After a lengthy hunt for an actor to take on the role of the lead gunslinger in the big screen adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower, Luther and Beasts of No Nation star Idris Elba is the frontrunner to play Roland Deschain.
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But now Sony and MRC are partnered on the project and moving forward and it looks like they’re negotiating with an even cooler actor to play Deschain: Idris Elba.
Also in talks for the film is Matthew McConaughey who would potentially play the Man in Black, the antagonist of the series that Elba would have to square off against. Nikolaj Arcel (A Royal Affair) is directing the The Dark Tower from a script he rewrote with fellow Danish filmmaker Anders Thomas Jensen (The Salvation), based on a previous draft by Akiva Goldsman and Jeff Pinkner (LOST). He is now involved in producing the series through his Imagine Entertainment alongside Brian Grazer and Erica Huggins. Deadline adds, “First installment of The Dark Tower focuses on the first book in the series, The Gunslinger, establishing the relationship between Roland and young protege Jake Chambers”.
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Sony chief Tom Rothman has positioned “The Dark Tower” as the start of a global franchise, saying in an earlier statement that “there are few projects out there that compare with the scope, vision, complex characters and fully drawn world that Stephen King has created”. Sony will be teaming with Media Rights Capital to co-finance the movies, with a “complimentary” TV series also being planned.
