The Dark Tower Movie - as cast by me
I was sitting around watching some fan made Dark Tower trailers. Some were utter garbage, but some were pretty danged good. I started thinking about casting since it will most likely be live action. Though I personally think a cell shade rendered series of movies with a color pallet that is usually limited, like was done in 300, only have the pallet vary by location. Everything covered, go the way of Japanese animation and require a good 20 disk or more to get through it. My version is unlikely. Since the movie is going to be real here's my suggestions.
Father Callahan:
First things first. Everyone and their brother wants a young Clint Eastwood as Roland Deschain. Not yours. He's not young anymore, so it's time to start looking. Some of the fan made trailers had some good ideas I can agree with, one even included Eastwood in the Father Callahan role. I think it works and I'm sticking with it for mine. He looks like he might just pull off a haggard half nuts formerly cursed priest. Listed first to get Clint out of the way.
Maybe we can use him for Roland. Though I question if we would actually want to due to other factors, such as future movies. This was the first thing I thought of when I read this article, and for the record, I want steer clear of using him in this role even though it's technically possible.
Cuthbert Allgood:
Haley Joel Osment. He came to mind as Jake, but of course I'm thinking of the 6th Sense or AI, the World has moved on. I think he would make a decent Cuthbert. May be to old by the time the shooting starts.
Susannah:
Kandyse McClure, I think she could pull off the emotional and character changes needed to play the part(s), and she's the right age and physical attributes other than the fact she has legs. I worry she may be to pretty, she would probably have to wear contacts to fit Kings intended vision.
Eldred Jonas:
After seeing Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, I think he could pull off the sinister cowboy look if needed. I am not one of those weird fans who follows this guy BTW, I actually had to look up Iron Man to find out who played Stark.
Cortland "Cort" Andrus:
Since we're on the Iron Man cast, I think he could pull off the part. I personally was picturing chubbier and rougher looking, but I couldn't think of an existing actor for the part.
Ted Brautigan:
I see no reason why Anthony Hopkins shouldn't reprise his role, though I will admit I haven't read that far into the series yet since I'm catching up on all the other "must read" books without time to read them. (I've listened to audio books of Cell and Lisey's story recently, plus I've actually read a few of the gaping holes I had left, I'm half way through Everything's Eventual and have been for a while)
Susan Delgado:
I sort of hate to go here because of her age, but Dakota Fanning is the right age to play Susan right now. Susan was 14 when the prequel events of Wizard and Glass took place. She looks somewhat young now, I'm thinking she may still be good for the part by the time filming starts. Probably too old as of the picture to the left which replaced the link rotted one from my initial post, but upping her age a bit would make U.S. audiences a bit more comfortable.
Randall Flagg / Man in Black:
A Walken as the Walking Dude? Why not? Every movie could use a little Walken.
Of course I don't object to Jamey Sheridan reclaiming the role either. The fact he's older would actually progress the story line even though he's timeless. When The Stand was made Stephen King actually requested a lesser known actor to play Flagg, to add to the mystery and out of place feeling.
Eddie Dean:
Throws your bricks. I already hate myself for suggesting Seann William Scott. When I tried picturing a modern actor to play the part he kept coming to mind. I think if he wanted to play a serious role, especially one that required him to cut up and get goofy like he does in his movies on occasion, he could do it. I also don't think it would take to much work to make him look like a heroine junky for the Drawing of the Three section. He's probably a bit to buff for that, but computer animation and makeup, something could come of it.
From the moment I posted Seann William Scott as Eddie Dean I knew I would get hate for it. I still stand by him as a decent choice, even though I think many of the suggestions for replacement were good, I especially like Ian Somerhalder and Ryan Gosling. The big thing that has me considering changing my mind about Scott is he's inked now - I'm not saying the tattoo's are a deal breaker, but considering Kings attention to detail he wasn't going to let something like that slide undescribed.
