The Dark Tower movie and film mega-deal!
- Thread starter Temis the Vorta
- Start date
Since Sergio Leone is dead I don't think there are many directors out there capable of filming a Dark Tower series. Certainly not Ron Howard. I hope nothing comes of this.
Wow. Not sure how I feel about this. It would take a special director/producer/crew to do this right.........I sincerely doubt Hollywood get's it right....it did with the LOTR trilogy so it can be done. This is even larger in scale/scope so........I dunno.........very difficult.
After all, King drew in elements from many of his other books into this main storyline and part of what's so special is how that series connects a lot of his other stories.
Well, no matter what they can't take the books away from me so I guess anything I get beyond what I already have is gravy.
After all, King drew in elements from many of his other books into this main storyline and part of what's so special is how that series connects a lot of his other stories.
Well, no matter what they can't take the books away from me so I guess anything I get beyond what I already have is gravy.
A couple of the early books were good, but I can't really remember which ones -they've all sort of blurred into one epic blob. I do recall a progressive meh-ness and page bloat creeping in as they went along, though. Never read the last two. He took so long to finish them, I just stopped caring.
Let's see ... I can clearly remember scenes from the one with Pusher in New York, the one with the AI controlled super train, the flashbacky wizard and glass one, lobstrocities and ... that's about it. The best bits were when Roland was reality-hopping or killing the shit out of people and that was mostly pre-finger loss, when he could dual quick-draw. The dialect heavy bits and secondary character focus sections weren't so much fun.
Maybe the new series will inspire me to reread or even finish the books.
Anyone read the most recent ones? Opinions? Worth the time?
EDIT: ^the above post reminds me, I didn't care for the complete retcon of everything King had written being suddenly connected to the Dark Tower series. Felt very Lucas and the 'I came up with all nine, I mean six films around the same time" bullshit. Unnecessary and self-indulgent. Didn't he also insert himself into the narrative as a character? Weak.
I think I just talked myself out of reading the last few books.
Let's see ... I can clearly remember scenes from the one with Pusher in New York, the one with the AI controlled super train, the flashbacky wizard and glass one, lobstrocities and ... that's about it. The best bits were when Roland was reality-hopping or killing the shit out of people and that was mostly pre-finger loss, when he could dual quick-draw. The dialect heavy bits and secondary character focus sections weren't so much fun.
Maybe the new series will inspire me to reread or even finish the books.
Anyone read the most recent ones? Opinions? Worth the time?
EDIT: ^the above post reminds me, I didn't care for the complete retcon of everything King had written being suddenly connected to the Dark Tower series. Felt very Lucas and the 'I came up with all nine, I mean six films around the same time" bullshit. Unnecessary and self-indulgent. Didn't he also insert himself into the narrative as a character? Weak.
I think I just talked myself out of reading the last few books.
He did indeed take a very long time to finish them. However, he did complete the last three very close to one another after he had his accident. If you got through the fifth book, I'm surprised you quit there since the last 2 came out right afterwards.
That gets you through book 2. He loses his fingers in book 2 and does the people hopping in book 2.Doesn't sound like you got much beyond that......do you remember books 3-5 at all?
I've read all 7 books 3 times. I'd put them on many levels with the LOTR Trilogy books. Some people didn't care for the very ending but I thought it was fitting. In my opinion it is one of the finest sci-fi/fantasy epics right alongside Tolkien and Asimov's series.
I'm not a big King fan, but the Dark Tower stuff is good. Since I'm not a purist I'll probably enjoy a film series made out of it.
Well, checking wikipedia, the AI train is from book 3 and the wizard and glass is book 4, and reading the description of book 5, I must have started it, because I now recall the Salem's Lot guy being introduced, so I guess I must have dropped out when the opening of book 5 didn't grab me.
It definitely had it's high points, or I wouldn't recall much of anything about it (I read the first three once when I was like fifteen, assuming it was a trilogy) and I certainly wanted it to be as epic as LOTR.
