my thoughts and speculate about certain aspects of the production. These are things that many of us Dark Tower fans are wondering and I’m sure that Ron Howard and his crew are in the midst of working on as we wait.

One of the first and most important questions that came to mind is how will The Dark Tower films be rated? The way the books read, there is no doubt that they should be R-rated. This will, however, keep the Dark Tower out of the mainstream and prevent the series from making the money it could with a PG-13 rating. I, as a fan of the novels, want to see the films be as true to the books as possible, but I am also a realist, aware that this will be a business decision. I personally think that the best compromise has to do with the fact that we are living in the age of Blu-ray. Perhaps release the films in theaters to a broad based audience with a PG-13 rating while satisfying the die-hard fans with a true to form, unedited version on Blu-ray.

As of now, we know that Javier Bardem has been offered the part as The Gunslinger, but what about the supporting cast? For Jake, I can see some young, unknown actor getting the big break of his life. The question is will this actor end up like Jake Lloyd (Anakin Skywalker from Phantom Menace), or will his film career blossom like it did for Haley Joel Osment after “The Sixth Sense”? The advantage the actor playing Jake will have, is that he will be there throughout the whole Dark Tower series, whereas Jake Lloyd only got to star in one movie.

I’ve read about the actors that were rumored to play Roland before Javier Bardem was offered the part and the one that comes to my mind as the most interesting was Viggo Mortensen. However, my interest in Mortensen is not for the role as The Gunslinger, but the man in black. He fits the narrative well; “In a way the face that the hood had hidden was an uneasy disappointment. It was handsome and regular, with none of the marks and twists that indicate a man who has been trough awesome times and has been privy to great secrets”.  I can see Viggo Mortensen as Marten and I can see him as Walter O’dim as he seduces Allie in the town of Tull. To me, it just looks right.

As for Eddie Dean and Susannah (Odetta Holmes, Detta Walker), I have no unearthly idea who would be good for those parts. I’ll have to reflect on that a little more and offer my speculation after I read further.

My final thought of this post has to do with one of my favorite horrors from the whole Dark Tower series, the monstrous lobsters (the lobstrosities) “Dum-a-Chum? Dad-a-Cham? Dod-a-Chock?”. Since I’m just past the beginning of The Drawing of the Three, these creatures are fresh on my mind. I can’t wait the see these buggers on the big screen tear into our hero and then assume “The Honor Stance” before getting rushed by a wave. Hopefully, the guy who draws the lobstrosities up has a sick and twisted imagination.

The Dark Tower Movies and The Wind Through The Keyhole

This is my first official post in my Dark Tower Movies and The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole portion of my blog. I thought about making separate news posts about what is already known of The Dark Tower movies (i.e. the director, and actor) and pre-dating them. I decided against that because that would be phony and I want everything about my blog to be as organic as possible. Truth be told, I just recently, a few weeks ago to be exact, started to follow the news about The Dark Tower movies. I really had no idea that there were Dark Tower movies being made and I happened to stumble across the information while doing research for my other blog, Haunting and Creepy Songs. It has been years since I read The Dark Tower series I through VII and I knew at some point there would be a movie about the series, and now the time has come.

I've always been a huge fan of Stephen King and have read almost all of his books, and seen almost all the movies based on his books. The Dark Tower, however, has always been my favorite of his stories. Those books had a profound effect on my life as I read through them years ago. I was ecstatic to find out that there are movies being made about The Dark Tower series and, now, a new book, The Wind Through the Keyhole, being written. Within the last week, I created a blog and have begun the journey once again by reading The Gunslinger, on which I've already summarized and reviewed. In this initial post, I'll briefly go over my thoughts on the movies and series productions, and the new Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole. As time progresses I'll look for future news releases on The Dark Tower and write new posts to this blog as they come out.

As for the movie production we know that Ron Howard is the director and it seems that he is ready to take on what will be the challenge of a lifetime. In order for the movies to be a success, he will have to live and relive the stories to get it right. This is much larger than The Lord of the Rings to be sure, but I think Ron Howard's years in the movie industry will be the difference in making this whole production a success. The target release for the first movie is 2013 which is more than enough time to get everything in order.

The choice of Javier Bardem to fill the role of Roland Deschain seems to be solid. He looks the part of The Gunslinger and has won an Oscar for his part in the movie "No Country for Old Men", which is set in a desolate western setting. They will have to do something about his brown eyes, since Roland has hauntingly blue eyes. I hope they don't write that out of the script and either use special effects or contacts to keep that key element in the story.

The new book, The Wind Through the Keyhole, according to Stephen King is already completed. It has yet to be published, but it's expected to be out by next year. The story is a return to Mid-World between the end of The Wizard and the Glass and beginning of Wolves of the Calla. It can't really be labeled as The Dark Tower VIII, but is more like DT 4.5. As I recall, I vaguely remember there being a stretch of time between those two stories that seemed to be missing, however, I haven't gotten that far in my recent read through to know for sure. When I read past that point in the story, I'll be able to further comment on this new addition. To hear that The Wind Through the Keyhole is going to have a swamp full of horrors is certainly enticing. Nothing is beyond belief when it comes to the mind of Stephen King.