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The Gunslinger: Ruined Before it's Started

Opopanax

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I'm a fan of Stephen King's Gunslinger series. There are many of us. For years and years we've waited for the movie industry to begin putting this franchise onto the silver screen. And now they're finally doing it.

And they're totally going to screw it up.

Now stick with me here; this isn't a racist rant. I'm quite the lefty, but what's happening here really bothers me.

Roland Deschain is the main character of the series. King describes Roland several times as looking something similar to Clint Eastwood with "blue bombardier's eyes."

So who's going to play Roland?

DeCaprio might have been able to pull it off.
If Tom Hanks were younger, he could have done it. Same with Jeff Bridges (and Clint Eastwood obviously)
If only Heath Ledger was still alive.
Joseph Gordon Levitt? A little out there, but the guy is talented.
Matt Damon? Hmm. He could probably pull it off. Definitely.
Ben Affleck? It's a risk, but with the right direction and cast around him, he would have been a possibility.
Jude Law? Definitely, because Roland's background is similar to the Arthurian legend and so a Roland with a British accent is well within the boundaries of the role.
Christian Bale? Yes! M'f'ing Christian Bale would have killed in the role of Roland.

But who did the studio choose instead of all the above to make what could have been a franchise of 3+ movies (at least 3 movies)?

Idris Alba.

Yes, that Idris Alba; the black, kinda chubby actor from The Wire.

If you've read The Gunslinger series, in whole or in part, you understand how untenable this is. Roland Deschain is not a black guy. His ethnicity was never up for interpretation and you never wondered, "Is Roland a black guy?" That's because King describes him as a white guy, and in the illustrated books, Roland is always a white guy. And a big part of the series is the tension between a black female character, her alter ego, and the other members of Roland's ka-tet.

This is such a monumentally bad idea, that it's hard to believe it's happened. I refuse to go see these movies and I'm in the midst of a nerd meltdown about it. I don't pay the whole "politically correct" stuff much mind for various reasons, but this is just that, run totally amok. Some Hollywood tools came up with the idea that they'd put their own spin on this epic series: "Hey, let's turn this thing on its head and make Roland a black guy!"

No, you dummies.

Peter Jackson didn't do that with the LOTR. Fans would have crapped cats if Jackson would have had Kevin Hart in the role of Frodo Baggins and Morgan Freeman as Gandalf. Sorry, it just doesn't work because Tolkien didn't write those characters as having those characteristics.

And King, being a what even I will say is a d-bag liberal, didn't have the nads to stand up and say, "You're not doing that to my greatest work!!!" Instead he thinks it's great (he's either lying or has his head stuck so far up his own backside that he doesn't realize what a gigantic middle finger this is to the fans of the series).

This just blows. Sorry for the rant.
 
I'm a fan of Stephen King's Gunslinger series. There are many of us. For years and years we've waited for the movie industry to begin putting this franchise onto the silver screen. And now they're finally doing it.

And they're totally going to screw it up.

Well, I understand your dismay by being a purist.

However, I haven't read Mr. Kings Gunslinger (or whatever the title of the books is) series so I have no preconceived notions of who should play what. :shrug:

I will point out a problem I see in the Media...the remaking of movies and TV shows but with the "twist" of making the cast all female (like Ghost-Busters), or actors with a different ethnic group (like the Uncle Buck TV show).

It isn't really the problem with the cast change, but the fact that there isn't much creativity and they are making remakes with whatever "twist" might get some profits out of it.

There are so many books out there, you'd think they had enough to work with.
 
I'm a fan of Stephen King's Gunslinger series. There are many of us. For years and years we've waited for the movie industry to begin putting this franchise onto the silver screen. And now they're finally doing it.

And they're totally going to screw it up.

Now stick with me here; this isn't a racist rant. I'm quite the lefty, but what's happening here really bothers me.

Roland Deschain is the main character of the series. King describes Roland several times as looking something similar to Clint Eastwood with "blue bombardier's eyes."

So who's going to play Roland?

