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Quint's chat with Stephen King!! The Dark Tower! JJ Abrams! Marvel! The Mist! And Much More!!!
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with my nearly 20 minute long one on one interview with Stephen King.
Yes, I geeked out. Yes, I had the fear. I was the last of four journalists to talk to King, so that meant an hour of waiting outside the room, which meant an hour for the butterflies in the tummy to grow rabid and nasty.
I’ve only gotten like this in a few occasions. Once, when I went to the War of the Worlds set and was told Steven Spielberg wanted to talk to me. That walk up to him was a long one. Another time was when I was about to conduct a phone interview with John Cleese. I just worry about making a bad impression on these people who I greatly respect and grew up idolizing.
Plus it seemed like a little bit of “one of these doesn’t belong” while I was waiting to talk to King as the other reporters were from the Associated Press, New York Post and Maxim. What the hell was I doing in that line-up… okay, maybe Maxim and I could get along together, but the AP and New York Post?
At any rate, King turned out to be just as I expected. He was very laid back, an everyday sort of guy and didn’t seem put out by talking to me, which was my biggest fear. Not that I would turn into Chris Farley and just keep telling him that THE STAND and IT and the DARK TOWER series were awesome over and over, but that the interview would be boring and by the numbers.
It was a little intimidating to walk into that room, though. The interview happened with an audience of 6 or 7 people, including Marvel Editor In Chief, Joe Quesada. Once King and I started talking, though, I didn’t even register anyone else in the room… until they laughed at something King said.
In the interview, we go over lots of territory. Not quite as much as I would have liked to, but beggars can’t be choosers. I could have spent a day discussing DARK TOWER with Stephen King, but I think we got in a fair amount, including some encouraging specifics on what JJ Abrams is planning on doing with the Dark Tower.
We started with a talk about Frank Darabont’s adaptation of THE MIST and if he was going to visit. As I was turning on the tape recorder, King was talking about how at this time of year he lives South. Florida, I believe. Anyway, enjoy the chat!
STEPHEN KING: It’s not real close to where he is, but it’s a lot closer than Maine. I was thinking maybe I’d rent a car, pack up the wife and go up there.
QUINT: I’ve done that drive before. It’s a nice drive. It can get a little scary in the Ozarks…
STEPHEN KING: (Darabont) is real excited.
QUINT: Yeah, I bet. I’m good friends with Greg Nicotero and he’s doing the effects and the second unit directing. I bet he’s like a schoolboy right about now.
STEPHEN KING: Well you know… What finally broke the gridlock with Frank was shooting an episode of THE SHIELD. Has he told you that story?
QUINT: I remember him telling me that he just shot so fast, that it was almost like a boot camp for directors.
STEPHEN KING: He says it’s “combat photography.”
QUINT: I know he has a really short shoot for THE MIST.
STEPHEN KING: Twenty-Eight days or something. Forty days, maybe. Something like that.
QUINT: I live in Austin and Shreveport is a short drive. I’m going to go visit them soon, I think.
STEPHEN KING: I was just talkin’, to this guy who was here from Maxim, about music in Austin and about James McMurtry and Robert Earl Keen and Ray Wylie Hubbard and all those guys… I love it. Have you ever heard that Ray Wylie Hubbard song “Screw You, We’re From Texas”?
QUINT: No!
STEPHEN KING: That’s a great song.
QUINT: I’m sure it goes down well in Texas. That’s kind of the attitude down there. But Austin’s a little different.
STEPHEN KING: Yeah, Austin isn’t Texas.
QUINT: It definitely isn’t… I love that you’re wearing that SHAUN OF THE DEAD t-shirt. I’m also friends with Edgar Wright and he just came down to show the Austin AICN boys HOT FUZZ.
STEPHEN KING: I’m lookin’ forward to it.
QUINT: It’s great. I told him I was going to come talk to you and he was like, “You have to ask him if he has the Foree Electronics nametag we sent him!”
STEPHEN KING: Oh yeah, I do. You be sure, when you talk to him, to tell him I wore this shirt so they wouldn’t kill me at Comic-Con. It’s like, “Look! I’m one of you guys!”
QUINT: Yeah, it’s kind of like a geek shield!
[Laughter around the room]
STEPHEN KING: Yeah, it’s a geek shirt.
QUINT: I wanted to say that I grew up reading your books and I’ve been reading Dark Tower since I was 13. I was telling the New York Post and Maxim guys outside that I’m kind of experiencing this indie rock phenomenon with the Dark Tower. When I was first reading the books no one I knew had read them, even my friends who were also big fans of your work. Now it’s becoming really popular and it’ll just get even more popular with this new series from Marvel.
