S. Kings 'The Dark Tower'

[UmarilsStillHere]

No idea if anyone here has ever read these books, or any book for that matter

But still, I read on IGN that talks are underway to adapt these books into either a 3 film set, or a Tv series (or both?)

Anyone got an opinion on this?

Personally I loved the books, and would hope that those '3 films' will be just the first 3 books, then if they sell well they carry on with the full 7 book set, I would hate to see 7 books and 3k+ pages castrated into 3 films. Take the lotr films for example, 3 books, about 1.2k pages, and the cinema release versions of the films were highly cut down. Trying to shove 7 books worth into 3 films would kill the plot.

Then there is casting, the choice of director etc, if your not a big book person you may have never heard of this series but it has got a large and very dedicated fanbase, to keep them happy the films wont need to just be decent, they would need to be great. Think the kind of pressue that was on Peter Jackson to get the lotr films right and your about there.

Hopfully they will be 18's too, if they try to water these down into PG-13's it just wont work.

3 films of the 7 books at pg rating, I think there would be a lot of pissed fans ...

[Inkster]

Depending on how they approach the project, it could be a great set of films

I just checked on imdb but they haven't got any details yet

[Pizdzius]

With LOTR it was the matter of choices. You can't shove everything into a film, cause not everything is so important, not everything is interesting enough to turn it into a visual adventure. What was cut out from the books that was script editors decisions, remember that book isn't a film.
It's a VERY different medium used to entertain our mind. What you read as a one sentence "he was in love with her to the point he could rip his chest open and offer his own heart to her" can be barely possible to show in a film during the usual 90 minutes.
Book in dozens of pages covers thoughts, descriptions and little details that sometimes can be shown in a film within minutes. It's really difficult to transfer a world from a book to a film, bringing new candies to eyes and ears, yet still being the same world/creation.

I've never read the series, but as far as I am educated in book-to-film transfer, it may be a terrible fiasco (cause the book is superior in style and nothing can really take its place), or it can turn into amazing experience, like what Star Wars did - Everybody heard of it, almost everybody knows what it's about. Some people don't even know there were books first..

I'm thinking that now, in age where you can create EVERYTHING digitally, there would be no problem in getting a perfect atmosphere of the book. The big question then would be mostly the director's view, the cast and of course, the cinematographers. They do the whole magic, imho. ;]

And, well, without great music the film may be crippled

[Inkster]

I pretty much agree with everything you said there Piz

One thing I hate in films is when a writer says, "he looks like Harrison Ford" as Dan Brown did with his hero in The Da Vinci Code. Tom Hanks of course, does not look like Harrison Ford - ho ho.

[Pizdzius]

Originally Posted by Inkster

I pretty much agree with everything you said there Piz

One thing I hate in films is when a writer says, "he looks like Harrison Ford" as Dan Brown did with his hero in The Da Vinci Code. Tom Hanks of course, does not look like Harrison Ford - ho ho.

Well that's typical for writers without enough imagination, is impossibilty to describe a person with his own words :P

edit: grammar mistake ><

[Inkster]

Originally Posted by Pizdzius

Well that's typical for writers without enough imagination to describe a person with his own words :P

Either that or they're all too butt lazy to think of something original

[Angel_de_Combate]

Erm I haven't read the book(but Gawyn has a few of them)but i have read a book that mentions Roland which is Black House which he wrote with Peter Straub http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_House_%28novel%29 and it did get me intrigued.

Agreeing with what other people have said already, I personally think books that get turned into films invariable are inferior to the book itself. For example I made the mistake of watching Inkheart after I read the series(theres 3 books)and the film was...terrible.. . The last Harry Potter film left me angry because they left some of the good bits out, the fight scene that takes place and Dumbledores funeral.

I suppose you could ask yourself why would you watch them if you know deep down it's not going to be as good as the book, but for me..I want to see if the director has captured how I saw the book in my mind's eye as I read it. Some books I've read because I watched the film first, Stardust the book is much better than the film

To sum up I wont be watching films/TV series of the Dark Tower series, Stephen King is one of my favourite writers(I took a few months to read I.T, normally I can read books that size in a week), now where did Gawyn put those books again...

[Envy]

The fact that it's seven books being made into only a trilogy of films (+possible TV series), worries me a bit.

I was recently tossing up whether to read The Dark Tower or The Stand, and I chose the latter. So it'll be a while until finish this series, but I'll make sure to do so before I see any film.

Knowing it's Stephen King though they surely have great material to work with, I just hope it's done well. I can't comment on the director/screenwriter/producer trio's past efforts as I still have The DaVinci Code and Angels & Demons hardbacks and DVDs still to get stuck into D= I'm pretty backlogged as far as books go right now.

[Gawyn_Trakkand]

Oh God no seiously? all 7 books into a trillogy?

What is going to happen is going to be exactly the same as LOTR they are gonna make it a film about walking.

Seriously though there is enough content in the first two books alone to fill 3 movies, The walk to the Gas station through the desert with the Hermit and his crow along the way then meeting Eric then the succubus then the scalling of the mountain then the bit i wont say just incase people havent read the book then the man in black, thats the first bit alone. The second book is even more filled than that with each door needing an EPIC ammount of detail.

It needs to be done well and each film needs to be like watchman length to do it justice.

the 7th Harry potter gets 2 films 8 in total and one of the greatest fantasy stories written gets 3 films for 7 books.

I'll go see them but i'll probably wish i hadnt.

[UmarilsStillHere]

The 1st and 2nd books alone could easily fill a film each with a lot of detail cut, Wizard and the Glass Is largely the 2nd part of the climax to wastelands, some walking ,Roland telling a childhood story for most of the book, and the wizard of oz like bit at the end, this book could be cut altogether without doing to much harm to people seening the films without reading the books, but it would lose out a great story (Rolands tale is one of the best parts of the series imo) so Wastelands/Wizard might fit into one film cutting Rolands tale and a fair ammount of stuff from Wastelands. Wolfs oC and Song oS might be able to fit in one film with substansial cutting, The Dark Tower itself could fill one film with ease and 2 quite comfortably.

So thats down to 5 and I still hate the ammount that would need cutting, 3 is just ... ugh.

@Gaw, sorry about PB yesterday, calls to stop always fall on deaf ears