How come there isn't a single image of Roland wearing a hat? Am I missing something or did I forget something? Can he be The Gunslinger w/o his hat!? O.o
shareI'm sure he will have a hat once we see some footage. Only a month left to wait!! :)
shareHe won't have a hat, when Idris Elba was interviewed by Anothony Breznican (EW) at SDCC that he and Nikolaj Arcel had worked together to come up with the look and they leaned more towards the night as opposed to the Cowboy motif. So I think the pictures of Roland are exactly what we are going to get.
The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed...share
That's a little disappointing to me for some reason. It's just another thing that seems like wtf? If he's walking around in the desert, beneath the hot sun, he'd sure rather have a hat than not. And it's Roland's look! Sure it's a little thing, but so many little changes add up to a big change. Another thing making me nervous of the longevity of the movie/tv adaptation. If you deviate so much you might as well be making a different story!
shareI mean he is black now so.... Not gonna get a sunburn! Hat, no hat, who cares?
shareIt doesn't matter that much, I agree, but still... when you change too many parts of what makes a character unique, you're making something wholly different. Would Darth Vader be Darth Vader if his suit was red and had no cape or mask? I just don't get why so much needed to be changed or tweaked. The story & characters were already awesome. Why so many changes? And I get the whole 'this is a different version yadda yadda'. It just doesn't make sense to me. If they wanted to make DT why not stick closer to the material? Why not have just made their own characters & story in a similar setting? It's beginning to look/sound as if this is the Dark Tower in spirit or theme only. Just kind of disappointing.
As I keep saying, I'm holding out hope and am going to give this a fair chance, I just don't understand *why* the changes/deviations were necessary. I understand that stories on screen are told differently than in books, so event orders may need to be changed or excised due to running time. But cosmetic changes are head scratching when there is a wealth of words written and art created to act as a guide. Impossible to make everyone happy, sure, but this *almost* feels like a slap in the face to those of us who have been faithful to the series over the years. It was us who made it worthwhile to make a movie in the first place. Maybe it's Kings fault for being so easy going about this adaptation because itks been on hold for so long. Oh well...
I remember discussing the mystery of Roland's hat some months back with some other posters on the board lol. To be fair though, I do specifically remember it being mentioned toward the very beginning of The Gunslinger that Roland's hat was gone. It did reappear at some point - and though I can't be 100% sure if it was the first time it reappeared, the next time I remember his hat being mentioned was when the ka-tet was crossing the broken bridge. (Susannah yanked Roland's hat down on his head to keep it from blowing off while they crossed.)
shareI'm re-reading all the DT books and am now in the middle of The Wastelands. So far there was about 1 or 2 mentions of his hat, about the same amount of mentions that Roland is white, regardless of Detta's mad, paranoid ramblings (Roland is actually mostly referred to as the "Really Bad Man" by Detta). The hat was refered to in "The Gunslinger", but only that it got lost underway.
Personally I see 0 problems there. I was slightly irked about Roland's healthy and muscular build at first, I'll reply to Captain Wesker's thread about the issue once I've given it some more thought.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence - Carl Sagan
Yeah, guess I'll weigh in, too. To be completely honest, when I saw the first pictures, my thoughts were, "Oh, love the outfit!" I didn't even notice the absence of the hate until I read this strand, and even then my initial thought was, "Huh. There is not hat, is there?" It really didn't hit me the way, like... Indiana Jones without his hat would. Again, I don't think it's that drastic of a change, and really, other then an educated hypothesis, we really have no confirmation that Roland will never be seen with his hat.
Now, if they switch his guns for swords, then we're gonna have issues, but I don't think they're going to go quite that far.
I'm glad that you personally have no problem with the changes being made. I am also rereading the books while trying to re-imagine what I've visualized over the years. Like I said, any one thing isn't a big issue, but when they're all added up they make for a vast re-imagining. It's been years since I read a SW adaptation, but many character traits aren't mentioned over and over again. Once an attitude or look has been established there is no need to drive it home again and again. So it doesn't matter how many times it talks about a hat, a gun, clothing, skin color, build, etc. It would get repetitive otherwise.
Elba's build is just another dimension of the established character to be changed that, by itself, would be easy to look past. Just like Roland's blue eyes, which I could also overlook. But... ultimately Elba is just nothing close to how Roland has ever been described and, to me & many others, it's a little jarring. And if they can stick to the story w/o changing too much to suit their wants/needs, maybe I can get past all that, but if they're changing Roland hat drastically it makes me wonder how freely they are approaching he entirety of he story. Again, if you make so many changes as to make it such a loose adaptation, why not just make your own sci-fi/fantasy/horror/western characters and world and do as you please - wow us with their own creativity!
