Fans of The Dark Tower may have thought they knew what to expect from the upcoming film, but the more we hear, the less we seem to know about it. While The Dark Tower isn't exactly a traditional western, the first book is all about a cowboy chasing another man across a desert. However, according to Idris Elba, the movie that he's making is certainly not a western.
"The Man in Black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed." The opening line of the first book in the Dark Tower series is famous among its fans. It sets the tone for the entire series. While we know that the movie will still open with this iconic line, the opening of the movie will probably not look the way readers have pictured it in their heads. In a recent piece for Interview, conducted by his Jungle Book director Jon Favreau, Idris Elba explains that while there are still western elements to his character and the story, the film does not fit into the genre.
I've always wanted to try the whole cowboy feel and look, so when I took this role, I was wondering, 'Are we going to bring that to life in this character? Is he a real cowboy?' And the answer was no. We had to reinvent that a little bit because the world---it's quite a fantastical world and we aren't making a Western. But there's definitely some characteristics from those great cowboy movies, the Sergio Leone movies and all. I was definitely drawn to it. I've got two smoking guns that just look incredible, and I love to pull them out whenever I can.
While the first book opens like a very traditional western, with a cowboy chasing his prey, and a small, dying town with only a few inhabitants left in it, as the story grows we discover that there's a lot more going on. The story is a western, but it's also science fiction. The world is historic, but it's also post-apocalyptic. It's this mad combination that makes the story unique.
We know that large portions of the first film would be taking place not in the world of Roland the Gunslinger, but instead in New York City. While this fits with parts of the book, we would still have expected the parts that take place in the world of the Gunslinger to have a western feel to them. It seems that in the end, we may get a movie that gives us the feel of a western, but won't actually look like one.
The more we hear, the more we know that The Dark Tower is not going to look like the books fans are familiar with. What do you think? Is making a very different Dark Tower movie series an exciting idea, or would you rather see the books you know on screen?
