Casting Call: The Gunslinger

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?