New details & a from Sony Pictures‘ upcoming Stephen King adaptation, The Dark Tower has been revealed featuring Idris Elba.
Speaking with EW, Elba explains where Roland Deschain begins, “At the start of the film, Roland is driven by rage, but deep down he is something else. ‘He’s a protector.’ He just needs something to reawaken that part of himself.
Matthew McConaughey’s Walter Padick is the reason behind Roland Deschain reawakening. Padick is searching for a teenager, Jake Chambers (Tom Taylor), he possesses ‘The Shine,’ a powerful psychic ability that King readers should recognize backwards or forwards.
Jake’s extraordinary magic could help Walter break the ethereal beams that keep the Tower standing and maintain order in the multiverse.
For Roland, protecting this boy could restore his nobility, putting him back on the path to protecting the Tower itself. “Until he meets Jake, he doesn’t have anything to believe in, really.
He’s really pent up and releases his soul through [defending] the boy.” Elba said.
In the Stephen King’s Novels, Roland is a white guy, but Elba considers that a superficial description, what’s more important is the character underneath: “It’s better just to treat it like no big deal.
There should be no difference. The character that was written in Stephen’s imagination, it could be any color. It just happens to be me and, you know? In the artwork, it just so happens to be a white guy, but I don’t think that makes any difference.
I think what’s great about it, if I want to say anything about it, is that it is a sign of the times in terms of a colorless society. People go, ‘A good actor is a good actor,’ you know?”
Idris Elba further explains Roland Deschain: “There’s a mystical element to him. He’s about 200 years old. He’s been around for a long time, and has a deep-rooted connection with the [supernatural] nature of the film.
Roland’s completely tuned into that. When you meet him, he’s very much a stoic man, doesn’t want to talk. But when you get to know him, he really knows quite a bit about the world and his world’s history,” Elba concluded.
The film also stars Abbey Lee as the film’s female lead, Tirana; Tom Taylor as young Jake Chambers; Jackie Earle Haley as the vampire leader, Sayre; Fran Kranz as Pimli, the right hand man of Flagg; and Katheryn Winnick in a mystery role.
Directed by Nikolaj Arcel, written by Akiva Goldsman & Jeff Pinkner.
The Dark Tower is scheduled to hit theaters on February 17, 2017.
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