The Dark Tower series filmed adaptation

**wolfehr** · 08-01-2016 12:25 PM

Originally Posted by Merlin1958

Like a lot of others I was upset about the, Roland casting at first, predominantly due to always imagining, a Clint Eastwood type as, Roland. I got past that, but the only thing that does puzzle/concern me is the loss of the Detta/Roland dynamic. While obviously a bit raacist, which was kinda the point, in the books to me it added something to the dynamic and permeated quite a bit of the story. It will be interesting/crucial to see how they pull that one off in the movie(s).

I'm also curious to see how they handle that. I remember Nikolaj Arcel mentioning in an interview that the dynamic would be preserved, but would be presented differently. It therefore seems they're at least trying to do it justice. Of course whether they succeed is a whole different discussion

**Steve** · 08-01-2016 12:34 PM

Originally Posted by Merlin1958

Like a lot of others I was upset about the, Roland casting at first, predominantly due to always imagining, a Clint Eastwood type as, Roland. I got past that, but the only thing that does puzzle/concern me is the loss of the Detta/Roland dynamic. While obviously a bit raacist, which was kinda the point, in the books to me it added something to the dynamic and permeated quite a bit of the story. It will be interesting/crucial to see how they pull that one off in the movie(s).

It's pretty well easy to handle. Odetta/Detta has been plucked out of 1964 and taken to an alien landscape by two men she doesn't know. One of them invaded her mind (and for that reason alone she could hate him for that invasion, race be damned; to Detta, it's essentially mental rape) and the other is a white junkie who insists on tying her up after Detta's first blow-up. I think that Detta's inherent Detta-ness is too easy to come off as comical, with her overly stereotypical patois that might read well but would hardly sound natural (and would, really, come off borderline offensive in and of itself). I just don't think that the racial component is as important as the base truth: that Odetta/Detta has been snatched out of what she knew and she's mistrustful of the men who did it. Boiling it down to hatred for "graymeat honky mahfahs" seems, at least to be, to be marginalizing that general feeling of abduction and disorientation, and I think by toning down Detta's more hamtastic dialogue and making her more of a quiet menace to really make her intimidating, as well as (if one must keep the racial dynamic between her and Roland) just viewing Roland as an Uncle Tom who left her at the hands of a white man alone on an alien beach, and trying to make Detta herself less of a caricature, I think it would turn out quite well.

**fernandito** · 08-02-2016 08:51 AM

I might catch some flak for this, but the racial tension has never been that pivotal of a component for me. Truth be told, all those 'honky mahfahs' started to grate on me after a while.

I'd much rather they play up the abduction angle instead, just like Steve mentioned up there^

**webstar1000** · 08-02-2016 08:52 AM

Originally Posted by fernandito

I might catch some flak for this, but the racial tension has never been that pivotal of a component for me. Truth be told, all those 'honky mahfahs' started to grate on me after a while.

I'd much rather they play up the abduction angle instead, just like Steve mentioned up there^

I would agree. It got a little tiresome for me as well. I would be A1 with it being left out of the story completely... .which is most likely will be.

**Jean** · 08-02-2016 09:19 AM

it definitely is tiresome, even though Susannah is my favorite DT character

as a foreigner (who reads megatons of literature in English) I have to tell you - being native speakers you might take it much easier - that every time Sai King imitates a dialect or adds some specific flavoring to someone's speech, it grows old and deadeningly annoying very, very soon. (the example that immediately comes to mind is Wireman, he of Duma Key, a wonderful character made almost unbearable by the words meant to personalize his speech, but they are many more)

**WeDealInLead** · 08-02-2016 09:47 AM

Originally Posted by fernandito

I might catch some flak for this, but the racial tension has never been that pivotal of a component for me. Truth be told, all those 'honky mahfahs' started to grate on me after a while.

I'd much rather they play up the abduction angle instead, just like Steve mentioned up there^

I re-read TDotT a couple of months ago and there's no trace of doubt in my mind, to Detta Roland is a "really bad man" but not because of his race. To her he's just another honky but both her hatred and fear are much deeper than that. She got a glimpse inside Roland's mind and that terrified her. THAT carries much more weight than Detta going berserk and hurling insults. I don't think the racial tension needs to be removed either; Detta actually did try to kill Eddie on two different occasions. Maybe it's just me but hers and Eddie's relationship was more interesting than hers and Roland's.

