Stephen King's The Dark Tower - (2017, D: Arcel) S: Elba, McConaughey
07-20-17, 08:24 PM
#476
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Stephen King's The Dark Tower - (2017, D: Arcel) S: Elba, McConaughey
07-20-17, 08:30 PM
#477
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Stephen King's The Dark Tower - (2017, D: Arcel) S: Elba, McConaughey
Well, from Stephen King's Facebook post, and all the other info I've read, this movie isn't intended to cover the entire series, just mostly the event of the first book, with the Young Roland stuff excised and maybe some elements from later books mixed in.
07-20-17, 08:34 PM
#478
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Stephen King's The Dark Tower - (2017, D: Arcel) S: Elba, McConaughey
Okay so basically you're accusing me of being racist because I don't like the guy? That takes a lot of nerve and I don't appreciate that notion at all. For the record I've never claimed to have black friends but I also live in a predominantly white city. Not really up to me what the population around where I am is made up of. I have nothing against people of other ethnicities but I don't know many. You act as though I'm throwing out racial slurs against the guy or something. I don't think he fits the part as I'd think of it in my mind's eye, that's really all. Don't act all holier than though when you really don't know me.
07-20-17, 08:40 PM
#479
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Stephen King's The Dark Tower - (2017, D: Arcel) S: Elba, McConaughey
Okay so basically you're accusing me of being racist because I don't like the guy? That takes a lot of nerve and I don't appreciate that notion at all. For the record I've never claimed to have black friends but I also live in a predominantly white city. Not really up to me what the population around where I am is made up of. I have nothing against people of other ethnicities but I don't know many. You act as though I'm throwing out racial slurs against the guy or something. I don't think he fits the part as I'd think of it in my mind's eye, that's really all. Don't act all holier than though when you really don't know me.
07-20-17, 08:53 PM
#480
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Stephen King's The Dark Tower - (2017, D: Arcel) S: Elba, McConaughey
All I meant was that when the cast was announced before I saw who was playing who I thought McConaughey would be Roland. To me that fits better because given past roles he's played I could have seen it. I didn't mean because Elba is black that he should be The Man in Black.
07-20-17, 09:00 PM
#481
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Re: Stephen King's The Dark Tower - (2017, D: Arcel) S: Elba, McConaughey
If you can stomach the rest of the movie, check out Elba in Ghostrider 2. His character there is how I am picturing his Gunslinger.
The decision has been made and I don't care -- Elba is what we get. While his skin color does not fundamentally change anything about Roland, it VERY much changes a key relationship with another main character from the books. I'm guessing she isn't in this movie, so we'll have to cross that bridge if/when we get there.
I don't agree with your take on Elba, but I see where you are coming from. Outside of Pacific Rim, I don't think most people have seen him in an "action" movie; and even in Pacific Rim he did not have an "action" role. He has mostly done dramas or supporting roles.
I'm 110% in with your take on the rest of it Mike. Fools see racism/sexism at every turn -- it's what justifies their own biases. Sometimes a movie is just bad. Sometimes an actor just doesn't click with a person.
I'd actually go the other way and say Denzel doesn't click with me most of the time. I don't dislike his work, but I'm not enthralled by everything he has done. He is very talented, but I think he doesn't always stretch his wings and push himself into challenging roles. It's getting dark out, I guess I need to go light up the cross on my front lawn now.
The decision has been made and I don't care -- Elba is what we get. While his skin color does not fundamentally change anything about Roland, it VERY much changes a key relationship with another main character from the books. I'm guessing she isn't in this movie, so we'll have to cross that bridge if/when we get there.
I don't agree with your take on Elba, but I see where you are coming from. Outside of Pacific Rim, I don't think most people have seen him in an "action" movie; and even in Pacific Rim he did not have an "action" role. He has mostly done dramas or supporting roles.
I'm 110% in with your take on the rest of it Mike. Fools see racism/sexism at every turn -- it's what justifies their own biases. Sometimes a movie is just bad. Sometimes an actor just doesn't click with a person.
