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[disnut8]

"Per the Hollywood Reporter, Lost boss J.J. Abrams and Stephen King are in talks to bring the Dark Tower novels to the screen. Thus far, it is unclear whether the project would definitely be theatrical, given the sprawling breadth of the seven-book saga, or a TV mini"

OK - it's a good thing that it's J.J. Abrams because that guy is kind of freaky.  It's a good thing Stephen King is involved because if he's not, the adaptations get f***ed up.  The bad thing is that it's The Dark Tower series.  The good thing is that people who haven't read the entire seven book series will get to enjoy the adventures of Roland, Eddie, Susanna, Jake, and most importantly, Oy.

The really bad thing is the casting.  No matter who plays Roland, he's not going to be in real life like anyone has imagined him in the books.  The only person I ever could see playing Susanna would be Whoopi Goldberg.  There's an illustration of Susanna (back when she was Odetta/Detta) and she looks exactly like Goldberg.

And worse - Oy.  I know CGI is great and all but how are you going to do Oy?  He's a billy-bumbler!  He's not a dog, although he does get mistaken for one in New York.  I have such an image of Oy in my mind so they will never get it to come close.

Anyone else who has knowledge of the books have any casting ideas?  Maybe Gary Sinise for Roland?  I used to think Clint Eastwood but, unfortunately, Mr. Eastwood has aged with time.

This is a King fan nightmare.

[elmono311]

Depending on the budget of the movie, CG creatures can be very realistic. Just look at Davy Jones in PotC: Dead Man's Chest and the newest King Kong

[LostArtofRolando]

The Roland of the Dark Tower series got really old as the books went along... I still think they could use Clint in some manner.

Not sure how good this will all work out... in the meantime, Marvel's putting out a comic book series of the books.

[disnut8]

Yeah, CG is great but.  It's freaking Oy!  To me, Oy cannot ever be brought to "life".  He's just one of those characters that should remain in a book.

I didn't know about the comic series.  Is it supposed to be true to the originals?

As a Stephen King fan who has first copies of every single one of his books (yes, including the original The Dark Tower), and has reading copies that I constantly re-read, I will be comparing anything done with this series back to the books.  I thought this one was the one that wouldn't get on film.  I thought the same way with The Stand but that was done anyway (and the casting of Molly Ringwold in there sucked).

And Clint - maybe he could be that wise old fella in Calla Sturgis?  The mystical leader of that "tribe"?  I can see him in that Calla.  Or in Mejiis. 

[elmono311]

Comparing books to the movie version of it is a lost cause. Movies are only, on average, two hours long. Books, on the other hand, have material in it for more than two hours. The writers are pretty much forced to cut and change things from the book to translate it to the screen. Sometimes they even combine characters into one. So what you need to look for is if it stay true to the spirit of the book, not if it played out word-for-word on the screen.

[disnut8]

Exactly.  Which is why these books should never be on film.  This was King's "epic".  Hell, he even wrote himself in as a pivitol part of the last couple of books.

It ain't fittin', it just ain't fittin'.