DeCaprio might have been able to pull it off.
If Tom Hanks were younger, he could have done it. Same with Jeff Bridges (and Clint Eastwood obviously)
If only Heath Ledger was still alive.
Joseph Gordon Levitt? A little out there, but the guy is talented.
Matt Damon? Hmm. He could probably pull it off. Definitely.
Ben Affleck? It's a risk, but with the right direction and cast around him, he would have been a possibility.
Jude Law? Definitely, because Roland's background is similar to the Arthurian legend and so a Roland with a British accent is well within the boundaries of the role.
Christian Bale? Yes! M'f'ing Christian Bale would have killed in the role of Roland.

But who did the studio choose instead of all the above to make what could have been a franchise of 3+ movies (at least 3 movies)?

Idris Alba.

Yes, that Idris Alba; the black, kinda chubby actor from The Wire.

If you've read The Gunslinger series, in whole or in part, you understand how untenable this is. Roland Deschain is not a black guy. His ethnicity was never up for interpretation and you never wondered, "Is Roland a black guy?" That's because King describes him as a white guy, and in the illustrated books, Roland is always a white guy. And a big part of the series is the tension between a black female character, her alter ego, and the other members of Roland's ka-tet.

This is such a monumentally bad idea, that it's hard to believe it's happened. I refuse to go see these movies and I'm in the midst of a nerd meltdown about it. I don't pay the whole "politically correct" stuff much mind for various reasons, but this is just that, run totally amok. Some Hollywood tools came up with the idea that they'd put their own spin on this epic series: "Hey, let's turn this thing on its head and make Roland a black guy!"

No, you dummies.

Peter Jackson didn't do that with the LOTR. Fans would have crapped cats if Jackson would have had Kevin Hart in the role of Frodo Baggins and Morgan Freeman as Gandalf. Sorry, it just doesn't work because Tolkien didn't write those characters as having those characteristics.

And King, being a what even I will say is a d-bag liberal, didn't have the nads to stand up and say, "You're not doing that to my greatest work!!!" Instead he thinks it's great (he's either lying or has his head stuck so far up his own backside that he doesn't realize what a gigantic middle finger this is to the fans of the series).

This just blows. Sorry for the rant.

That's racist.
 
Stephen King's works are almost always turned to **** when Hollywood get's it's hands on them.

What really pissed me off was the ending of The Mist. Not only did it suck, it was ****ing sad.
 
Stephen King's works are almost always turned to **** when Hollywood get's it's hands on them.

What really pissed me off was the ending of The Mist. Not only did it suck, it was ****ing sad.

I liked the ending to The Mist. It hit me pretty hard.
 
I'm a fan of Stephen King's Gunslinger series. There are many of us. For years and years we've waited for the movie industry to begin putting this franchise onto the silver screen. And now they're finally doing it.

And they're totally going to screw it up.

Now stick with me here; this isn't a racist rant. I'm quite the lefty, but what's happening here really bothers me.

Roland Deschain is the main character of the series. King describes Roland several times as looking something similar to Clint Eastwood with "blue bombardier's eyes."

So who's going to play Roland?

DeCaprio might have been able to pull it off.
If Tom Hanks were younger, he could have done it. Same with Jeff Bridges (and Clint Eastwood obviously)
If only Heath Ledger was still alive.
Joseph Gordon Levitt? A little out there, but the guy is talented.
Matt Damon? Hmm. He could probably pull it off. Definitely.
Ben Affleck? It's a risk, but with the right direction and cast around him, he would have been a possibility.
Jude Law? Definitely, because Roland's background is similar to the Arthurian legend and so a Roland with a British accent is well within the boundaries of the role.
Christian Bale? Yes! M'f'ing Christian Bale would have killed in the role of Roland.

But who did the studio choose instead of all the above to make what could have been a franchise of 3+ movies (at least 3 movies)?

Idris Alba.

Yes, that Idris Alba; the black, kinda chubby actor from The Wire.