STEPHEN KING: I hope, I hope. I mean, it’s still… compared with what the other books sell, The Dark Tower… I mean, it’s like an acquired taste. It’s like anchovy pizza or something a little bit different.
The way it started was the first bunch of stories were published in Fantasy & Science Fiction and Don Grant from Grant Publishers asked if he could do the book. The whole thing is just a fuckin’ accident. It’s an accident that I ever found those stories again. They were in a box in the cellar when we lived in this little town called Bridgeton and the box was all swelled up because the pipes dripped on it and the pages were all wet inside, but they had been done on this hard, heavy stock or else the pages would have melted.
But it was still there. My agent at the time read some and said, “I think I can sell these,” and he did one by one, then Don wanted to do the book.
He did some ridiculously small number of books with this beautiful Michael Whelan artwork… you know what I’m talkin’ about it. And that was it. I did a signed edition and he had a few that were unsigned. They sold out and that was it.
And then, when PET SEMATARY got published, I put The Dark Tower on what they call the ad column where you list the other books that you’ve done. We were all at once flooded with letters from fans going, “What’s this Dark Tower book? I never heard of this! I never saw this at the book store!”
I was like, “You can’t get it. It’s sold out.” And they’re like, “Don’t tell me I can’t get it! I want the fuckin’ book! I got the fuckin’ money!”
It’s like… you say to people, “Well guess what? The Rolling Stones said You Can’t Always Get What You Want, so you’re outta luck!”
And it just kept up and finally some people said to me, “You really outta do a paperback.” And I got really red-assed about it and I said, “No, I’m not going to do a paperback. Let these people find out that just because they live in America, in an information society, that they can’t get everything that they want. It’ll do ‘em good.”
But finally I relented because I’m just a big pussy. After that, people wanted more and I wanted more myself, but the whole thing was just this series of accidents, really. It’s amazing it exists at all.
QUINT: I don’t have enough money to get the first edition of Gunslinger…
STEPHEN KING: Me either.
QUINT: But I do have all the other Grant editions. Like I said, I was addicted from a young age…
STEPHEN KING: By the way, I love the website. I go there all the time, surf around.
QUINT: Really?
STEPHEN KING: Yeah. I went there to see… this guy did a review of 1408, which I haven’t seen, but the guy thought it was good. [King pumps his fist in the air]
QUINT: I saw some footage at the American Film Market in LA. It looked great, which was a bit of a relief because I loved the short story.
STEPHEN KING: I love that story.
QUINT: I’m a big fan of your short work, so I’m both worried and excited every time someone takes one of your short stories and makes it into a film. When it’s somebody like Darabont you can have complete trust…
STEPHEN KING: Anything can go wrong!
QUINT: True, but you have that stellar batting average.
STEPHEN KING: Yeah, but it’s like saying a guy’s batting a thousand because he has two at bats and he gets a hit both times. Although, I admit… Frank hit a couple of homeruns.
QUINT: But the 1408 footage I saw looked fantastic, had great atmosphere.
STEPHEN KING: It’s got good buzz.
QUINT: When I hit the seventh book, The Dark Tower, I don’t know… I got that dread. I had it with The Stand as well, but you really don’t want it to end, where I wish the book was more of a portal into the world that I could just pick up and keep following these characters on new adventures.
STEPHEN KING: When you came in we were talking about Charlie Huston, this guy who has written a trilogy. One’s called “Caught Stealing” and one’s called “Six Bad Things” and the last one, which I’m reading now, is called “The Dangerous Man.” I feel the same way.
QUINT: When you finished the seventh book did you think, “Okay, I’m not closing the door on The Dark Tower, but this is going to be it.” Did you imagine there was going to be…
Warning... story spoilers for those who haven't read the last book!!!
STEPHEN KING: One thing that I thought about the way that the book ends is that it allows people, if they want, to go to from the end of Book 7 to the beginning of Book 1 to start over again, which in a way is the great theme of the books, which is that Ka is a wheel and it turns. That’s all it wants to do is turn.
End of spoilers!!
But the books themselves aren’t done. I was sayin’ this in the panel. I’d like to rewrite them. Whether or not I’ll actually get that chance I don’t know, but I’d like to because to me they’re a first draft.
QUINT: Beyond rewriting, do you think you’d ever revisit them in short form again, like you did with The Little Sisters of Eluria?
STEPHEN KING: I might, yeah. I think that’s a possibility.
QUINT: I could imagine you might get a little hungry to do that again by working on this comic and getting to explore more of Roland’s story that way.
