Stephen King Has Confirmed Idris Elba And Matthew McConnaughey For The Dark Tower
It was all but set in stone and now Stephen King has finally lay it to rest – Idris Elba and Matthew McConnaughey are starring in the upcoming adaptation of The Dark Tower.
Both actors will take on their previously heavily rumoured roles: Elba as lead gunslinger Roland Deschain and McConnaughey as villain Man In Black. They’ll be joining director Nikolaj Arcel and actress Abbey Lee for shooting scheduled to begin in seven weeks in South Africa.
King has also given some insight into how they’re going about adapting his long, ambitious fantasy epic. Unusual for page-to-screen transitions, The Dark Tower will not start with the first book, but rather in the middle of the story. “[The series] starts in media res, in the middle of the story instead of at the beginning,” The author stated. “which may upset some of the fans a little bit, but they’ll get behind it, because it is the story.”
Production has been in flux since 2011 for The Dark Tower, with budget concerns halting all progress until now. The book series, which spans seven volumes, is being made into a film trilogy with an interspersed TV show, which makes it one of the biggest adaptations attempted to date. There’s nothing specified for the TV part as of yet, but the first film is schedule for cinemas January 13, 2017.