I'd actually go the other way and say Denzel doesn't click with me most of the time. I don't dislike his work, but I'm not enthralled by everything he has done. He is very talented, but I think he doesn't always stretch his wings and push himself into challenging roles. It's getting dark out, I guess I need to go light up the cross on my front lawn now.
07-20-17, 09:04 PM
#482
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Re: Stephen King's The Dark Tower - (2017, D: Arcel) S: Elba, McConaughey
That he doesn't think Elba can pull off rugged, but he thinks McConaughey can. Just what he said. Get over your own biases and stop projecting. Your projecting is offensive.
07-20-17, 09:15 PM
#483
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Stephen King's The Dark Tower - (2017, D: Arcel) S: Elba, McConaughey
07-20-17, 10:59 PM
#484
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Stephen King's The Dark Tower - (2017, D: Arcel) S: Elba, McConaughey
They aren't doing shit for this at Comic-Con, which makes me think the studio has written it off even when Comic Con did do stuff for a film like RIPD -- we all know how RIPD turned out, right?
07-21-17, 07:06 AM
#485
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Stephen King's The Dark Tower - (2017, D: Arcel) S: Elba, McConaughey
I'm still fired up to see this movie and hope to be there opening weekend.
07-21-17, 07:08 AM
#486
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Stephen King's The Dark Tower - (2017, D: Arcel) S: Elba, McConaughey
All I meant was that when the cast was announced before I saw who was playing who I thought McConaughey would be Roland. To me that fits better because given past roles he's played I could have seen it. I didn't mean because Elba is black that he should be The Man in Black.
07-21-17, 10:47 AM
#487
Re: Stephen King's The Dark Tower - (2017, D: Arcel) S: Elba, McConaughey
There’s one thing you learn very quickly about The Dark Tower director Nikolaj Arcel — the man is a dedicated fan of Stephen King‘s epic fantasy/horror/science fiction series.
We spoke during the San Diego Comic-Con in a Gaslamp District bar remade for promotional purposes into the Dixie Pig, a restaurant from King’s novels (and the upcoming film adaptation) that caters to a not-quite-human clientele and serves as a gateway between worlds. And while the bulk of our conversation was dedicated to all things Dark Tower and how he tackled this long-gestating adaptation, I had to ask him the question of the moment. Why is The Dark Tower, an adaptation of a sprawling saga that spans seven thick novels, only 95 minutes long?
And Arcel had an answer.
My full interview will run next week, but for now, here’s the exchange where we talk about that surprisingly brisk running time.
***
There’s one story that’s been making the rounds on the internet and I want to ask about it because I think it’s unfair to keep talking about it without having you chime in. The movie is a lot shorter than a lot of people, myself included, expected. We thought it was going to be a two and a half hour epic.
Yeah, yeah.
The knee-jerk reaction has been “That’s really short!” Can you talk about how it came to be that length?
The good news here…the reason why many fans are worried about the run time is that they think we are trying to do everything in this film. Which we are not. This is ideally the first film. This is an introduction to the world and the characters. It’s not meant to be all the novels and we’re just trying to cram everything in there. So that’s one thing. And the script was really lean and tight. When I got on board, the script was very short, very lean. That’s one of the things that attracted me to it. I said “This is smart.” You start with a lean, mean story and you don’t try to cram everything in there. You just build the basic ideas. And if people enjoy it and if they like this world and these characters, we can start expanding.
We spoke during the San Diego Comic-Con in a Gaslamp District bar remade for promotional purposes into the Dixie Pig, a restaurant from King’s novels (and the upcoming film adaptation) that caters to a not-quite-human clientele and serves as a gateway between worlds. And while the bulk of our conversation was dedicated to all things Dark Tower and how he tackled this long-gestating adaptation, I had to ask him the question of the moment. Why is The Dark Tower, an adaptation of a sprawling saga that spans seven thick novels, only 95 minutes long?
And Arcel had an answer.
My full interview will run next week, but for now, here’s the exchange where we talk about that surprisingly brisk running time.
***
There’s one story that’s been making the rounds on the internet and I want to ask about it because I think it’s unfair to keep talking about it without having you chime in. The movie is a lot shorter than a lot of people, myself included, expected. We thought it was going to be a two and a half hour epic.