On the one hand, I should probably just hunker down and read 5-7 to finish the damn things, since I'd like to actually see what the Dark Tower showdown with Randall Flagg or whatever turns out to be.
On the other, when I read the first three oh so long ago, it was kinda fun to think of Roland's story as part of Moorcock's never-ending Eternal Champion saga. I might do best to continue with that. Especially if the absolute ending ends up sucking balls.
Will Stephen King play himself?
This is one time I won't be very mad if they change the ending. It'll be interesting anyway.
I wonder how they'll tackle Susannah? The way the books describe the guys lugging her around always sounded off to me.
This is one time I won't be very mad if they change the ending. It'll be interesting anyway.
I wonder how they'll tackle Susannah? The way the books describe the guys lugging her around always sounded off to me.
This is merely my opinion but I'd start over, give the series a blank slate and see if you're in a different place now than you were when you read those first books long ago.
If you read the first two and aren't totally into it........probably isn't worth your time to continue. However, if you do enjoy them, then I'd suggest reading the rest of the series and see where it takes you. Book 3 & 4 had me completely spellbound. Book 5 had it's slow parts but satisfied overall. Book 6/7 was uneven but certainly worth reading through if for no other reason to see how things play out.
It's a flawed epic to be sure..................but there's no mistaking it at all....it is an epic and a very worthwhile one at that.
Never read the series, and really have little interest in the subject matter. But watching how they tie together a couple of movies with a TV show will be fascinating to watch from a production point of view.
Having a movie act as a pilot for a TV series, with that intention in place before either one is even in pre-production is something that I do not remember ever having been attempted.
Having a movie act as a pilot for a TV series, with that intention in place before either one is even in pre-production is something that I do not remember ever having been attempted.
There is no way a three-film series can do this justice. It would require a seven-season TV show at least.
Screen trilogy and TV series?
I can see one or the other, but not both. And a screen trilogy won't come close to capturing the scope of the books, which are like 3000+ pages collectively--one film for each book would be more appropriate IMO.
I just hope they have a little more respect for the source material than those behind The Stand or the It miniseries. Those were disapointments to say the least, partially because both are 1000+ page books reduced to a 5 and 2 part miniseries respectively.
In any case, it would be nice to see some sort of adaptation but I'm not holding my breath.
I can see one or the other, but not both. And a screen trilogy won't come close to capturing the scope of the books, which are like 3000+ pages collectively--one film for each book would be more appropriate IMO.
I just hope they have a little more respect for the source material than those behind The Stand or the It miniseries. Those were disapointments to say the least, partially because both are 1000+ page books reduced to a 5 and 2 part miniseries respectively.
In any case, it would be nice to see some sort of adaptation but I'm not holding my breath.
The planned TV show will be a reality series following the epic creative battle between Opie and the Master of Horror (special guest judge - the ghost of Don Knotts).
syfy.
syfy.
How is there a movie trilogy AND a TV show? Are they going to tell the same story? I don't see how you could ever cram that bloated story into three movies. Or would it be the movies and the TV show are connected where the bigger events are in the movies? That would be ridiculous though b/c you'd severely limit your movie audience.
So you're saying we should nip this thing in the bud?
Randall Flagg : Red King! Why are there so many ostriches? Our spies said there would only be a few ostriches! This is a terrible world to conquer!
What I want to know is, will they be using that Drew Struzan poster from 'The Mist'? 
Hmm. I was more excited about the earlier rumors that JJ Abrams had won the rights to do this.
To do these movies best I think you'd need a visionary type director. There are all kinds of amazing visuals in the book that would lend themselves to the screen. Is Ron Howard right for that? I dunno ...
To do these movies best I think you'd need a visionary type director. There are all kinds of amazing visuals in the book that would lend themselves to the screen. Is Ron Howard right for that? I dunno ...