STEPHEN KING: I’m not sure… the comic itself might satisfy that, to tell more stories, because they’ve got a lot of space there to tell new stuff, but on the other hand… I’m working with Peter David and Robin Furth and they don’t really need me. They’ve got up a head of steam and they can handle it on their own. If I have an idea I’ll tell them. Or I’ll save it for myself. Either way.
QUINT: Do you think there’ll be more connections in your work to The Tower? I can’t imagine you can avoid it in something like the third Talisman book…
STEPHEN KING: Yeah.
QUINT: But that’s one of my favorite things about the idea of the Dark Tower series, that it connects damn near everything you’ve ever done.
STEPHEN KING: That was always the idea, to see if I couldn’t hook it all up together. It wasn’t based on The Dark Tower itself, it was like… when a book like INSOMNIA would come along or a book like IT… You know, immediately I started to think in terms if there’s something cosmic going on here it’s all hooked together. I sort of went with that.
QUINT: I know Grant Books is publishing another hardcover of THE GUNSLINGER.
STEPHEN KING: They’re doing Little Sisters…
QUINT: They’re releasing a hardback that’s Gunslingers and Little Sisters of Eluria with new Michael Whelan art, right?
STEPHEN KING: Yep, they are.
QUINT: They announced that a long time ago. Do you know when that’ll be released?
STEPHEN KING: It’s just been pushed back because he did a Jae Lee. Michael Whelan did a Jae Lee, he said, “I want more time! I want to rework these sketches,” or something like that.
QUINT: I talked a little bit earlier about being both terrified and excited when I hear one of your stories is optioned, but Dark Tower has always been so close to me that when the rumor hit that JJ Abrams might be doing it, then you confirmed it on the panel this afternoon…
STEPHEN KING: Well, the only thing that I can confirm is that we’re talking about it because there’s nothing firm yet.
QUINT: Well, he doesn’t have it set up somewhere yet, but he has the option right?
STEPHEN KING: Well, he doesn’t have anything yet, but he will have eventually… if he wants it. I think he does.
QUINT: I’ve never met JJ, but Harry talks with him quite a bit and the impression I get from him is he’s very much in line with geeks like me and the readers of the site.
STEPHEN KING: He’s a good guy. He’s one of us.
QUINT: Do you think he’ll attack the series as a television series like LOST or…
STEPHEN KING: No. It oughta be movies. It’s gotta be big. I’d like to see it done (that way). I’m not going to close any doors because that’s not my way…
QUINT: What about a cable series, like an HBO or Showtime series?
STEPHEN KING: We’ve talked about it, but (Abrams and Damon Lindelof’s) impulse, too, is to go with the big screen. JJ has a deal with Paramount Pictures. I know that he’s talked with somebody at Paramount and said, “Yeah, it probably oughta be pictures.” But why close any doors?
QUINT: Yeah. I’d love to see it on the big screen, though, because the books are so cinematic. Especially when you get to Drawing of the Three, which was the book… I liked Gunslinger on my first read through, but when I got to Drawing of the Three, that’s the book that hooked me.
STEPHEN KING: It kinda hooked me, too. I loved the way that that took off from the very beginning.
QUINT: Well, with the first book there’s very little interaction, just with Roland and Jake, but when he draws his group in the second book… I just love the chemistry of those characters.
[The lovely Marvel PR rep gives me a 2 minute warning]
STEPHEN KING: She’s a harsh mistress.
QUINT: What are you working on now? I know you have BLAZE coming out soon.
STEPHEN KING: Blaze is done. That’ll be out later this year, but that wasn’t my book. That was Richard Bachman’s. So, it’s just a posthumous novel and I fixed it up for the poor fella… Otherwise, I don’t know. I’m workin’ on some stuff, but nothing that I really feel like talkin’ about. A lot of times, until it gets past a certain stage, I’d rather not say anything. But I’m happy and I’m workin’, so life is good. I’m workin’ on my tan down there in Florida.
QUINT: Well, if you go out to Louisiana… don’t know what kind of sun you’d get, but the humidity will sink into your skin…
STEPHEN KING: There’s been some talk about doing a sequel to DELIVERANCE…
QUINT: Yeah?
STEPHEN KING: Speaking of Louisiana.
QUINT: They wanting to do a follow-up to the movie or…
STEPHEN KING: They’re talking about doing a sequel to the book.
QUINT: Oh yeah? That’s crazy. That’s something you just never even consider happening…
STEPHEN KING: That’s one of the only reasons it sort of interests me to think about. It’ll be something different. Probably never happen, but…
QUINT: If someone gets a bug up their ass to do it, they gotta get it out some way.
STEPHEN KING: Sure. “This one’s got a purty mouth!”
QUINT: What’s your favorite dirty joke?