I think my first conversation about casting this book into a movie took place around 1994 at a friends house while I was still in High School several years before Wizard and Glass was even released.
For literally years, I've been wanting to make this post, I knew I would spend way to much time on it, it would be ignored, and everyone would have a different opinion if they bothered to read it or care. Now that I'm making the post I've still left out several incredibly important roles, not to mention other roles that are important to a lesser scale. That's right, I haven't a clue who should play Roland or Jake. The problem with Jake is his youth, I can't think of any actors that young to pick from. Erik Per Sullivan comes to mind, but he may be a bit to old already and he's only getting older. He might actually fit in as one of the members of his original Ka-tet of which I've only come up with Cuthbert. Him and Susan will probably have to be re-chosen at shooting time.
Shooting time, like I'm actually picking the cast or helping to shoot the movie. Okay, pipe dream is shared. Flame away, fill in gaps, suggest a good Rolland? Hugh Jackman comes to mind, but I don't know. Somethings just not right, probably because young Eastwood has stayed in my head. Beside, after being Wolverine how big of an ego do we want to give this guy? Probably still a bit to young anyways. Speaking of that, I need to pick two different Rolands. I can't think of the young one either, same problem, by the time I get around to seeing something the actors to old.
Roland? The closeup looks more promising.
This post is still quite popular, getting comments from anonymous sources WELL after I first posted it. In support of that I've fixed it up and updated today. I fixed the link rot, I'm a filthy hot linker and I went out to find new pictures to replace the ones that decayed. I didn't update any of the ones that didn't. Any text I've added today will be in blue. If I update this post again in the future I'll chose another color. Blue font updates were from December 31 2009.
Here's some suggestions listed by other people who've replied -
Roland:
Eddie Dean:
Susan Delgado:
Jake:
Susannah:
Green font updates from 01/17/2010
02/05/2011 NOTE
This post is quite a few years old, but it tends to draw traffic still. As of today I have automatically screened anonymous comment due to spam received in other parts of my journal. If you make an anonymous comment I will unscreen it within a few days. You can always comment with OpenID, chances are you already have an OpenID and may not know it, you simply have to figure out how to enter it from your compatible site. In my case my OpenID is pecosdave.livejournal.com, most other blogs have a similar setup.
Father Callahan:
First things first. Everyone and their brother wants a young Clint Eastwood as Roland Deschain. Not yours. He's not young anymore, so it's time to start looking. Some of the fan made trailers had some good ideas I can agree with, one even included Eastwood in the Father Callahan role. I think it works and I'm sticking with it for mine. He looks like he might just pull off a haggard half nuts formerly cursed priest. Listed first to get Clint out of the way.
Maybe we can use him for Roland. Though I question if we would actually want to due to other factors, such as future movies. This was the first thing I thought of when I read this article, and for the record, I want steer clear of using him in this role even though it's technically possible.
Cuthbert Allgood:
Haley Joel Osment. He came to mind as Jake, but of course I'm thinking of the 6th Sense or AI, the World has moved on. I think he would make a decent Cuthbert. May be to old by the time the shooting starts.
Susannah:
Kandyse McClure, I think she could pull off the emotional and character changes needed to play the part(s), and she's the right age and physical attributes other than the fact she has legs. I worry she may be to pretty, she would probably have to wear contacts to fit Kings intended vision.
Eldred Jonas:
After seeing Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, I think he could pull off the sinister cowboy look if needed. I am not one of those weird fans who follows this guy BTW, I actually had to look up Iron Man to find out who played Stark.
Cortland "Cort" Andrus:
Since we're on the Iron Man cast, I think he could pull off the part. I personally was picturing chubbier and rougher looking, but I couldn't think of an existing actor for the part.
