OORick
The Sky is a Neighborhood 
Posts 3707
Registered 12-27-2001 Location - The Birthplace of Aviation Member Is Offline Mood: Armstrong'd~!
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| posted on 9-9-2010 at 10:11 PM |
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Ron Howard to Tackle Stephen King's Dark Tower Series
I seem to recall a goodly number of folks around here being all a-tingle when Stephen King finally finished up the final 3 books of the Dark Tower
series, so I figured this might be of interest:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5j2RioH6MtUJcFKJdhGxqf2_SjIhg
The good: Stephen King got the movie rights to the Dark Tower back from mantard JJ Abrams.
The I'm-not-sure: he re-sold them to Ron Howard, who sold Universal/NBC on actually going forward with producing the Dark Tower.
Huh. Ron Howard. Not that Ron Howard hasn't done plenty of good stuff, but he hasn't exactly done it in THIS genre... I'm
nonplussed.
What I *do* like is the way they've decided to approach the adaptation: three major theatrical motion pictures, with two full seasons in between
to air on NBC. That's gonna be PLENTY of time to tell this story the right way.
From bits and pieces in other articles, it looks like Movie #1, TV Season #1, and Movie #2 will cover the stories told in books #1, #2, #3, #5, and
#6. TV Season #2 will be mostly a prequel/flashback deal, covering book #4 and other Young Roland material that was apparently part of a comic book
series. And then Movie #3 will tackle book #7.
Of course, that's just what seems to make sense based on what little info leaks are out there now, and doesn't even take into account that
King is currently working on an eighth book (said to fill in the space between the mini-"Oz"-like showdown with Flagg at the end of book #4 and the
ka-tet waltzing into the Calla at the start of book #5), which means there's even MORE material that might need to be adapted.
But with 3 big movies and somewhere between 26 and 44 episodes of TV, there should be enough time to cover it all.
Color me intrigued. Maybe even optimistic. And since it sounds like this will be Howard's immediate next project after whatever he's
finishing up right now, we may not even have to wait much long than Summer 2012 to see how it all plays on the big screen....
Rick
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the goon
Sister Act 
Posts 6396
Registered 3-13-2004 Location Charlotte, NC Member Is Offline Mood:
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| posted on 9-10-2010 at 04:42 AM |
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I just read about this yesterday and I must say the whole dual movie/TV production is intriguing. It's never been done before and I think
it's a clever way to tell the massive Dark Tower story without having to squeeze them all into three movies or something. I just hope it's
not overkill for the actors involved.
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Flash
The Great One
Posts 3468
Registered 4-22-2005 Location Ontario, Canada Member Is Offline Mood:
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| posted on 9-10-2010 at 06:40 AM |
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I only go through the first 3 books of the series way back before he took a break from them, but will have to go back and read them, as I've
really enjoyed the comic books that were put out as a sort of prequel to the whole thing. There's 5 collections of the comics and they are all
just beautifully drawn and digitally painted for a really cool washed out feel that's heavy on the blacks (Jae Lee w/ Isanove doing the colours
for anyone in the know about them). Apparently they are going full steam ahead on adapting the whole Dark Towere series as the first part of the Dark
tower should be up next (it may already be out, I've been grabbing the collections and there's an ad for it in there).
I wonder if they'll get Steven King to play himself in the movie/Tv version, although I kind of suspect they'll drop the more literary
explorations in favour of the staying on the fantasy story a bit more.
I think if you wanted to keep the moves as just the Gunslinger elements that could really work well with then using the TV portion to tell the more
anthology/background aspects of the story.
Unless they are going to do it as a more anthology style approach where each episode is seperate, I think I'd just as soon see them do it HBO or
British TV style and go for a shorter 6 episode mini-series approach. They could even do other type tie in movies such as "through the Eyes of the
Dragon" as other mini series that also tie in so that they can further flesh out the back stories.... maybe go back and redo the Stand as well?
There's certainly enough material there, and given King's name above the title it should be very marketable.
In other king news I'd love to see them do something with another comic book he co-wrote called American Vampire.... definitely not sunlight
turns me sparkly vampire stories!
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gobbledygooker
Sister Act 2
Posts 9288
Registered 12-17-2002 Location Charlotte, NC Member Is Offline Mood:
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| posted on 9-10-2010 at 07:37 PM |
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I thought the series started a slight downward slide once King inserted himself into the story.
