Stephen King today confirmed that British actor Idris Elba and Oscar-winner Matthew McConaughey will star in the big-screen adaptation of The Dark Tower. The film will be co-written and directed by Nikolaj Arcel (A Royal Affair), and will be based on King’s six-book series of the same name.
Shooting will kick off on the film in South Africa is just seven weeks time, ready for its January, 2017 debut.
Idris Elba
“The thing is, it’s been a looong trip from the books to the film,” King told EW.
“When you think about it, I started these stories as a senior in college, sitting in a little sh-tty cabin beside the river in Maine, and finally this thing is actually in pre-production now.” He laughs. “I’m delighted, and I’m a little bit surprised.”
Matthew McConaughey
Anders Thomas Jensen, Akiva Goldsman, and Jeff Pinkner will also contribute to the screenplay.
Here’s a little about the first book in the series, courtesy of Amazon, though King has said that the film version will start mid-story…
“[The movie] starts in media res, in the middle of the story instead of at the beginning, which may upset some of the fans a little bit, but they’ll get behind it, because it is the story,” King says.
In this first novel in his epic fantasy masterpiece, Stephen King introduces readers to one of his most enigmatic heroes, Roland of Gilead, the Last Gunslinger. He is a haunting figure, a loner, on a spellbinding journey into good and evil, in a desolate world which frighteningly echoes our own.
In his first step towards the powerful and mysterious Dark Tower, Roland encounters an alluring woman named Alice, begins a friendship with Jake, a kid from New York, and faces an agonising choice between damnation and salvation as he pursues the Man in Black.
Both grippingly realistic and eerily dreamlike, THE GUNSLINGER leaves readers eagerly awaiting the next chapter.
And the Tower is closer…
The Dark Tower incorporates themes from multiple genres, including dark fantasy, science fantasy, horror, and Western. The film version will hit cinemas on January 13th, 2017.