Ted Brautigan:
I see no reason why Anthony Hopkins shouldn't reprise his role, though I will admit I haven't read that far into the series yet since I'm catching up on all the other "must read" books without time to read them. (I've listened to audio books of Cell and Lisey's story recently, plus I've actually read a few of the gaping holes I had left, I'm half way through Everything's Eventual and have been for a while)
Susan Delgado:
I sort of hate to go here because of her age, but Dakota Fanning is the right age to play Susan right now. Susan was 14 when the prequel events of Wizard and Glass took place. She looks somewhat young now, I'm thinking she may still be good for the part by the time filming starts. Probably too old as of the picture to the left which replaced the link rotted one from my initial post, but upping her age a bit would make U.S. audiences a bit more comfortable.
Randall Flagg / Man in Black:
A Walken as the Walking Dude? Why not? Every movie could use a little Walken.
Of course I don't object to Jamey Sheridan reclaiming the role either. The fact he's older would actually progress the story line even though he's timeless. When The Stand was made Stephen King actually requested a lesser known actor to play Flagg, to add to the mystery and out of place feeling.
Eddie Dean:
Throws your bricks. I already hate myself for suggesting Seann William Scott. When I tried picturing a modern actor to play the part he kept coming to mind. I think if he wanted to play a serious role, especially one that required him to cut up and get goofy like he does in his movies on occasion, he could do it. I also don't think it would take to much work to make him look like a heroine junky for the Drawing of the Three section. He's probably a bit to buff for that, but computer animation and makeup, something could come of it.
From the moment I posted Seann William Scott as Eddie Dean I knew I would get hate for it. I still stand by him as a decent choice, even though I think many of the suggestions for replacement were good, I especially like Ian Somerhalder and Ryan Gosling. The big thing that has me considering changing my mind about Scott is he's inked now - I'm not saying the tattoo's are a deal breaker, but considering Kings attention to detail he wasn't going to let something like that slide undescribed.
I think my first conversation about casting this book into a movie took place around 1994 at a friends house while I was still in High School several years before Wizard and Glass was even released.
For literally years, I've been wanting to make this post, I knew I would spend way to much time on it, it would be ignored, and everyone would have a different opinion if they bothered to read it or care. Now that I'm making the post I've still left out several incredibly important roles, not to mention other roles that are important to a lesser scale. That's right, I haven't a clue who should play Roland or Jake. The problem with Jake is his youth, I can't think of any actors that young to pick from. Erik Per Sullivan comes to mind, but he may be a bit to old already and he's only getting older. He might actually fit in as one of the members of his original Ka-tet of which I've only come up with Cuthbert. Him and Susan will probably have to be re-chosen at shooting time.
Shooting time, like I'm actually picking the cast or helping to shoot the movie. Okay, pipe dream is shared. Flame away, fill in gaps, suggest a good Rolland? Hugh Jackman comes to mind, but I don't know. Somethings just not right, probably because young Eastwood has stayed in my head. Beside, after being Wolverine how big of an ego do we want to give this guy? Probably still a bit to young anyways. Speaking of that, I need to pick two different Rolands. I can't think of the young one either, same problem, by the time I get around to seeing something the actors to old.
Roland? The closeup looks more promising.
This post is still quite popular, getting comments from anonymous sources WELL after I first posted it. In support of that I've fixed it up and updated today. I fixed the link rot, I'm a filthy hot linker and I went out to find new pictures to replace the ones that decayed. I didn't update any of the ones that didn't. Any text I've added today will be in blue. If I update this post again in the future I'll chose another color. Blue font updates were from December 31 2009.
Here's some suggestions listed by other people who've replied -
Roland:
Eddie Dean:
Susan Delgado:
Jake:
Susannah:
Green font updates from 01/17/2010
02/05/2011 NOTE
This post is quite a few years old, but it tends to draw traffic still. As of today I have automatically screened anonymous comment due to spam received in other parts of my journal. If you make an anonymous comment I will unscreen it within a few days. You can always comment with OpenID, chances are you already have an OpenID and may not know it, you simply have to figure out how to enter it from your compatible site. In my case my OpenID is pecosdave.livejournal.com, most other blogs have a similar setup.