But damned if the first few books aren't still some of my favorites ever. I'll be all aboard with this.
"Hulk Hogan have the sex with some dumb bitch on the TV. The girl smart if she make the $$ from his bald ass but she also desperate to have sex with
the howdy doody like Hulk Hogan. He worse than Mel Gibson and I think now %10000 he prove he have grasshopper dick and raisin balls." - The Iron
Sheik
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the goon
Sister Act
Posts 6396
Registered 3-13-2004 Location Charlotte, NC Member Is Offline Mood:
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| posted on 9-10-2010 at 08:23 PM |
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Yeah, in my opinion the first four books are fucking classics, the fifth was quite good, but the sixth and seventh kind of dropped off. I don't
know how much we're discussing spoilers here, so I'll just leave it at that for now.
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williamssl
Steers and Queers
Posts 7764
Registered 1-11-2004 Location Hippieville Member Is Offline Mood: Fuck USC
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| posted on 9-10-2010 at 09:25 PM |
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Very excited at the prospect of this.
But am skeptical that it will run the full gamut as announced.
We'll definitely get the first movie, first tv series, and second movie.
Beyond that I would hold my bets. Those investments are going to be very much dependent upon how the first set of things run. And this could go
either way.
Look at Heroes - that series plummeted in the ratings...rightfully so, mind you...but the talk/desire to have NBC pick up a truncated last season just
to bring it to closure fell through because of both actual and opportunity costs. And that's the macro point here - $.
This isn't like Star Wars or Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings where you KNOW they're going to and can easily run their course. This is a
Stephen King series that had it's ups and downs...with the downs increasing as the saga progressed, both in reviews and in readership.
I say this as a huge King and Dark Tower fan who is excited about this and very much looking forward to it. But at same time I am cautious about the
whole thing becoming reality given all of the above. Hope they can make it work though.
P.S. Wizard and Glass was amazing and I would put it in the top 5 of King books ever. And the only DT book that I would put in that list.
Don't Mess With Texas
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OORick
The Sky is a Neighborhood
Posts 3707
Registered 12-27-2001 Location - The Birthplace of Aviation Member Is Offline Mood: Armstrong'd~!
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| posted on 9-10-2010 at 10:29 PM |
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Though I'm not crazy enough to make an apples-to-apples comparison between Lord of the Ring and the Dark Tower, I get the impression that
they're going to approach production of the DT much the way they did LotR...
It wasn't the article I linked above, but one of the things I read made it sound like the cinematic side of things would be done as a package
deal where all three films would be made in one fell swoop, or close to it. That would pretty much guarantee "closure" even if the latter films have
less money spent on them for post-production/promotion (the opposite of what happened with LotR, where the success meant Jackson had more money and
freedom to tweek the latter movies and do re-shoots and stuff that wasn't originally budgeted).
What might be up in the air -- depending on success/failure of the franchise -- would be that second season of TV shows. If the thing flops, they
could drastically reduce post-production/effects/etc spending on the 2nd and 3rd films, and just axe the entire "prequel" season of TV in the name
of wringing sufficient profit out of the franchise.
It'd suck, since "Wizard and Glass" definitely gives the Dark Tower its heart and gooey girly emotional subtext, but you could EASILY tell the
DT story without it. I don't know jack shit about the comic books that are also supposed to be part of the prequel/flashback material, but even
though I'm aware King signed off on it as "canon," I can't imagine anything contained in a comic book substantially advances the core
story as told over the course of 3000+ pages of actual words/prose.
About the declining quality of the later books: I definitely view #6 and #7 as being cut of a slightly different cloth (and it's probably
telling that they are the only two books of the series that I haven't re-read, even though all the others have been re-read 3 or more times
each). I think it's cuz King wrote #5-7 all at once, after he figured out how the story had to end... #5 was the transitionary book where you
still had all the awesomeness of the Gunslinger's Universe (or Mid-World, or whatever you want to call it), but where King started to introduce
all the fancy Multiverse elements that would serve as bells and whistles for the big finale. #1-5 just hold together amazingly well, and it's
actually kinda hard for me to think of them as anything other than one big book.