**Br!an** · 08-02-2016 10:34 AM

Originally Posted by Jean

it definitely is tiresome, even though Susannah is my favorite DT character

as a foreigner (who reads megatons of literature in English) I have to tell you - being native speakers you might take it much easier - that every time Sai King imitates a dialect or adds some specific flavoring to someone's speech, it grows old and deadeningly annoying very, very soon. (the example that immediately comes to mind is Wireman, he of Duma Key, a wonderful character made almost unbearable by the words meant to personalize his speech, but they are many more)

King went overboard with the characterization of Detta. I think he was trying to make her a stereotype though.

King went overboard with Wireman too. I have no excuse for that one. Wireman was a character I'd be proud to call a friend.

**Brian861** · 08-02-2016 02:18 PM

Originally Posted by Br!an

King went overboard with Wireman too. I have no excuse for that one. Wireman was a character I'd be proud to call a friend.

Wireman is one of my favorite King characters of all time.

**brethren** · 08-02-2016 04:20 PM

Does anyone ever look at Matthew McConaughey and think he might have made a pretty good Roland himself? Maybe even with a little bit of aging makeup.

**Steve** · 08-02-2016 07:10 PM

Originally Posted by brethren

Does anyone ever look at Matthew McConaughey and think he might have made a pretty good Roland himself? Maybe even with a little bit of aging makeup.

McConaughey wouldn't have been terrible, especially if one views his Rust Cohle as a deep-fried, more philosophical Roland . . . but his million-watt smile, relaxed likability and magnetism are just flawless casting for the Walkin' Dude.

**Sai Sheb** · 08-03-2016 06:37 AM

I just have to keep reminding myself that this film is not TDT. It is an adaptation and nothing more!!! So it is not my Roland, Eddie, Susannah,Jake or Oy. I will watch but not with the interest that a true likeness of SK's masterpiece deserves...

**stroppygoblin** · 08-03-2016 07:43 AM

Originally Posted by Sai Sheb

I just have to keep reminding myself that this film is not TDT. It is an adaptation and nothing more!!! So it is not my Roland, Eddie, Susannah,Jake or Oy. I will watch but not with the interest that a true likeness of SK's masterpiece deserves...

I had the same feelings for a long time. I then came to the realisation that this was not an adaption, but another spin of the wheel. I'm happier in that knowledge as things can be both familiar and still different without making me constantly complain "But that's not what happened!"

**ladysai** · 08-03-2016 04:16 PM

Originally Posted by stroppygoblin

I had the same feelings for a long time. I then came to the realisation that this was not an adaption, but another spin of the wheel. I'm happier in that knowledge as things can be both familiar and still different without making me constantly complain "But that's not what happened!"

To me, this is the saving grace of the film.
It is the Dark Tower story, but not the one we waited ages for and finally read about.
It will be similar enough to recognize as a path along the beam, but I wont be expecting the characters to tread the same path we followed in the books.

I'm really looking forward to it now that I know many aspects of it will be unexpected.

**divemaster** · 08-04-2016 03:52 AM

Originally Posted by ladysai

Originally Posted by stroppygoblin

I had the same feelings for a long time. I then came to the realisation that this was not an adaption, but another spin of the wheel. I'm happier in that knowledge as things can be both familiar and still different without making me constantly complain "But that's not what happened!"

To me, this is the saving grace of the film.
It is the Dark Tower story, but not the one we waited ages for and finally read about.
It will be similar enough to recognize as a path along the beam, but I wont be expecting the characters to tread the same path we followed in the books.

I'm really looking forward to it now that I know many aspects of it will be unexpected.

I have the same realization, but have come to a very different conclusion.

I was excited when I heard The Dark Tower was going to be made into a movie. But, as you say, it's not "The Dark Tower." It's some other story using the same characters. In this thread alone, this has been termed "another turn of the wheel" or "loose adaptation," a "sequel" even. Many folks seemed so quick to give up, to the extent that some may not care if Odetta or Eddie are even a part of the story at all. Just one picture of the "Horn of Eld" sent some folks into a threadgasm that "Wow! So exciting! Now the story can be anything!!!"

