‘The Dark Tower’: Stephen King convinced of Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey casting

'The Dark Tower' is an upcoming fantasy-Western film directed by Nikolaj Arcel based on the series of novels by Stephen King. The author revealed that Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey will portray lead protagonist Roland Deschain and main villain the Man in Black, respectively.

According to We Got This Covered, King revealed that he was optimistic with the upcoming live-action adaptation pushing through during an interview with Rolling Stone. He said, "It looks to me like it's more likely than not it'll happen at this point."

Sony Pictures will be adapting his bestselling epic-adventure book series for the big-screen. It has been in pre-development since the earliest announcement in 2007, with J.J. Abrams attached to direct.

According to Cinema Blend, Universal Pictures originally announced the film to be released on May 17, 2013 but eventually pulled out of the project due to disagreements with producer Ron Howard. On 2012, Warner Bros. took on the responsibility for at least one film in the proposed cinematic series but eventually passed on the film as well.

Russell Crowe and Javier Bardem were both tipped to play the lead protagonist Roland Deschain. When Sony and MRC finally took up the project in April 2015, award-winning writer Akiva Goldsman and Jeff Pinkner went on board to rework the original screenplay. Nikolaj Arcel will be directing the adaptsation as well.

No confirmation regarding Crowe or Bardem's involvement surfaced. However, it was recently reported that Matthew McConaughey was offered two roles for the film, including Roland Deschain or the villainous Man in Black. McConaughey allegedly chose the antagonistic role over the lead.

Golden Globe-nominee Idris Elba was later tagged to play Roland Deschain. The alleged casting sparked some controversy as the lead protagonist was portrayed to be a Caucasian gunslinger in the original comic books.

However, King admitted in a previous interview that the color of his lead character's skin did not matter. According to Entertainment Weekly, he also seemed convinced about the McConaughey-Elba casting saying, "Let's put it that way. I think that it's more likely than not that Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey will be in it... But I can't say with any certainty. I know that they're trying to make deals with these actors [and] with Sony, and that's the extent of my knowledge."

'The Dark Tower' is an upcoming science-fiction and horror-fantasy film directed by Nikolaj Arcel. It is a live-action adaptation of Stephen King's series of fantasy novels of the same name. It is scheduled premiere on January 13, 2017.  

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