But then #6 and #7 sorta did turn into another book. I think "Drawing of the Three" did a great job of crossing over between "universes" in a way
that even when you were in modern-day NYC, it still felt like the story was in Mid-World. In the last two books, when things would leave the
Gunslinger's universe to go to Our World (where Stephen King is an author, and a character in his own book), it did seem to stray a little from
the texture and tone that made the first 5 books so awesome. If you want one main difference between DT and LotR, there you go: one was so
meticulously imagined and had its own head so far its own ass (I mean this merely as a description, NOT as a value judgment) that it was a fully
immersive universe, and the other eventually decided to take its head out of its ass in order to mingle with our own everyday hum-drum universe. If DT
had just mingled between other King-created universes, even that would have been OK; it's just when it crossed over to the "real" universe
where King wrote the books and created those universes that it lost some panache; sorta like exposing the guy pretending to be the Wizard of Oz, but
then having him close the curtain again to ask you to believe its all real. Or something like that... I'm not explaining it well, but if
you've read the books and found the last 2 lacking, you probably get the general gist of what I'm trying to say.
That said, I'm not really ragging THAT hard on the last two books. I still enjoyed them, and loved getting the sweet, sweet closure. Or
non-closure. Ahem. I'd say more, but like somebody else mentioned, I'm not sure if this is the place for spoilers. I just know that I got
the sense that I knew how the story HAD to end after reading #5 immediately after a re-read of #4, and it turns out that if I could figure it out,
King had it figured out already, too... and even though I knew how it had to end, he still handled it in such a way that I was completely happy and
satisfied to read the words King wrote to get us to the foregone Sisyphian conclusion.
The words King wrote were, in fact, so spot-on perfect that they pretty much required the reader to quit processing the words as prose and convert
them into imaginary visual images. Sometimes I do that when I read, sometimes I don't; sometimes it's the fault of a shitty writer who
can't paint word pictures, but others it's my choice to read faster in a purely informational-gathering way... but the end to the Dark
Tower was DEFINITELY a very visual experience, even though it was just words on a page. That'll be something the filmmakers shouldn't have
to work too hard on: King already burned that scene into the brains of anybody who read it.
Rick
PS: as far as the crossover-y-ness goes in this adaptation, I'd be for keeping it to a minimum in terms of actually re-telling any other
stories. Just reference the fact that this relates to something that happened in a different Stephen King book, and let it be. Father Callahan is
really the only necessary "crossover" that requires explanation; everything else can just be little side mentions and "easter eggs" for hardcore
King fans. No reason to use precious Dark Tower time to re-do "The Stand" (which was already done on film, and pretty well, save for a crappy Flagg
and that horrific "performance" by Molly F'n Ringwald) or first-do "Eyes of the Dragon" (which I really do hope gets done at some point,
since it's such an amazing -- and utterly G-rated -- story; it would work as an animated film, for sure; or, if Ron Howard succeeds with the
Dark Tower and King wants to entrust another book to a sitcom star of the 70s, I think Rob Reiner would be a good choice; he did direct "Princess
Bride," right, or am I misremembering?)...
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olfuzzybastard
Waaaallllllllllllt!!!!! 
Posts 708
Registered 1-3-2002 Location Pittsburgh, PA Member Is Offline Mood: Suave
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| posted on 9-11-2010 at 12:49 AM |
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I always thought it would be cool if, as a Dark Tower adaptation played out, a theatrical re-adaptation of Salem's Lot could get made - no real
connections between the crews, except the same actor playing Father Callahan. (It needs to be done anyway - it's one of King's best books
and it's only existed as a pair of lousy TV miniseries. Besides, it's not like vampires are a hard sell these days.)
Otherwise, I'm cautiously optimistic. The format is brilliant - it's the only way I can imagine them pulling the insane amounts of
relevant plot details off. Ron Howard on the other hand... I dunno. I was much more comfortable with Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. Say what
you will about LOST (and, full disclosure, I think it's among the greatest acheivements in television history), those two know how to handle a
massive sprawling epic. Ron Howard has a filmography consisting almost entirely of movies that aren't bad but aren't really that great
either, save one crime against humanity (How The Grinch Stole Christmas).
The source material is more than good enough to allow him to finally make his masterpiece - and I'm sure it won't be BAD - but I'm
not sure he's got the chops to make it GREAT.
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Biff_Manly
Man of a Thousand Holds 
Posts 1143
Registered 6-16-2006 Member Is Offline Mood: Ridiculous
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| posted on 9-11-2010 at 02:52 AM |
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Ron did do Willow. Which if you took Willow out of it actually had some pretty good action and Val Kilmer was very good.
