First Trailer for The Dark Tower Film Teases the Battle Between the Gunslinger and the Man in Black

[ffronw]

First Trailer for The Dark Tower Film Teases the Battle Between the Gunslinger and the Man in Black

The first trailer for the film adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower has arrived.

There's been work going on a film adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series in one form or another since 2007. J.J. Abrams was originally tapped to produce and direct, but after two years, he backed out. Ron Howard was subsequently involved in the project, but in 2015, Nikolaj Arcel was brought in to direct, with Howard remaining in the producer role. The film was delayed numerous times, but this week, we finally get a look at the first trailer.


As you probably know, Idris Elba is filling the role of The Gunslinger, Roland Deschain. Matthew McConaughey is cast as The Man in Black, a demonic sorcerer, with Tom Taylor as young protagonist Jake. There are plenty of other recognizable names, including Katheryn Winnick of Vikings and Jackie Earle Haley or Watchmen.

The trailer seems to suggest that the movie will be a fairly large departure from the events of the novels, which may be a bit disappointing to fans of the series, but not terribly surprising to anyone who's been following the project.

The Dark Tower is expected to launch in theaters on August 4, 2017, barring any further delays.

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[ima420r]

Looks good but I hope they don't go too far away from the books. I read there was gonna be a TV series as well that mixes with the movie(s). Could be entertaining.

 

[Ukomba]

As a fan of the books... I have no idea what's going on. Looks like parts of the Drawing of the three mixed with the first book.

I have to say though... that airborne reload that they showed twice looks goofy as hell. If they were going to go goofy ass anime with it, they should have drawn from Trigun not Grenadier XD.

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

As a fan of the books... I have no idea what's going on. Looks like parts of the Drawing of the three mixed with the first book.

Yeah I have no idea what's going on either. Like you I thought it looks like it set during the first book, where he fights it out in the village of Tull. But then I've heard it stated that it is only loosely based on the books as it is a continuation of the timeline - Ka being a wheel and all that.

The trailer is both better and worse than I thought.

 

[Somebloke]

And there Ron's avatar goes all appropriate.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

Looks good but I hope they don't go too far away from the books. I read there was gonna be a TV series as well that mixes with the movie(s). Could be entertaining.

I would disagree with you on that one. King's writing style is not one that easily transfers onto film, and traditionally the success of a King film is increased with the amount of licence it takes from the source material (eg Salem's Lot vs Shawshank Redemption). I love The Dark Tower series, to the point where I reread it every few years (and in my own nerdy way imagine a Dark Tower/Fallout New Vegas crossover) but a direct copy from book to screenplay would not - I feel - do the series justice.

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

King's writing style is not one that easily transfers onto film, and traditionally the success of a King film is increased with the amount of licence it takes from the source material (eg Salem's Lot vs Shawshank Redemption).

Or the direction of Frank Darabont. The Green Mile, The Shawshank Redemption and The Mist show that he understands where to be literal with the source material and when to make changes that still stay true to the spirit of the text. King himself admits he wishes he had of written the ending to the film version of The Mist.

 

[Hawki]

I've only read the first book, and didn't feel much need to continue on, but this looks...eh?

Plot-wise, the first novel felt like a teaser extended into novel-length form, but what it really excelled at was mood and wordpainting. I could vividly imagine everything that was happening in the Mid World, and I truly got a sense of this world being in its last days. This looks more like a generic action film. I can't comment on how accurate it is to later books, but it doesn't look like a faithful transition in terms of tone.

Oh, and Roland is played by Idris Elba, who's black. By the laws of the Internet, I'm obliged to complain about that because...reasons.

 

[ima420r]

Looks good but I hope they don't go too far away from the books. I read there was gonna be a TV series as well that mixes with the movie(s). Could be entertaining.

I would disagree with you on that one. King's writing style is not one that easily transfers onto film, and traditionally the success of a King film is increased with the amount of licence it takes from the source material (eg Salem's Lot vs Shawshank Redemption). I love The Dark Tower series, to the point where I reread it every few years (and in my own nerdy way imagine a Dark Tower/Fallout New Vegas crossover) but a direct copy from book to screenplay would not - I feel - do the series justice.

I agree that King's books do not translate to film and TV very well in many cases. Using the source material as more of a guideline might be the best way to do it, but there were some good parts of the books that won't be in the movie, at least it would seem so. Like the haunted house, that was book 3 I think. There was a whole thing about the "ghost" and how they dealt with it. And Jake was living two lives at the same time, which was a very interesting idea. And the others, from book 2, are not in it at all (maybe in a second movie they will appear).

I like when movies are different from the books, sometimes... (the Hobbit was SOOOOO BAD!) We will just need to wait and see I guess. Looks like an exciting and fun movie.

 

[Remus]

In case you're like me and don't read much, yes that's Matthew MacConaughey as the Man in Black, or if you've seen/read the Stand, AKA Randall Flagg. So they picked the current IT man who isn't already affiliated to a Marvel property to play Stephen King's biggest bad in a possibly unified horrorverse. I wonder what the payout was, if there is a multi-film contract, and if it included a new Lincoln.

 

[TheFinish]

As a fan of the books, this is quite.....bleh? I mean it seems like they're doing a mish mash of everything. Wikipedia says the film is supposed to take place after The Dark Tower (that is to say, the 7th and last book of the series), so I guess it's sort of an elseworlds kind of deal? But then again, Wikipedia (and no source, to boot) so....

If it is indeed supposed to be a sequel, fine, do what you want. If it's supposed to be an adaptation, then all points to it being a very piss-poor adaptation.