If you've read The Gunslinger series, in whole or in part, you understand how untenable this is. Roland Deschain is not a black guy. His ethnicity was never up for interpretation and you never wondered, "Is Roland a black guy?" That's because King describes him as a white guy, and in the illustrated books, Roland is always a white guy. And a big part of the series is the tension between a black female character, her alter ego, and the other members of Roland's ka-tet.

This is such a monumentally bad idea, that it's hard to believe it's happened. I refuse to go see these movies and I'm in the midst of a nerd meltdown about it. I don't pay the whole "politically correct" stuff much mind for various reasons, but this is just that, run totally amok. Some Hollywood tools came up with the idea that they'd put their own spin on this epic series: "Hey, let's turn this thing on its head and make Roland a black guy!"

No, you dummies.

Peter Jackson didn't do that with the LOTR. Fans would have crapped cats if Jackson would have had Kevin Hart in the role of Frodo Baggins and Morgan Freeman as Gandalf. Sorry, it just doesn't work because Tolkien didn't write those characters as having those characteristics.

And King, being a what even I will say is a d-bag liberal, didn't have the nads to stand up and say, "You're not doing that to my greatest work!!!" Instead he thinks it's great (he's either lying or has his head stuck so far up his own backside that he doesn't realize what a gigantic middle finger this is to the fans of the series).

This just blows. Sorry for the rant.

You mean this kind of chubby Idris Alba...

b8b47abdf971a5f5c3079c3150329db4.jpg


You have serious issues with this post man. He can play the part just fine. If Denzel can play a white man in a Shakespearean play, I am sure Idres can pull off a Stephen King book.
 
Stephen King's works are almost always turned to **** when Hollywood get's it's hands on them.

What really pissed me off was the ending of The Mist. Not only did it suck, it was ****ing sad.

Why did the ending of the The Mist piss you off? Because it had an emotionally shocking ending? It was great.
 
You mean this kind of chubby Idris Alba...

b8b47abdf971a5f5c3079c3150329db4.jpg


You have serious issues with this post man. He can play the part just fine. If Denzel can play a white man in a Shakespearean play, I am sure Idres can pull off a Stephen King book.

I was looking at pictures of him in The Wire where he appeared kind of chubby. If I'm wrong, that's fine. I'll easily concede that. However, Denzel Washington played a role in a romantic comedy based on a Shakespearean play. It's not the same thing.

And yes, I do have way too serious issues about this movie.
 
Stephen King's works are almost always turned to **** when Hollywood get's it's hands on them.

What really pissed me off was the ending of The Mist. Not only did it suck, it was ****ing sad.

Holy crap! I was soooo mad at that ending.

I had read the story and I preferred that ending even as open-ended as it was to the mass killing and the lifting of the Mist in the movie version.

I don't know why he let them do that.
 
Why did the ending of the The Mist piss you off? Because it had an emotionally shocking ending? It was great.

I agree. It was shocking and heart rendering. And it was good. The story that King wrote had something of a non-ending in that we never find out if the characters live or die, nor do we find out if the mist is a permanent condition. But the movie came up with an answer for it in a solid, horrific fashion--which I personally find to be a good quality in a horror flick.

There's always going to be room for different interpretations, and it's often necessary to discard some things from a book or combine characters into one in order to be able to make the translation from book to screen because the mediums are so different. It's when unnecessary or poorly executed changes occur that it becomes bothersome.
 
I was looking at pictures of him in The Wire where he appeared kind of chubby. If I'm wrong, that's fine. I'll easily concede that. However, Denzel Washington played a role in a romantic comedy based on a Shakespearean play. It's not the same thing.

What? It was the actual play, not "based on" and he killed it...

Much Ado About Nothing (1993) - IMDb

And yes, I do have way too serious issues about this movie.

Obviously based on your flawed views of Denzel and Idris's abilities and work.
 
Do I like the casting? No. King went out of his way in the books to describe Roland physically, REPEATEDLY. This isn't a case where the author gave some vague and generic description of appearance leading to a wide interpretation of what the character looks like; rather, it's one where the persons appearance was very distinctly described and not only that, but was used repeatedly. Roland's "bombardier blue eyes" are THE defining physical characteristic of him, to the point where it's mention again and again over all 7 books. Furthermore, the racial divide and issues surrounding Roland as a white man and "Detta" Walker are a fundamental part of two characters interactions and growth with each other.