Bringing the whole Dark Tower to screen is going to be massive no matter how it is filmed or shown. I do think that The Gunslinger does lend itself
well to be the first story. It provides the perfect way to get in with Roland. Question is, who plays Roland? Josh Brolin pops to mind. Thirty years
ago it would have been Clint Eastwood hands down.
The ending of the series messed with my head. I'll be honest. I didn't go back and reread so as I picked up the books I had them fresh. I
also had the last three books at one time, no waiting in between releases. So when I got to the end, yeah, shit hit me and I was just like, wow.
Which brings me to think, there are going to have to be lots of changes in the story. Obviously things that work in books don't always work in
movies and TV. And even though you have 20 episodes to tell a story in a TV season, things still have to happen to advance the story. Or else you end
up with Heroes, where nothing happens for half the season.
Ok, one more thing, call me a geek but wouldn't this story lend itself to a giant animated epic? Something of a cross between Pixar, Anime, and
Avatar style. Something never before seen before? I don't know if it could have it's crossover appeal that way but who knew Avatar would
make a billion dollars or whatever it did?
"Walter: I can solve everything by making this gramophone have sex with time."
--SCSA's Fringe on Ice Holiday Spectacular.
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drmuerto
Man of a Thousand Holds 
Posts 1427
Registered 11-17-2005 Location Charlotte, NC Member Is Offline Mood: PhDeceased
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| posted on 9-11-2010 at 03:56 AM |
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I've never read any of the non-comic books in the series, so I won't comment on that aspect of things, but at least the first and second
series of the comics were pretty sweet. They were nice to look at, but more importantly the story was pretty compelling and each issues had a straight
prose section that filled you in on some interesting aspect of the history of the world. I really dug the cowboy/King Arthur/post-apocalypse vibe of
the whole thing and only stopped reading because I lost track of new issues. I intend to pick up on the trades at some point and would be very
interested in this adaptation as well. I haven't read the non-graphic novels because at some point I picked up the admittedly stupid affectation
that I don't read fiction that isn't in comic book form.
[Edited on 9-11-2010 by drmuerto]
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theflammablemanimal
American Dream 
Posts 7586
Registered 9-2-2008 Member Is Offline Mood:
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| posted on 9-12-2010 at 04:04 PM |
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The comics are pretty awesome and basically expand on what happened during and after the Wizard in the Glass (Book 4). It doesn't move the story
forward that much but does build up the relationship between Roland, Cuthbert, and Alain and gives a little more texture to the Crimson King, Flagg
and the Grapefruit.
There's no way they can tie-in all the other Dark-Tower related books. Off the top of my head, that would include The Stand, Eyes of the Dragon,
Insomnia, Salem's Lot, Talisman*, Black House, Hearts in Atlantis, From a Buick 8 and probably more that I'm forgetting.
Has anyone read The Dark Tower:Concordance that ties it all together? I've always meant to pick that up.
As for King inserting himself in the end, I thought it worked great. Any other author that tried to pull something so meta would have fallen on their
egomaniacal face but King pulled it off in a way that made perfect sense.
Also, I wouldn't worry about spoiling books that are 5 years old.
*Talisman is one of my favorite King books of all time and the sequel, Black House, isn't far behind. A must read for King fans with the added
benefit of a Dark Tower tie-in. The writing in these books is so good that I keep feeling like I read a comic book** because I keep picturing images
from the story
** (which I didn't even though I think a comic is now out)
http://epitomeofmasculinity.blogspot.com/
@EofMasculinity
The first undisputed OO draft champion of the world
Get the pistons pumping and let the pigeons loose on my yambag
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williamssl
Steers and Queers
Posts 7764
Registered 1-11-2004 Location Hippieville Member Is Offline Mood: Fuck USC
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| posted on 9-12-2010 at 06:39 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by theflammablemanimal
Has anyone read The Dark Tower:Concordance that ties it all together? I've always meant to pick that up.
Have them (got the 1-3 and 4-7 ones) but to be honest they aren't really "reads" - more like a really long book of footnotes.
I preferred The Stephen King Universe, which was more of a summary of everything he's written. Organized around different groupings of books
e.g. The Dark Tower series, related to the Dark Tower, Castle Rock, etc.
Was a good way to really see the connections of DT to other books that I had read long long ago and thus didn't remember the connections.
