Arts & Culture
Are You Talkin' To Me?:  A Film column by Jamie Hill

  “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came” Robert Browning (1812–89) Thus, I had so long suffer’d, in this quest,   Heard failure prophesied so oft, been writ   So many times among “The Band”—to wit, The knights who to the Dark Tower’s search address’d Their steps—that just to fail as they, seem’d best.   And all the doubt was now—should I be fit?

The above is a segment of Robert Browning’s epic poem ‘Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Come’ which formed the basis of Stephen King’s magnum opus The Dark Tower - a story that was split over eight books. If this all sounds a bit weighty don’t worry as the books are cracking following a ‘gunslinger’ on a quest across a dying world to kill the Man in Black before he reaches The Dark Tower. It’s one of those fantasy sets that is at once awe-inspiring and simplistic, at the same time weaving a rich tapestry of language, themes and mythology, stepping seamlessly from fantasy to our very real world without missing a beat and told in the way that only Stephen King can. And so we come to the long gestating film which is finally out this month starring Idris Elba as Roland Deschain The Gunslinger and the always amazing, if you don’t count his rom-com phase, Matthew Mcconnaughy. This is a film that has gone through various actors, directors and writers over the years with Javier Bardem once attached to play Roland at one stage. And looking at the early trailers it looks like they have captured the soul of what is at the heart of King’s works as Elba embodies the gunslinging knight in just the few scenes we’ve seen already. And Mcconnaughy’s casting is inspired as Flagg, The Man in Black - the main evildoer who is obsessed with the tower and the destruction of all we know. It’s directed by Nikolaj Arcel and is set half in Mid-world, the fantasy world of King’s imagination and our world. There’s been several rumours about where it fits in to the books, whether it’s after, before or a direct adaptation but the plans currently in place will see this followed by a television series exploring the books even further. I expect they’re waiting to see how the film is received before they definitely confirm this. The Dark Tower is released on August 18.