So as a book reader, the casting GREATLY disappoints me and will immediately take me out of any movie I watch as a "Dark Tower" movie.

HOWEVER....

Elba is an outstanding actor. I don't have a doubt, at all, that he can play the PART of Roland despite being utterly incapable of ever even approaching the image of him that is in my mind or clearly depicted by King. All his casting is going to do is cause me to view the Movies as an entirely different circumstance, story, and entity than the books (which, ironically enough, could actually fit within the universe of the books).

And really, based on certain things that happened in book 6 and 7, I have a hard time getting very upset about the "sanctity" of the story that I read. Would I rather have had an actor that actually would've both been able to look AND act the part of Roland? Absolutely. But I'm not going to cry a river that they got one that can only do the acting part.
 
I agree. It was shocking and heart rendering. And it was good. The story that King wrote had something of a non-ending in that we never find out if the characters live or die, nor do we find out if the mist is a permanent condition. But the movie came up with an answer for it in a solid, horrific fashion--which I personally find to be a good quality in a horror flick.

It's funny you mention King and his non-endings. I am a huge horror fan from Poe to Lovecraft etc on through to King. King has some of the worst endings I have ever read. I think in my case it was IT. What a god awful ending. The Stand was not any better ending wise.

There's always going to be room for different interpretations, and it's often necessary to discard some things from a book or combine characters into one in order to be able to make the translation from book to screen because the mediums are so different. It's when unnecessary or poorly executed changes occur that it becomes bothersome.

Agreed. I just don't see the new ending worse than the short story. Just taste I guess.
 
Stephen King's works are almost always turned to **** when Hollywood get's it's hands on them.

It's funny in that the best adaptation of a Stephen King move ever was the one he claims to hate the most (Kubrick's version of The Shining). But he had his hands all over that TV miniseries of the same name and man, what a stinker that turned out to be.

I do agree with you regarding how horribly his books have been translated in large part. The latest was The Dome. Solid book with easily translatable material gets metamorphosed into dog turds when the script could have just followed along with the book and been watchable.
 
It's ruined because they cast a black man? Really? It's ruined? What a steaming pile. Idris Elba is a fantastic actor. You think Tom Hanks would have been appropriate as Roland? yeesh....I'm not sure you and I even read the same series.
 
Do I like the casting? No. King went out of his way in the books to describe Roland physically, REPEATEDLY. This isn't a case where the author gave some vague and generic description of appearance leading to a wide interpretation of what the character looks like; rather, it's one where the persons appearance was very distinctly described and not only that, but was used repeatedly. Roland's "bombardier blue eyes" are THE defining physical characteristic of him, to the point where it's mention again and again over all 7 books. Furthermore, the racial divide and issues surrounding Roland as a white man and "Detta" Walker are a fundamental part of two characters interactions and growth with each other.

So as a book reader, the casting GREATLY disappoints me and will immediately take me out of any movie I watch as a "Dark Tower" movie.

HOWEVER....

Elba is an outstanding actor. I don't have a doubt, at all, that he can play the PART of Roland despite being utterly incapable of ever even approaching the image of him that is in my mind or clearly depicted by King. All his casting is going to do is cause me to view the Movies as an entirely different circumstance, story, and entity than the books (which, ironically enough, could actually fit within the universe of the books).

And really, based on certain things that happened in book 6 and 7, I have a hard time getting very upset about the "sanctity" of the story that I read. Would I rather have had an actor that actually would've both been able to look AND act the part of Roland? Absolutely. But I'm not going to cry a river that they got one that can only do the acting part.

That makes perfect sense.
 
It's ruined because they cast a black man? Really? It's ruined? What a steaming pile. Idris Elba is a fantastic actor. You think Tom Hanks would have been appropriate as Roland? yeesh....I'm not sure you and I even read the same series.