Don't Mess With Texas
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standrir
rOOkie
Posts 46
Registered 5-3-2010 Member Is Offline Mood: Evolution Inc.
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| posted on 9-13-2010 at 12:00 AM |
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I've read the concordances and yeah they read more like a collection of footnotes than an actual book.
If you do want more of an encyclopedia or narrative that ties them together in neat ways check out Bev Vincent's "The Road to the Dark Tower."
As someone who had never read "Salem's Lot" before finishing the Dark Tower series, it was nice to have a reference point for all of Father
Callahan's inclusion in the story. It also did a great job of showing the importance of Ted Brautigan and why his inclusion from "Low Men in
Yellow Coats" from Hearts in Atlantis was so crucial to the ending of the last book.
Speaking of "Low Men in Yellow Coats" I think the film adaptation with Anthony Hopkins was much better than it had any right to be and I easily put
it ahead of "Dreamcatcher" and maybe even "The Mist." (although I did like the Roland painting cameo in the first few minutes)
Overall, as someone that's read all the books and owns the trade hardbacks of the comics, put me into the category of "cautiously
optimistic."
I think that in order to do it you have to decide whether or not you want to do it chronologically or by the books. I think that with the TV side of
it, it would be better to do it by the order of the books. I'd set it up something like this:
1st movie: The Gunslinger and the Drawing of the Three
TV season: The Wastelands and the parts of Wizard and Glass that don't deal with the backstory
2nd movie: Wolves of the Calla and the parts of Song of Susannah that you'd want to tell (I'm all for respectfully leaving out Sai
King as well except for maybe his usual cameo)
TV season 2: This is where I'd do the entire Susan relationship from Wizard of Glass (by far my favorite DT book and my third favorite book
ever) and bring in the comics, the Fall of Gilead, and end it with him having Palver with the ka-tet sometime after Wolves (I know you'd have to
do it a little out of order, but I think you can have Roland tell his backstory anytime so it should work)
3rd movie: The Dark Tower novel (finish the story with Mordred if you've told that story) and have it end the way it should end with Roland
back facing the desert with the Horn of the Eld at his side (sorry if I'm spoiling too much)
Also, I'm wondering who you all think should be cast in these roles. I've been thinking for years that Viggo Mortenson is the closest to
Roland that we had right now based on Gunslingerness mixed with the right age. And speaking of casting I think Howard HAS to pay Eastwood whatever he
wants to play Steven Deschain.
Cory
"Tell your story walking bitch." -Scott Steiner
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Thom
The Immortal One
Posts 4819
Registered 1-14-2003 Location At the gym Member Is Offline Mood: Rather be lifting
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| posted on 9-13-2010 at 07:03 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Biff_Manly
Ron did do Willow.
Well, shit - I'd like to do Willow...
Oh, about DT. Can they just do the first few books, and leave the rest out?
#GLENNSURVIVESLOL - Cherokee Jack, from TWD Season 6 thread
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OORick
The Sky is a Neighborhood
Posts 3707
Registered 12-27-2001 Location - The Birthplace of Aviation Member Is Offline Mood: Armstrong'd~!
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| posted on 9-13-2010 at 09:33 PM |
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I'd forgotten Howard directed "Willow." Or possibly never knew, seeing as how I was too young to care about directors at the time that movie
came out... I was pretty excited for it as a wee lad, but then it kinda flopped and I don't think I've ever so much as seen it on TV or
anything, so any memory that Ron Howard *had* once directed a fantasy-driven epic had long since evaporated.
But upon seening that mention and looking it up: sure enough. Opie's got SOME experience in the genre afterall. And better: what I read said
that he and George Lucas are still best buddies after having collaborated on "Willow," which can only mean good things in terms of the Dark Tower
getting solid treatment from ILM when it comes to effects.
And in rebuttal to any claims that Ron Howard's never done anything really good, I STRONGLY suggest you watch "Apollo 13" and "Frost/Nixon,"
which aren't both good, but are both excellent. I'm not down on Opie's general resume as a director, I just questioned his ability
in this genre... his adaptations of books are spotty at best (but hey, when you're adapting fluffy, mindless brain candy like Dan Brown, maybe
that's not Howard's fault?), but his adaptations of REAL LIFE have been amazing.
We'll just have to wait and see which Ron Howard shows up to direct the Dark Tower....