Yeah. Now the story can be anything.

Look, I might have been excited if from the get-go we were told that this was not going to be an adaptation of the novels. There's no real reason why it couldn't have been. Jackson adapted the Lord of the Rings saga for the screen. Was it a perfect correlation? Of course not. But he didn't turn Frodo into a 6 foot badass, ditch his two traveling companions, and send him off on some non-ring adventure.

I haven't seen the Harry Potter movies (and only read the first two books), but my understanding is that the movies attempted to tell the story of the novels.

But here, everyone seems to have drunk the kool-aid that it's just fine and swell (an even preferred) that the "Dark Tower" movie is not beholden to the novels and can tell "a different story." That being the case, they should have just made "The Adventures of Roland in the Land of Mid-World" or whatever and have him fight off space aliens or zombies or whatever else sells movie tickets these days. Hey, maybe he'll meet up with Iron Man! Why not? Roland's got the Horn of Eld so all bets are off, right?

Oh, and talk about poisoning the well...

Originally Posted by Isamu Dyson

I continue to be grateful for this adaptation-sequel and how it highlights the uglier side of the Stephen King - or, more specifically, the The Dark Tower - fanbase.

Then...there is the peculiar lack of imagination. You would think that the most strident and juvenile complainers have never familiarized themselves with the concept of reincarnation.

So, not only are people like me lacking in imagination; don't understand the difference between a straight adaptation and a "reincarnation"; am part of a juvenile mindset, blah blah blah; we are supposed to be grateful for some sort of an "adaptation-sequel". (Oh, and racist, too. Let's not forget that anyone not appreciative of a black Roland is a racist).

Well, I'm not grateful. And I'll even throw in some juvenile mindset for you...

Bite me.

(There ya go.)

**Isamu Dyson** · 08-04-2016 05:09 AM

Originally Posted by divemaster

Let's not forget that anyone not appreciative of a black Roland is a racist

A guilty conscience needs no accuser.

I do not label anyone that does not express racist thoughts or commits racist actions a racist. Curious, then, that some people flare up at the mere mention of the presence of such distressing attitudes in the fanbase...as if it were their character which was attacked, or as if the existence of these attitudes were as real as the pot-o-gold at the end of the rainbow.

Originally Posted by divemaster

And I'll even throw in some juvenile mindset for you...

This was already shared much earlier.

**brethren** · 08-04-2016 06:26 AM

People claiming that anyone against Elba as Roland are racist kind of sounds like the recent arguments that anyone who doesn't like the female ghostbusters are sexist.

But guess what - in actuality, people don't like the female ghostbusters because they just aren't funny. And also because they aren't Murray/Aykroyd/Ramis/Hudson.

Elba is a great actor, almost everyone can agree on that. But I just can't see Roland in him, at least not the Roland I know. I've had thousands of words of text and hundreds of illustrations to tell me otherwise.

If that makes me racist, well then sign me up for the KKK.

All that said, this still could be a great movie. But it won't be the movie I originally wanted to see and have thought about for years.

**webstar1000** · 08-04-2016 07:16 AM

Originally Posted by brethren

People claiming that anyone against Elba as Roland are racist kind of sounds like the recent arguments that anyone who doesn't like the female ghostbusters are sexist.

But guess what - in actuality, people don't like the female ghostbusters because they just aren't funny. And also because they aren't Murray/Aykroyd/Ramis/Hudson.

Elba is a great actor, almost everyone can agree on that. But I just can't see Roland in him, at least not the Roland I know. I've had thousands of words of text and hundreds of illustrations to tell me otherwise.

If that makes me racist, well then sign me up for the KKK.

All that said, this still could be a great movie. But it won't be the movie I originally wanted to see and have thought about for years.

Not a racist... close minded at most my man! lol

**mattgreenbean** · 08-04-2016 07:34 AM

This Dark Tower Sequel is the stupidest piece of f-you fans crap I've ever heard of.
I WILL NOT SPEND ANY OF MY MONEY ON IT.
Can we delete this thread and pretend it never happened?
Can we focus on IT?

**Randall Flagg** · 08-04-2016 11:05 AM