From Sony, director Nikolaj Arcel and based on the acclaimed series of novels by Stephen King comes The Dark Tower. Starring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey, the film is scheduled to hit theaters January 13, 2017.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Arcel spoke about Elba playing the gunslinger himself Roland saying:
“For me, it just clicked. He’s such a formidable man. I had to go to Idris and tell him my vision for the entire journey with Roland and the ka-tet. We discussed, who is this character? What’s he about? What’s his quest? What’s his psychology? We tried to figure out if we saw the same guy. And we absolutely had all the same ideas and thoughts. He had a unique vision for who Roland would be.”
In regards McConaughey to being cast as the villain Randall Flagg, aka Walter Padick, Arcel said:
Matthew is an incredible actor who can do anything. That’s how I feel about Walter Padick. He could do anything…He is this timeless sorcerer, and being a Stephen King fan, I’ve read and experienced Walter in various iterations. He has a very interesting way of seeing the world. He sees it with a sort of delight, even though he is obviously on the wrong side of the light-and-dark spectrum. He’s someone I’ve been having a lot of fun with.”
.@McConaughey you have one new follower. #DarkTowerMovie https://t.co/5fSKF02C7I
— Idris Elba (@idriselba) March 1, 2016
.@idriselba come and get me, I look forward to it. #DarkTowerMovie https://t.co/4gxqm2GPo3
— Matthew McConaughey (@McConaughey) March 1, 2016
In regards to the film’s setting, it looks like they’ll be starting mid-way through the overall story and that most of the film will take place in the modern world. “[The movie] starts in media res, in the middle of the story instead of at the beginning,” said Stephen King “Which may upset some of the fans a little bit, but they’ll get behind it, because it is the story.”
Source: EW