Yeah, yeah.
The knee-jerk reaction has been “That’s really short!” Can you talk about how it came to be that length?
The good news here…the reason why many fans are worried about the run time is that they think we are trying to do everything in this film. Which we are not. This is ideally the first film. This is an introduction to the world and the characters. It’s not meant to be all the novels and we’re just trying to cram everything in there. So that’s one thing. And the script was really lean and tight. When I got on board, the script was very short, very lean. That’s one of the things that attracted me to it. I said “This is smart.” You start with a lean, mean story and you don’t try to cram everything in there. You just build the basic ideas. And if people enjoy it and if they like this world and these characters, we can start expanding.
07-21-17, 11:05 AM
#489
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Stephen King's The Dark Tower - (2017, D: Arcel) S: Elba, McConaughey
I still think this should have been a series on HBO or Netflix or something. I get the feeling this will tank hard and we'll never see it continued. With a series there's more room to grow and expand the story and universe.
07-21-17, 11:11 AM
#490
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Stephen King's The Dark Tower - (2017, D: Arcel) S: Elba, McConaughey
The Dark Tower TV series is still happening...as long as the movie is a hit. Here's what we know so far.
07-21-17, 11:13 AM
#491
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Stephen King's The Dark Tower - (2017, D: Arcel) S: Elba, McConaughey
Yeah but the key part of that is as long as the movie is a hit. I can see this underperforming and that series never happening. It would have been smarter to just do a season of a series and let it find its audience.
07-21-17, 11:23 AM
#492
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Stephen King's The Dark Tower - (2017, D: Arcel) S: Elba, McConaughey
Regarding the interview, the Dixie Pig is from book 6, Song of Susanna. Based on this, and the trailer, it seems like they're stepping away from the more metaphysical/magical "doorways" between worlds in the books and going with sci-fi technology doorways between worlds, borrowing a fixed door location from later in the series.
07-21-17, 11:25 AM
#493
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Stephen King's The Dark Tower - (2017, D: Arcel) S: Elba, McConaughey
There's really no guarantee a TV series would be a hit either. Plenty of shows get cancelled after one season.
07-21-17, 11:57 AM
#494
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Stephen King's The Dark Tower - (2017, D: Arcel) S: Elba, McConaughey
Yeah there's no guarantee about a series lasting either or doing well but I feel like for the books since they have a lot going on in then that they would work better as a series. This movie just has the vibe of a flop in my opinion.
07-21-17, 12:09 PM
#495
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Stephen King's The Dark Tower - (2017, D: Arcel) S: Elba, McConaughey
07-21-17, 12:40 PM
#496
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Stephen King's The Dark Tower - (2017, D: Arcel) S: Elba, McConaughey
I hope so. I've read a lot of King stuff but didn't get into the Gunslinger even though I have the first 3 or 4 books. I'll just have to block out those that will talk about stuff that was left out.
07-21-17, 01:30 PM
#497
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Re: Stephen King's The Dark Tower - (2017, D: Arcel) S: Elba, McConaughey
Also, Sony is saving money and not having a panel. What would they offer? Jumanji? Flatliners? Only Sony Pictures Classics showcased something this year.
07-21-17, 02:30 PM
#498
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Stephen King's The Dark Tower - (2017, D: Arcel) S: Elba, McConaughey
Sony wants that franchise money but the thing about series like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings is that they appealed to fans with a mostly faithful adaptation while streamlining the story and making it digestible to a broader audience. This movie doesn't look remotely faithful to the first book, so they have an uphill battle winning over King fans while also bringing in a new audience. All while introducing a new world/mythos and making a satisfying movie that stands on its own yet leaves the audience wanting more.
They definitely have the star power, but the they're taking a risky approach here.
They definitely have the star power, but the they're taking a risky approach here.
07-21-17, 08:00 PM
#500
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Re: Stephen King's The Dark Tower - (2017, D: Arcel) S: Elba, McConaughey
I think that was a given from the beginning. Still no reason to pop it into neutral and make truck noises while you roll backwards though.