The Gunslinger

I’m in the process of reading Steven King’s The Dark Tower series and I really like it. It's traditional western (which I love), dark fantasy (which I love), and epic (which I love). So King hits on all cylinders with these novels. Plus, he loops in some references to his other novels—“I heard about this car that was possessed one time…” or a newspaper headline about Captain Trips in a deserted rail station, graffiti on the wall with another character’s name. It’s kind of like when you find the Easter Eggs in a video game.

Anyway, as you know, I always “cast” the characters in my mind as I read a novel. Or as I write, it works both ways. And last night we were talking about who we would cast as Roland, the gunslinger. And M says “You know they’re making a movie, right?”

No, as a matter of fact, I didn’t know. But… YAY! And also, Hmmmmm. On the one hand, I would love to see this as a movie. An epic trilogy, like Lord of the Rings. But on the other hand, I am reminded of how badly most novels translate to film (DaVinci Code, anyone?). And, even when they are good—Jurassic Park, for example, they are never quite good enough. (My comment when I walked out of the theater after JP, btw was: That was great. Now I’d like to see one based on the book.)

Even when they are epic—I’m thinking Dune, here—they just can’t encompass the emotions the book stirs up. I’m not being a book snob. You know I love movies. I just think those formats are too different in terms of what they expect from an audience and what they are able to give. That’s why I rarely see a movie if I’ve read the book. And vice versa.

Still, there are a few movies that have been just as good as the book: Alien and Blade Runner (Hm, maybe Ridley Scott should direct?) are two that come immediately to mind. And King’s books themselves tend to stand up well to the movie format. (See what I did there? Stand?)

And I was so blown away by LOTR—all three films—that I would love to see The Dark Tower done with that level of attention.


So, I am looking forward to seeing what will happen with this. Hopefully King will retain some creative control and we will see real actors cast in these roles and maybe the screenplay will be written by someone who’s actually read the book.

We can hope, at least.