If you think King is in anyway some kind of great writer, you are not very educated. King is like a mediocre baseball player: he bats right around 250, which is good enough to stay in the majors and get paid, but not nearly enough to ever be in the hall of fame.
Stephen King's The Dark Tower
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I don't think he's an amazing writer but he has a number of damn good books. Not a fan of some of his work. Most of it I liked but wasn't blown away. A few stories I do love however. The Running Man, The Long Walk, Wizard and the Glass, and most of the stories in Everything's Eventual are outstanding. He builds a great world and I like his longer books they just aren't always that focused and it makes for a mediocre read. I shudder to think what some of his books like IT must have looked like before an editor got a hold of them.
Chukzombi
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before It came out he did a Playboy interview and he said that it was around 3000 pages rough draft.
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BrutulTM
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Stringer Bell as Roland? That's not exactly how I pictured him, but it could work. Him being black might change his relationship with Susannah in the earlier books since she won't be able to call him honkey all the time.
I think this movie has zero chance of being very good, but it seems like they are attracting some pretty good actors at least.
I think this movie has zero chance of being very good, but it seems like they are attracting some pretty good actors at least.
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Shouldn't they be casting a black guy to play Roland for the reboot of the series five years after the first iteration comes out? I feel like hollywood is getting lazy and skipping a step here.
Seriously, though, I like Idris Elba, but this just seems like a poor decision. Is it possible they're considering this to avoid the whole Detta "honky mufa" portions because it's safer with all the SJW bullshit flying around? I guess if you didn't give two shits about staying true to the source material you could rewrite things to make it work, but it just feels like a massive red flag to the whole project. Guess any hope I had for the series is dead if they're even considering to go this route.
Edit:
Maybe hollywood felt there wasn't enough magical black people in the story like most of King's other stuff, so why not make Roland magically black....
Seriously, though, I like Idris Elba, but this just seems like a poor decision. Is it possible they're considering this to avoid the whole Detta "honky mufa" portions because it's safer with all the SJW bullshit flying around? I guess if you didn't give two shits about staying true to the source material you could rewrite things to make it work, but it just feels like a massive red flag to the whole project. Guess any hope I had for the series is dead if they're even considering to go this route.
Edit:
Maybe hollywood felt there wasn't enough magical black people in the story like most of King's other stuff, so why not make Roland magically black....
Frenzied Wombat
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Idris Elba as Roland? WTF? I always imagined Roland as a Clint Eastwood type, that's at least how they describe him in the books. Besides the fact that Roland wasn't black, he wasn't described in any way that resembles Idris.. I don't get it..
bixxby
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BrutulTM
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Yeah, he plays a strong but silent badass very well. I can see him as Clint Eastwood no problem (and Stephen King has admitted that Roland is basically his version of a "man with no name" Clint Eastwood character.) The only real complication I see is that race plays a significant part in his relationship with Susannah but that part probably isn't crucial to the story.
Eomer
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heh, there is no fucking way that Detta isn't either completely wiped out from the story entirely, or massively altered. Not a chance in hell she remains as written in the books. And honestly, King DID have a bad habit of over using the magical negro trope. The Stand, Shining, Green Mile, The Talisman and The Dark Tower all have various versions of it. I personally don't give a shit and have enjoyed all of those, but in today's day and age it's not surprising that they have to be a lot more careful about that kind of thing.
Come to think of it, he had magical retards pretty often, too. The Stand even had two, with Trashcan Man and Tom Cullen.
Come to think of it, he had magical retards pretty often, too. The Stand even had two, with Trashcan Man and Tom Cullen.
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Chukzombi
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uh no, forget that Elba is black. he is fat as fuck for the role. the gunslinger is a lanky almost starving man, going on sheer will alone. Elba is also too fucking old, like by at least 15 years. Hugh Jackman could probably do a better job of it even though even he might be too old and a little too fat. I would like to see Elba in the movie, but maybe as roland's old teacher, Cort.
detta will never be like she was in the book, not too many actresses willing to finger themselves while they steal and break forspecial blue plates.
i think mconnaghey could make a great randall flagg, he has the right body type and the right amount of crazy.