Is it wrong that some of us expect a few things out of this adaptation? Taking liberties that improve a story isn't a problem, but the story was excellent anyway. It makes you wonder *why* they felt the changes were necessary. Do you honestly believe that out of everyone who auditioned that Elba was the best all around choice? I don't believe there was some SJW agenda here, but I can def see why some feel this way. The whole thing is feeling off kilter. I just feel a world like that of the DT is the right place to make such 'grand gestures'. Imagine the uproar if so many changes were made to Harry Potter! Tho if such changes were made to a character like James Bond (who I think Elba was perfect for) it would have meaning as so many different actors have already played Bond. But nope, let's fiddle with a story most people have never encountered before other than in passing. Of course general audiences won't care as they have no investment in the books.
Oh well. It's just noise, right? It doesn't matter much in the end. It's just a little disappointing. If it's just mixing it up w/ Roland I can probably get past it. It just doesn't bode well in the long run if they're taking so many liberties, even if this isn't the same cycle of time from the books.
Is this thread serious or rhetoric? Either way i love it!
shareOkay, I'll be honest about this... I love Elba as an actor. I think he can take the role and knock it out of the park. And yes, Storm, I do believe that it's quite possible that out everyone who auditioned, Elba was the best Roland they saw. Is it possible there are ulterior motives? Hell, anything is possible, so of course it is. But I do not believe a bunch of black clad villains sat around pulling their waxed mustaches, rubbing their hands saying things like, "Finally! We can shake up the Stephen King fandom to *insert nefarious reason here*!" People are acting as if this reason was made for the sole purpose of upsetting people as if they don't want to make money off this endeavor. Is it really so far out of the realm of possibility that his audition was extraordinary? And is it possible for some of us to reserve judgment until we've seen what he's done?
Please don't think I'm harping on you or anything. Honestly, I love the fact you're willing to discuss this without being insulting; you're one of few. Bottom line is, we'll see it when it's released (and hopefully get some fun trailers along the way). I mean, either he'll be great or he won't. I think he can nail this, you think it's highly questionable. We'll see eventually, and I hope (for both our sakes) I'll be right about him and you'll be pleasantly surprised!
You took the words right out of my mouth, joannatn. Totally agree.
shareI am just fine being pleasantly surprised and I really hope I am! I will gladly eat my words and you can lace them with whatever foul tasting substance you want! I'll even smile if it travels down my gullet! Like I've said, I want this project to travel the distance. I just don't feel Elba can carry that weight. I was saving this thought for another post (so you may see it again later). But why do I feel he is wrong? I always imagine Roland having this Otherness to him. A dangerous, otherworldy quality. Not that if he gets his hands on you he'll beat you to a pulp (Elba built like a Linebacker!), but that he's dangerous quick and sharp. Like he's nearly a wraith - sitting right there on the edge of eternity. Not quit dead, but not quit living. I just don't get that from Elba. Sure, that's all in my head, but still.
shareStorm, do I really seem like the type that would lace it with something foul? I'd gladly serve it up with a spoonful of sugar, and I'd even try not to look smug if that moment came to pass! Just please show me the same courtesy if you're right and I'm dead wrong. You don't have to be successful, mind you, but just *try* not to be overly smug!
But, seriously... I get it. I *love* your view of Roland. I agree wholeheartedly. He fights with his mind, not with his body. And Idris Elba looks more like a guy who can handle himself in the ring. It's hard to do a complete 180 when you have a view of a person in your mind's eye. I get that, too. It may have been easier for me, I don't know... Because I already liked Idris Elba before he was Roland. Could have something to do with the fact growing up as a child there wasn't a single Disney princess I could emulate being Amerasian... It didn't matter if I acted like Cinderella, unless they were doing Pocahontas, I wasn't going to get the lead in the school play! I like that they're willing to give a role written for a white actor to a black actor. I do! Call that SJW or whatever you want, but to me it's as if they wanted someone that could pull of Roland's spirit more than someone who could just be exactly what people expected to see. It seems like Roland was more than just a Clint Eastwood lookalike which is exactly what I would hope for, be that man white, black, Asian, Latino... whatever! You don't see that Roland you described in Idris Elba, but I think I do. One of us is right. We'll see soon enough.
Don't think I don't understand where you're coming from, though. You're disappointed. Thank you for using calm rationale to get that across. Blind rage is so much less pleasant.
joannatn, wonderful response! I am also glad we can disagree civilly. What fun is there when everyone agrees all the time! And I totally get where you are coming from. As a white Caucasian male I can totally appreciate that I don't know what that's like, but in the same breathe I don't know what 'white male privilege' is either (not that you implied as such).
Ha, how about we agree to let one another slide no matter who is right, eh? Tho I'd appreciate the spoonful of sugar (more than I deserve, I'm sure) :)
I'll be honest, I didn't notice the hat missing. Probably because in my mind, I don't think of Roland wearing a hat as being important. When I read and re-read and then re-read the books, I don't really think about what any of the characters are wearing, unless the lines are specifically talking about it. I think for Roland, I see his face more than anything.
And yes, I see Roland in Elba.
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