Rick
PS: The "Concordance" used to be a free website on the intartubes before somebody got greedy and turned it into a hard copy book... I dug it enough
for having obscure minutiae at my fingertips on occassions when I had a question, but there was no way in hell I could ever see shelling out to have a
reference item sit on a shelf, containing 80% things that either (a) I remembered for myself or (b) would notice/care enough about to look up. "Road
to the Dark Tower," however, does get my endorsement as a worthwhile read that's a value-add to one's fandom...
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theflammablemanimal
American Dream
Posts 7586
Registered 9-2-2008 Member Is Offline Mood:
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| posted on 9-14-2010 at 09:20 PM |
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Holy Crap! King is thinking of writing an 8th Dark Tower novel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wind_Through_the_Keyhole
This is apparently old news but it's the first I've heard. This guy is nuts. The original DT books are just part of an uber-novel?
Jebus!
Also, he's apparently thinking of a sequel to The Shining. Normally, that would sound cool but the title is Dr. Sleep. Sounds like
Zigler's next gimmick.
http://epitomeofmasculinity.blogspot.com/
@EofMasculinity
The first undisputed OO draft champion of the world
Get the pistons pumping and let the pigeons loose on my yambag
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OORick
The Sky is a Neighborhood
Posts 3707
Registered 12-27-2001 Location - The Birthplace of Aviation Member Is Offline Mood: Armstrong'd~!
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| posted on 9-14-2010 at 11:03 PM |
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I think you meant to say "the first you've heard of it since Rick mentioned it in the very first post of this thread."
Ahem.
Rick
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Flash
The Great One
Posts 3468
Registered 4-22-2005 Location Ontario, Canada Member Is Offline Mood:
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| posted on 9-18-2010 at 07:47 AM |
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I think given the wealth of the DT universe, and the concern of them pulling the plug on it before they've done it justice would be why I would
be more in favour of shorter anthologies that kind ofa ll tie together...
You could do the entire comic series as a 6 parter which details the fall of Gillead contrasted against Rollands rise in say a 6 part mini-series.
If you wanted to even do a cross section of the Flagg character you could either have him kind of creep up without explaination in several mini=series
(Like say an adaptation of Through the eyes of the Dragon, The Stand, The comics...ect) or again tackle each of them as seperate 6 parters... Not that
any of these even really touch the main work that is the Dt, but King has woven this story so far throughout his other novels that you could almost
pick and choose either doing each one and treating it as direct parts of DT, or pull from them via flashbacks that would be cool little tips of the
hat to his larger body of work.... either way, I think smaller is better that way if they have to pull the plug on something the story won't be
short changed, and you'd hae a hit wiht more single DVD sales (which more and more is becoming the real money maker), plus it would easier to
sell to fans as we would know things would end in a potentially satisfying way.
Even if they wanted to still treat this like a Tv series you could cast it as such, but having the same actor play Flagg all the way through each
series/movies, and you could even do things like have whoever plays Roland also play a character like Peter as a nice visual nod.
I don't think the books are sacrosanct so long as they are prepared to commit to doing the books justice... Steven King has even commented about
this kind of thing himself when he said something to the effect of he knows he gives his blessing to some god awful adaptations of his works because
he knows at the end of the day the books are what matters to him, and he's kind of keen to see the ways that his works get translated... which
includes "Carrie; the musical", lol.
Anyway, anyone who's a fan of the books should pick up the comics. There are presently 5 collected editions which make up part one (With direct
conversion of the books now underway and to follow) and are definitely worth picking up. They are scripted by famed Hulk writer (comics, not movies,
lol) Peter David who does his best to echo the language and speech King created for the series, plotted by Robin Furth who is King's personal
assistant and author of the Concordence books, and then overseen by King himself (or to bump up the sales, lol... if you want actually comics written
by King go check out American vampire).... all worth it, but made even cooler by Jae Lee and Richard Isanove's artwork.
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gobbledygooker
Sister Act 2
Posts 9288
Registered 12-17-2002 Location Charlotte, NC Member Is Offline Mood:
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| posted on 10-16-2010 at 06:14 AM |
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So now let's play "Cast The Gunsglinger!" I've got my first choice - Timothy Olyphant.
