The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed. And now, we know who they are.
Stephen King fans have been waiting a long time for a film adaptation of his critically-acclaimed Dark Tower series, which is considered by many as his magnus opus. Circling around filmmakers such as J.J. Abrams and Ron Howard, The Dark Tower has been stuck in development hell since 2007.
Now, not only do we have a release date: we also have our gunslinger and our man in black.
British actor Idris Elba (Pacific Rim, Beasts of No Nation) has been cast as Roland Deschain, the lonely gunslinger who treks through the land in pursuit of Randall Flagg, a twisted man who forces Deschain into a terrible fate. Actor Matthew McConaughey has been cast as Flagg, who previously won an Academy Award for portraying HIV victim Ron Woodroof in the 2013 picture Dallas Buyers Club.
This is big news for Dark Tower fans. We’ve had casting announcements for this project before, including a time when Russel Crowe was set to portray Deschain. All of those plans fell through though. This announcement, along with the movie’s upcoming release date, shows that the project is making legitimate progress. Stephen King fans may finally have their Dark Tower movie.
However, King did make a statement that the movie would not start with his entry novel, The Gunslinger. Rather, it would start at mid-point somewhere in his complex series, and while King thinks this might upset some fans a little bit, they’ll get behind it, because it is the story he intended.
What do you think? Are you excited that Elba and McConaughey are on-board for this science-fiction western epic? Sound your thoughts off below. The first Dark Tower film is due for release in January 2017.
– David Dunn
SOURCE: Cinemablend, Entertainment Weekly
DAVID DUNN 