'The Dark Tower' is an upcoming epic fantasy and Western film to be directed by Nikolaj Arcel. Writer and producer Akiva Goldsman echoed author Stephen King's comments regarding the casting of Idris Elba as Roland Deschain. He admitted that he was most thrilled at the prospect.
According to Den of Geek, Goldsman is serving as writer and producer for the live-action adaptation of Stephen King's bestselling fantasy series of the same name. The Oscar-awardee expressed his enthusiasm over Idris Elba's casting as the main protagonist and gunslinger Roland Deschain.
He said, "I think Idris Elba is the greatest possible idea for casting for Roland, and I'm unbelievably proud of it as a collaborator on this enterprise and because I think that he's a great actor and I couldn't be more thrilled that he is likely to play a part." He added that despite people calling against the casting - Roland Deschain was believed to have the profile of a Caucasian Western man - it doesn't "necessarily defile the source material" and is only a minor setback from real storytelling.
According to Cinema Blend, Roland Deschain was described in the original novels as an old world cowboy and gunslinger as well as a "Knight of the Round Table". The main protagonist is the last living descendant of a long line of gunslingers - protectors of their world. His main goal is to find and reach the Dark Tower, known as the nexus of universes, in order to protect his land from destruction.
Stephen King, who authored all eight books in the bestselling series, thought Elba's casting was appropriate. According to MovieWeb, King previously announced on Twitter on December 12, "To me, the color of the gunslinger doesn't matter. What I care about is how fast he can draw...and that he takes care of the ka-tet." The authored published the first book 'The Gunslinger' on 1982 and followed-up with seven more books with the last one published in 2012.
'The Dark Tower' is an upcoming live-action adaptation of Stephen King's fantasy novels of the same name and is scheduled to be released on January 13, 2017. It will be co-written and directed by Nikolaj Arcel based on the screenplay by Akiva Goldsman, Jeff Pinker and Anders Thomas Jensen. It is co-produced by Arcel, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Stephen King.