Yes. It ruins it for me. Not specifically because Alba is black, but because to my mind, Roland is who King says he was, who I pictured, and who the illustrated books pictured. It's not necessarily a race thing, it's a decisional thing in that there were plenty of actors who would have fit the role better.

And I also happen to think highly of Tom Hanks as an actor. He's shown the ability to pull off everything from comedy to serious drama and won Oscars for it and I think that were he a little younger he could have played the role of Roland quite well.

I don't see why sticking to key character traits is so difficult. What's going to happen with Detta Walker/Susannah? The racial dynamics of the story are key. Did you read the same books I did?
 
to say that i dig this series is an understatement. always pictured Roland as a "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" Eastwood. however, i don't see a reason that this actor can't pull it off. ****, if you want to get mad about something, i'd probably get mad about the 1980s version of Christine and a few others before i'd get pissed about this one before it even comes out.

Stephen King novels often don't translate well to film because so much of it is inner dialogue. that means that you're going to need one kickass narrator and excellent filming. Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile worked for those reasons. this one will be difficult to pull off, but not because Roland doesn't look like Clint Eastwood in the film.

i can see how this one is important; The Dark Tower series is the common thread in so much of Stephen King's work. the argument can be made that it finds its way into his books more often than not. i hope whoever is filming it is a big fan, because i'd like to see it done right.
 
I'm a fan of Stephen King's Gunslinger series. There are many of us. For years and years we've waited for the movie industry to begin putting this franchise onto the silver screen. And now they're finally doing it.

And they're totally going to screw it up.

Now stick with me here; this isn't a racist rant. I'm quite the lefty, but what's happening here really bothers me.

Roland Deschain is the main character of the series. King describes Roland several times as looking something similar to Clint Eastwood with "blue bombardier's eyes."

So who's going to play Roland?

DeCaprio might have been able to pull it off.
If Tom Hanks were younger, he could have done it. Same with Jeff Bridges (and Clint Eastwood obviously)
If only Heath Ledger was still alive.
Joseph Gordon Levitt? A little out there, but the guy is talented.
Matt Damon? Hmm. He could probably pull it off. Definitely.
Ben Affleck? It's a risk, but with the right direction and cast around him, he would have been a possibility.
Jude Law? Definitely, because Roland's background is similar to the Arthurian legend and so a Roland with a British accent is well within the boundaries of the role.
Christian Bale? Yes! M'f'ing Christian Bale would have killed in the role of Roland.

But who did the studio choose instead of all the above to make what could have been a franchise of 3+ movies (at least 3 movies)?

Idris Alba.

Yes, that Idris Alba; the black, kinda chubby actor from The Wire.

If you've read The Gunslinger series, in whole or in part, you understand how untenable this is. Roland Deschain is not a black guy. His ethnicity was never up for interpretation and you never wondered, "Is Roland a black guy?" That's because King describes him as a white guy, and in the illustrated books, Roland is always a white guy. And a big part of the series is the tension between a black female character, her alter ego, and the other members of Roland's ka-tet.

This is such a monumentally bad idea, that it's hard to believe it's happened. I refuse to go see these movies and I'm in the midst of a nerd meltdown about it. I don't pay the whole "politically correct" stuff much mind for various reasons, but this is just that, run totally amok. Some Hollywood tools came up with the idea that they'd put their own spin on this epic series: "Hey, let's turn this thing on its head and make Roland a black guy!"

No, you dummies.

Peter Jackson didn't do that with the LOTR. Fans would have crapped cats if Jackson would have had Kevin Hart in the role of Frodo Baggins and Morgan Freeman as Gandalf. Sorry, it just doesn't work because Tolkien didn't write those characters as having those characteristics.

And King, being a what even I will say is a d-bag liberal, didn't have the nads to stand up and say, "You're not doing that to my greatest work!!!" Instead he thinks it's great (he's either lying or has his head stuck so far up his own backside that he doesn't realize what a gigantic middle finger this is to the fans of the series).

This just blows. Sorry for the rant.