Dude would be PERFECT. At the risk of sounding like I want to gargle his balls, let me explain - He fits the physical features to a T (tall, lanky,
lean, sexy...wait, how'd that last one get in there?!), he's shown excellent acting chops in pretty much everything he's been in,
and he got stabbed through the hand in his last movie (spoiler alert) so he's already used to playing in a role with severe hand trauma.
I can see your "He's not dark enough" comments and I raise you a "Let's see how his acting ability does." I really think he could
pull it off.
[Edited on 10-16-2010 by gobbledygooker]
"Hulk Hogan have the sex with some dumb bitch on the TV. The girl smart if she make the $$ from his bald ass but she also desperate to have sex with
the howdy doody like Hulk Hogan. He worse than Mel Gibson and I think now %10000 he prove he have grasshopper dick and raisin balls." - The Iron
Sheik
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theflammablemanimal
American Dream
Posts 7586
Registered 9-2-2008 Member Is Offline Mood:
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| posted on 10-17-2010 at 05:41 AM |
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Nice call.
By the way, I just reread Eyes of the Dragon. Do Thomas and what's-his-name ever show up in the Dark Tower? I think Roland might mention them
once but don't remember ever seeing them again.
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@EofMasculinity
The first undisputed OO draft champion of the world
Get the pistons pumping and let the pigeons loose on my yambag
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the goon
Sister Act
Posts 6396
Registered 3-13-2004 Location Charlotte, NC Member Is Offline Mood:
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| posted on 10-17-2010 at 07:02 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by theflammablemanimal
By the way, I just reread Eyes of the Dragon. Do Thomas and what's-his-name ever show up in the Dark Tower? I think Roland might mention them
once but don't remember ever seeing them again.
I couldn't quite remember the answer to this, so I consulted Wikipedia and found this:
King hinted, in the afterword to The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass, that the "wandering youths from Eyes of the Dragon" (presumably Thomas and
Dennis, who had gone on a quest to find and destroy Flagg at the end of the novel) would make an appearance in the Dark Tower series; but they were
only briefly mentioned in The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three where Roland says that he encountered both Flagg and Thomas and Dennis.
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williamssl
Steers and Queers
Posts 7764
Registered 1-11-2004 Location Hippieville Member Is Offline Mood: Fuck USC
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| posted on 10-17-2010 at 07:03 AM |
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quote:
linky from wiki re: Eyes of the Dragon
Flagg (Randall Flagg), the villain of this story, is directly involved with the Dark Tower series, appearing as one of Roland of Gilead's main
antagonists. He is also the main antagonist in The Stand. King hinted, in the afterword to The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass, that the "wandering
youths from Eyes of the Dragon" (presumably Thomas and Dennis, who had gone on a quest to find and destroy Flagg at the end of the novel) would make
an appearance in the Dark Tower series; but they were only briefly mentioned in The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three where Roland says that he
encountered both Flagg and Thomas and Dennis.
This was one of those that was teased and had potential but didn't materialize. Who knows - it might have been written and ended on the
cutting room floor. I'd love to see an unabridged re-release of the books a la what King did with the Stand - bet there's a lot of
crossover-y stuff in there.
EDIT: Go to bed you stupid east coaster. It's late for you damnit.
[Edited on 10-17-2010 by williamssl]
Don't Mess With Texas
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OORick
The Sky is a Neighborhood
Posts 3707
Registered 12-27-2001 Location - The Birthplace of Aviation Member Is Offline Mood: Armstrong'd~!
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| posted on 10-18-2010 at 03:59 AM |
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About "uncut" versions of the DT series: I doubt very seriously that anything substantial exists "on the cutting room floor," a la "The
Stand."
When the new Stand came out, King wrote a lengthy foreward (and, I think, a later non-fiction essay) all about how a prospective buyer should view
the uncut Stand... he didn't want to oversell the new version as being totally different and new, and he wanted to underscore how the original
"cut" version was still a wholly-adequate telling of the story.
Back in 1970-whatever, before most of us were born, a publisher made a FINANCIAL decision to cut "The Stand" down to however-many-pages-it-was,
because the profitable price-point on books by this new-fangled Stephen King guy was determined to be $7.95 (or whatever was the price of a hardcover
book back then). Anything more than that: and people wouldn't buy. Or so said the publishing executives.
So King, himself, did the editing, and published the "cut" Stand in a form that he could live with. He only re-published years later, WITH a massive
caveat that nothing major would be changing in the "new" version, because he had the clout to do so.