The Rock could be a cool Ticktock man
Eddie? not sure, maybe once upon a time ewan mcgregor, or christian bale, but both are passed their prime. plus they would be too on the nose. its gotta be somebody young enough and scrawny enough to believe they are a junkie, but they also need to look like somebody you wouldnt want to fuck with.
detta will never be like she was in the book, not too many actresses willing to finger themselves while they steal and break forspecial blue plates.
i think mconnaghey could make a great randall flagg, he has the right body type and the right amount of crazy.
The Rock could be a cool Ticktock man
Eddie? not sure, maybe once upon a time ewan mcgregor, or christian bale, but both are passed their prime. plus they would be too on the nose. its gotta be somebody young enough and scrawny enough to believe they are a junkie, but they also need to look like somebody you wouldnt want to fuck with.
Chukzombi
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i'm not saying he is fat, but he would have to lose weight.
dude is too "healthy".
roland is not like that.
The Gunslinger is not black. Hollywood has to fuck everything up. It's bad enough the new Star Wars movie was made PC by having a chick and a black guy as its protagonists. How about Hollywood makes a movie about Martin Luther King, played by Keanu Reeves?
Chukzombi
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a black roland makes no goddamned sense in regards to the story in the book. detta would look silly calling idris elba a white mofo. so basically its confirmation that they will skip the book detta and probably give us a tough light skin black girl(zoe saldana!???) who is more bi polar than symbiotic (i hope i used that word correctly). it will look even sillier when the two will see each other, split up and start blasting lobstrosities on the beach. hopefully King will step off his white guilt high horse and put his fucking foot down and say, "you will fuck up a lot of shit if you change this character from white to black. sure, its a nice gesture and will pull in the "urban market", but the movie will have little resemblance to the mechanics of later film adaptations of the other DT novels. so cut the shit and let Roland be white like intended"
i understand the politics of diversity these days, you cant have an all white cast, with the one black character as a violent, vulgar kleptomaniac with mental problems. thats typical king, he doesnt know how to write realistic black people and its understandable because he lives in a whitebread community all his life. with that in mind, in order for this movie to work, you need a hard as nails desperate white character like roland, a strung out white junkie with a hard edge and cunning intellect, you need a darkskinned black woman (i know hollywood hates them) who has 2 sperate entities living in one body. one a sweet intelligent civil rights oriented rich woman and then you have a cunning ,hard as nails, rough talking savage who only wants to murder everyone and every thing. also lets not leave out jake who will probably be the hardest actor to cast for the role. he has to be young, but mature beyond his years and not act like whiny little faggot, because he too is tough as nails, he has to believably be able to complete the dangerous tasks he will need to do.
there is a reason why nobody wants to make this movie, because it will be so easy to fuck up one thing which could lead to everything else getting fucked up beyond all repair. or maybe they could just give it to george miller and film the whole thing in australia with a bunch of unknown aussie actors.
i understand the politics of diversity these days, you cant have an all white cast, with the one black character as a violent, vulgar kleptomaniac with mental problems. thats typical king, he doesnt know how to write realistic black people and its understandable because he lives in a whitebread community all his life. with that in mind, in order for this movie to work, you need a hard as nails desperate white character like roland, a strung out white junkie with a hard edge and cunning intellect, you need a darkskinned black woman (i know hollywood hates them) who has 2 sperate entities living in one body. one a sweet intelligent civil rights oriented rich woman and then you have a cunning ,hard as nails, rough talking savage who only wants to murder everyone and every thing. also lets not leave out jake who will probably be the hardest actor to cast for the role. he has to be young, but mature beyond his years and not act like whiny little faggot, because he too is tough as nails, he has to believably be able to complete the dangerous tasks he will need to do.
there is a reason why nobody wants to make this movie, because it will be so easy to fuck up one thing which could lead to everything else getting fucked up beyond all repair. or maybe they could just give it to george miller and film the whole thing in australia with a bunch of unknown aussie actors.