Who’s up for some Dark Tower news?
Yeah, us too. Although we’re not sure what to make of it.
The BBFC have confirmed that The Dark Tower is, as we reported a while ago, only One hour and 35 minutes long and is rated a 12a.
I, as a fan since I was 13, am a little troubled by all of this. Why? Well, firstly the movie isn’t based on just the first book in the saga, but rather is a new take on the tale as a whole and from the trailers we can see elements of – at the very least – The Gunslinger, The Drawing of the Three, The Wastelands and The Wolves of the Calla, which is actually four books.
The notion of the events of these books being even touched upon in a little over an hour and a half is very alarming. Also, the 12a rating means that, with an adult, kids can see this in the cinema.
I have a very clever 11-year-old who loves reading but I wouldn’t let him near these stories for a long time yet… but I can bring him to the cinema to see it? It’s a little troubling…
This all said, the creator himself, Stephen King, has taken to Twitter to try to calm everyone down:
It’s true THE DARK TOWER movie runs a clean 95 minutes. Like the first book in the series (224 pages), it’s all killer and no filler.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) July 19, 2017
In related news, the TV series which is to tackle the fourth booked, Wizard and Glass, is still going ahead and will also feature the star of the movie, Idris Elba – we’re imagining it will be a bookend type deal as in the book he tells his story to his Ka-tet of Eddie, Suzannah and Jake over one very long night and is started and finished with the older Roland sitting with his friends.
Writer Akiva Goldsman has said: “The first episode of a show has been written, and we hope to retain Ron’s original idea to mix platforms, something that seemed revolutionary 10 years ago but now is something that others have done,” Goldsman said. “Idris for sure is part of this, and if the movie is Roland Deschain the gunslinger, the show is his origin story, based on the fourth novel in the series, Wizard and Glass.”
The only real issue we have that in The Dark Tower we know Roland will meet young Jake (Tom Taylor) but we also know that Eddie and Suzannah don’t exist in this version yet…
The Dark Tower
There are other worlds than these. Stephen King’s The Dark Tower, the ambitious and expansive story from one of the world’s most celebrated authors, makes its launch to the big screen. The last Gunslinger, Roland Deschain (Idris Elba), has been locked in an eternal battle with Walter, also known as the Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey), determined to prevent him from toppling the Dark Tower, which holds the universe together. With the fate of the worlds at stake, good and evil will collide in the ultimate battle as only Roland can defend the Tower from the Man in Black.
Directed by: Nikolaj Arcel
Screenplay by: Akiva Goldsman & Jeff Pinkner & Anders Thomas Jensen & Nikolaj Arcel
Based on the Novels by: Stephen King
Produced by: Akiva Goldsman, Ron Howard, Erica Huggins
Executive Producers: G. Mac Brown, Jeff Pinkner
Cast: Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Taylor, Claudia Kim, Fran Kranz, Abbey Lee and Jackie Earle Haley
The Dark Tower will (possibly) fall in the UK on August 4th, 2017
Speaking of Stephen King, here’s a new Vignette entitled Magnum Opus which sees him and the cast talking about the movie and the book. There’s more footage too…
Marc
Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….
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