After black Marxists throwing ten stage fits all over the country you're going to see more of this
 
It's funny in that the best adaptation of a Stephen King move ever was the one he claims to hate the most (Kubrick's version of The Shining).
I liked that version. I can't imagine why King would hate it.


I do agree with you regarding how horribly his books have been translated in large part. The latest was The Dome. Solid book with easily translatable material gets metamorphosed into dog turds when the script could have just followed along with the book and been watchable.

Under The Dome TV series? Yeah...that was bad. Horrible, in fact. If i could compare it to something, i'd compare it to the Ghostbusters remake in terms of how bad it was.
 
I liked that version. I can't imagine why King would hate it.




Under The Dome TV series? Yeah...that was bad. Horrible, in fact. If i could compare it to something, i'd compare it to the Ghostbusters remake in terms of how bad it was.

i figured that you might be a King fan, for obvious reasons.

as for TV series, the 11-22-63 miniseries was pretty true to the book, other than the shortened timeline.
 
It was depressing. That's all i can say.

I will not argue that point it was depressing and very sad. Way better than the ending in the book. Like I said it's just a matter of personal taste.
 
I'm a fan of Stephen King's Gunslinger series. There are many of us. For years and years we've waited for the movie industry to begin putting this franchise onto the silver screen. And now they're finally doing it.

And they're totally going to screw it up.

Now stick with me here; this isn't a racist rant. I'm quite the lefty, but what's happening here really bothers me.

Roland Deschain is the main character of the series. King describes Roland several times as looking something similar to Clint Eastwood with "blue bombardier's eyes."

So who's going to play Roland?

DeCaprio might have been able to pull it off.
If Tom Hanks were younger, he could have done it. Same with Jeff Bridges (and Clint Eastwood obviously)
If only Heath Ledger was still alive.
Joseph Gordon Levitt? A little out there, but the guy is talented.
Matt Damon? Hmm. He could probably pull it off. Definitely.
Ben Affleck? It's a risk, but with the right direction and cast around him, he would have been a possibility.
Jude Law? Definitely, because Roland's background is similar to the Arthurian legend and so a Roland with a British accent is well within the boundaries of the role.
Christian Bale? Yes! M'f'ing Christian Bale would have killed in the role of Roland.

But who did the studio choose instead of all the above to make what could have been a franchise of 3+ movies (at least 3 movies)?

Idris Alba.

Yes, that Idris Alba; the black, kinda chubby actor from The Wire.

If you've read The Gunslinger series, in whole or in part, you understand how untenable this is. Roland Deschain is not a black guy. His ethnicity was never up for interpretation and you never wondered, "Is Roland a black guy?" That's because King describes him as a white guy, and in the illustrated books, Roland is always a white guy. And a big part of the series is the tension between a black female character, her alter ego, and the other members of Roland's ka-tet.

This is such a monumentally bad idea, that it's hard to believe it's happened. I refuse to go see these movies and I'm in the midst of a nerd meltdown about it. I don't pay the whole "politically correct" stuff much mind for various reasons, but this is just that, run totally amok. Some Hollywood tools came up with the idea that they'd put their own spin on this epic series: "Hey, let's turn this thing on its head and make Roland a black guy!"

No, you dummies.

Peter Jackson didn't do that with the LOTR. Fans would have crapped cats if Jackson would have had Kevin Hart in the role of Frodo Baggins and Morgan Freeman as Gandalf. Sorry, it just doesn't work because Tolkien didn't write those characters as having those characteristics.

And King, being a what even I will say is a d-bag liberal, didn't have the nads to stand up and say, "You're not doing that to my greatest work!!!" Instead he thinks it's great (he's either lying or has his head stuck so far up his own backside that he doesn't realize what a gigantic middle finger this is to the fans of the series).

This just blows. Sorry for the rant.

If you expect a movie to be the same as the books, you are in for major disappointment. I suspect King is not going to stand up and complain because he realizes the color of Roland's skin is not what defines his character.

And Morgan Freeman would have made a great Gandalf. I have my doubts about Scarlett Johansson as Motoko Kusanagi, though that has nothing to do with race, and everything to do with my not seeing her as the part.
 
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