The Dark Tower series is Stephen
King's Lord of the Rings. It is epic in scope beyond
imagining and as dark as anything that he has written. At the center
of the story is Roland Deschain. He is the eponymous Gunslinger from
the first book of the series. He is alternately cold-blooded and
fiercely loyal. He carries the weight of creation on his shoulders
and he would pay any price, cross any moral line, endure any pain to
accomplish his goal.
Ron Howard has been developing a super
ambitious Dark Tower project. To adapt the sprawling 7-book
series, it would involve 3 feature films. In between each release
there would be an HBO miniseries filling in the gaps. This may work
out brilliantly or fall horribly flat if the first movie doesn't
deliver, which is very possible since I think that the first book is
the worst of the series and I only ever continued it because Rick O's
wife, let's call her Stephenie King, told me that it got better.
So this multi-million dollar gamble
must to be placed on the shoulders of a great actor. Javier Bardem
was originally cast, but has since dropped out. This is good because
I never thought he was right for the part. So who could it be?
Russel Crowe
photo by Andre Luis |
He is right now the unofficial front
runner. He has strength and range. His performance in The Quickand the Dead shows how adaptable he is to the gunslinger motif
Daniel Craig
Photo by Elen Nivrae |
When I saw him in Cowboys andIndians I thought of Roland immediately He has that cold-killer
aspect that Roland has down pat.
Christian Bale
Photo by Thomas Becker |
I think that he is the perfect age to
play this part. He is not too old and not too young. He has played
psychopaths and he has played heroes (even Jesus). He could bring
just the right mix of danger and heroism. (check link)
Guy Pearce
Photo by gdcgraphics |
He is a wild card. He would be the
most eccentric, but I think he matches the physical description ofRoland the best. He can pull off the righteous violent man
(Memento), and he just proved he has good action chops (Lock
Out)
Brad Pitt
Photo by Maggie from Palm Springs |
He is past his pretty-boy stage and
could bring out Roland's charisma, something that must exist if he is
to form his ka-tet. Roland is a leader that people flock to. This
could be where Brad Pitt uses his skills to greatest advantage
Thoughts?
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