I'm pretty sure the DT's last 5 entries all had King wielding that same clout. So I doubt he left anything out unless HE decided he wanted
it out. You could price those books however you wanted, and they were gonna sell. An extra $2 because King wrote 1000 pages wasn't gonna scare
anyone off.
That said: there's room to "fill in" a few spots, which it sounds/sounded like what they intended to do with the "flashback" portion of the
second TV series, so who knows? Filler could come from the comic books, or from new source material for all I know. I just really like the idea of
doing "Eyes of the Dragon" on its own (possibly animated, since it's so dag-blasted G-rated), and don't care if it gets interwoven more
with the Dark Tower.
Olyphant is a pretty good choice for the Gunslinger, for one big reason: I pictured that as an "anti-acting" role, and Olyphant (in everything
I've ever seen him do) has never "acted" a lick, and has just been quiet, brooding, and boring-compared-to-everyone-else-around-him (and yet,
still central to the tale). Mostly, I'm talking about him on "Deadwood," but also: "Diehard 4," where he sucked balls, had no
motivation/excitement whatsoever, but did just enough to keep the story moving so Bruce Willis could blow shit up. [Sidenote: I've theorized
that Randy Orton stole all of his alleged "personality traits" from the bad guy in Diehard 4, which WOULD explain why I hate him so much. Anybody
else get the same vibe?]
I kinda think that's what's needed for the Gunslinger. Without spoiling the ending (again, we CAN spoil, if you want, but I'll avoid
it), it's almost the whole POINT of the book/series that the story goes on AROUND the Gunslinger, and he's only STARTING to notice the
active role he plays in it. Or: SHOULD play in it. Back in the day, I imagined Eastwood (not exactly an engrossing "actor" in the usual sense, but
an undeniable PRESENCE) in the gig. Olyphant sort of does some of the same things. I maybe envisioned the Gunslinger as older, but that's what
make-up was invented for, right?
The other roles will be big, though, as they require the actual acting. It scares me that one of those roles is a kid actor role. Eddie, Susannah, and
Fr. Callahan strike me as the more "actory" roles who will need to emote in multiple installments of the TV shows/movies. Plus: there are PLENTY of
bit parts to go around in something this massively epic.
If we go with Olyphant, can we just go ahead and play it safe by forcing him to work with the substantially-more-talented Ian McShane again? Possibly
as Walter/Flagg/etc.? I'd buy that for a dollar.
Rick
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the goon
Sister Act
Posts 6396
Registered 3-13-2004 Location Charlotte, NC Member Is Offline Mood:
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| posted on 10-18-2010 at 05:50 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by OORick
Back in the day, I imagined Eastwood (not exactly an engrossing "actor" in the usual sense, but an undeniable PRESENCE) in the gig.
Yeah, I always thought that Eastwood was the perfect, obvious choice for Roland. I mean, just look at this:
And I think Hugh Jackman bears a bit of a resemblance to Eastwood, so he'd probably be another good choice for the role of Roland (though maybe
a little bit too big of a name if they wanted to go the lesser-known actor route). As for Timothy Olyphant, I haven't really seen anything
he's been in, but based on the pictures he looks like he could pull it off.
And while we're on the subject of fantasy casting, here's one that's completely random, but I always pictured Eddie as looking like
Andras Jones, who played the older brother in Nightmare On Elm Street 4.
Problem is, the guy is 42 now, so if we can create a time machine to bring a younger version of him and Clint Eastwood into present day, we'll
be all set.
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theflammablemanimal
American Dream
Posts 7586
Registered 9-2-2008 Member Is Offline Mood:
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| posted on 10-18-2010 at 08:43 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by OORick
I kinda think that's what's needed for the Gunslinger. Without spoiling the ending (again, we CAN spoil, if you want, but I'll avoid
it), it's almost the whole POINT of the book/series that the story goes on AROUND the Gunslinger, and he's only STARTING to notice the
active role he plays in it. Or: SHOULD play in it.
Whoah, I did not get that at all. Granted, I finished the series a few years ago, but I remember the point of then ending being that it happened that
way because of one mistake that the Gunslinger made (which I guess goes to the SHOULD).
http://epitomeofmasculinity.blogspot.com/
@EofMasculinity
The first undisputed OO draft champion of the world
Get the pistons pumping and let the pigeons loose on my yambag
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