The Dark Tower movie now official, but...

[Contrabardus]

It's going to star Idris Elba as Roland and Matthew McConaughey as the Man in Black.

Not sure how okay I am with this casting. Racism is a big part of the plot revolving around Detta and defines her character in a lot of ways.

This isn't like making James Bond black or the gender swap in Ghostbusters. Neither of those has a plot relevant reason for the main characters to be a particular race or gender. The race swap in the Dark Tower affects the plot and characters in a big way.

I wasn't expecting a completely faithful adaption by any means, but this is something that is a major plot point. Detta's relationship with Roland is completely changed by this, racism is a profound part of her character and basically shaped who she is both by how it impacted her psyche and how she relates to others.

Not sure I'll give much of a shit about this movie when it releases. I get that Hollywood needs to be more diverse, but this is a race swap that actually impacts the story in a negative way due to the nature of the role and how he interacts with another major character. I don't have anything against Mr. Elba and I've enjoyed some of his films, but this is one of the few instances where changing the race of a character makes no sense at all and has huge ramifications on the story that is being adapted.

This is really an inappropriate place to make a change like this just because the race dynamic is such a huge and important part of the source material. It makes zero sense.

 

[da_fox2279]

I'm kinda iffy now. Elba is a fine actor, and I'm glad to see him star in more lead roles... but you're right, this completely changes the Odetta/Detta subplot of the second book.

Are they going to have Detta portrayed by a white woman or a Latino woman in order to keep the racist aspect of the character? Guess we'll have to see...

 

[Contrabardus]

I'm kinda iffy now. Elba is a fine actor, and I'm glad to see him star in more lead roles... but you're right, this completely changes the Odetta/Detta subplot of the second book.

Are they going to have Detta portrayed by a white woman or a Latino woman in order to keep the racist aspect of the character? Guess we'll have to see...

Neither makes a lot of sense, especially if you factor in Eddie and the fact that Detta is a result of 60s era racism targeted at blacks specifically.

Too many hoops are being set up for the plot to jump through over this. It was just a dumb decision that makes no sense given the context of how racism is plot relevant.

I also like Elba and want to see him in more roles. This isn't about a Black man 'stealing' a white character so much as I just can't see it justified given the importance of race as an element in the plot and dynamic between 'The Three'. This is about the worst possible place to pull this kind of thing because here it actually is important to the characters.

Like I said, if this was just 'random white action hero' gets replaced by a black actor, I probably wouldn't give two shits about it. However, given how the books beat you over the head with the themes of racism and Detta's psychosis in regard to it, there's no way this should have happened.

 

[Rising Dragon]

I already mentioned this issue in another thread. :V As for further fuck-ups, they're also bringing in a minor villain character from the seventh book into the first movie for no fucking viable reason whatsoever. Which means right from the get-go they'll be altering the narrative from the book.

As far as Elba goes, well, I'm sure he's a fine actor, I know Stephen King says he's not broken up about it and is only concerned about whether he'll play the role well--but let's face it. We're not stupid. We know exactly why they're casting a black guy here. At best, it's more SJW nonsense trying to appease the PC crowd. Which is much worse now thanks to the Oscars bullshit. At worst? The people making the movie doesn't have a fucking clue as to what goes on in the later books.

 

[daniel_gudman]

I think it's also important to point out that most Steven King movie adaptations have been terrible, except for like, Carrie and maybe The Running Man (although that one was really heavily rewritten, in a good way IMHO).

I followed the series in high school, but for me... eh, I'm not going to take in the movies, I think.

 

[shioran toushin]

not going to be near those movies, i read the books, i love the books and changing the plot AND Character relevant aspects of it (racism against... Black people *can't really say it otherwise* and latinos is part of the plot *the latino this is berely there btw* the drug thing, heck the asshole murderer, the fucking of Demons, demonic 'in vitro' and the other things that happen in the books thet the PC assholes would not approve of) changes the whole freaking Story, especially because Detta/Odetta does come from the racist 60, eddie comes from the "drugs are bad... but you are totally going to do them anyway" crime 80's as an actual addict forced to work for criminals, Jake... he was fucked up from book 1 and Rolandcame from a post apocalyptic wester styled quasi-medieval era and he was witness and participant of the end of the era of Gunslingers, so no, that shit doesn't fly for me, it may be an awesome Movie with cool actors and a nicely rewritten plot, but is not MY Dark Tower, thank you sirs and ma'ams

 

[da_fox2279]

Carrie, Misery, Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile... all were fine films. Some absolutely great movies. The Running Man was a good movie, in an over-the-top 80's action film, but it absolutely sucked as an adaptation.

The Lawnmower Man was the very epitome of how to completely fuck up an adaptation. The only thing that movie had in common with the story was the name. It was pretty obvious the studio only wanted King's name attached to attract viewers.

I'm afraid that's the exact thing the studio is doing here - using a King book/series simply as a base for the story, just so they can attach his name to the film and attract more viewers. I'm going to withhold judgement until the movie actually comes out, but I'm not looking forward to it.

 

[Contrabardus]

The way I hear it, they're starting in one of the later books and completely skipping the first two or three for some reason.

The director says 'it will mostly take place in the modern era'.

So, yeah. Fuck this movie. I'll pin my [mild] hopes on the two part R rated IT adaption that is in the works for a decent Steven King adaption. That has a good chance of working as a two part movie. Just put one part of the movie with them as kids dealing with IT and have the second part be the adult arc. Too bad it lost the original director, but the guy they replaced him with isn't an awful choice.

Too bad they can't get Tim Curry to do Pennywise again. He's a bit too old for it and would probably refuse considering he's rumored to be deathly afraid of clowns to the point that he got someone fired from the mini-series for letting him see his own reflection at one point during production.