STEPHEN KING: My favorite dirty joke? Let’s see… Dirty Johnny’s in a classroom. The teacher says, “Can anyone use the word ‘Rotterdam’ in a sentence?” Right away Johnny’s hand is up. She hates to ask him, but she has to because he’s the only one who has got his hand up. She says, “What is it, Johnny?” He says, “My Grandmother has poison ivy and I hope it’ll Rotterdam arm off!”
It’s the first one to come to mind. Sorry. [The room laughs] It’s a literary joke!
There you have it, squirts. Maybe at some point in the future I’ll get to dissect the books a little bit more with King. As you can see, we didn’t delve too deeply in our short time together, but King was very open and honest. He put me at ease straightaway, which was something considering how long I had to get wound up and nervous beforehand.
How about that JJ Abrams bit? I love that he’s trying to make the Dark Tower series into feature films, but he’s got himself a mountain to climb. On one hand I believe that the movies will cost less than something like LORD OF THE RINGS, but they have to contend with the ratings board. Detta/Odetta can’t work as PG-13. The demon raping is not PG-13. Roland’s pistol abortion is not PG-13. What a wonderful world this would be if we see the series as an ongoing hard R rated feature film series. The dream is there.
I hope you enjoyed the chat. Thanks for reading!
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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Nice work Quint.
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Wow.
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The Green Mile more of a 15-pitch at bat with about 10 fouled off pitches that ends in a weak pop out to second.
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Needs returning. Yeah?
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i keed, i keed, we're all friends here, eh?
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You're the fuckin man Quint.
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It's in the first book with the fat preacher lady who's carrying the Man In Black's child. Roland didn't like it and "takes the demon" out using his pistol.
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Looking forward to this...
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At least have him write the themes for it.
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I can't believe King and Abrams are ignoring the potential of the storytelling allowed by an cable series. The books would have to be shoehorned into films, unless JJ is thinking about some sort of insane 6 picture deal with about a 300 million dollar budget for the series, backed by a studio that won't mind their blockbuster tentpoles having a very hard R rating. The stories are mature reading, and should be mature viewing. Two 13-episode seasons would be enough to get the story across with the appropriate connection to the characters. I have always wanted to see the Dark Tower on screen, but I really think the storytelling problems in truncating the books into a workable film series would make the series almost unrecognizable.
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How awesome was that, eh?! You met STEPHEN KING!
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I've always thought the simple answer to adapting the Dark Tower, is do the first 3 books (at least) as films, then move it to TV for the rest of the series. Once three incredible films are in the pipe, there'd certainly be enough base to maintain a solid TV series (HBO or whatever) audience, and it could be an interesting experiment after things like Star Wars TV and the like hit. The Gunslinger and The Drawing of the Three as TV would be a shame; I've seriously considered Gunslinger 'top 5 best films of all time' material for some time now (and that's not hype; I'm dead serious), and the Drawing of the Three has similar potential. The raw condensed power of the storytelling (not to mention originality; even seen a film anything like what either would be?) of those two especially just would rock cinema SO HARD, while the later (longer, more plot/relationships-complicated, and more drawn out) books would seem more suited to the pace of television. That's been my opinion for some time now, what's everyone else think about that strategy?
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Just de-age him via X3 and let him take his Ka-Tet all the way past halls of Gilead straight to the Dark Tower itself. If King actually does visit this site, I hope he ignores the haters (mark my word, they will show up) and love the rest of us.
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As I said two days ago, you always do a fine job for the site. Again, I am not disappointed.
I really wish you had asked him something about Eyes of the Dragon. I'd love to see that become a movie. (Knowing Hollywood, they'd give it to Bay and he'd throw in a damn dragon with flaming nipples and say, "Well, the title has 'dragon' in it, so I took some 'liberties'.") -
With a serious budget and an R rating, The Gunslinger WOULD be an awesome stand-alone...but if I watched three movies and then found out I had to get HBO to see the rest, I'd be pissed. Still, any way that gets the whole story on screen will have my vote, just not a heavily abridged pg-13 trilogy.
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Feb 26, 2007 10:14:25 PM CST
"I'm friends with Edgar Wright and Greg Nicotero, meeh"
by frank duckett
You sound like Harry now (who, lets not forget, talks to JJ Abrams alot)
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I think Hugh Jackman would make an excellent Roland. Loved DTVII ending, btw.
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I'm one of the few that thought the ending to the Dark Tower series was haunting and beautiful.
Great interview. I like the thought of SK reading this site, especially the random chance that he watched any of our Grindhouse trailers. -
Thats right another hopeful casting choice, and I'm glad S. King seems like such a cool guy.
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...like the characters he cameos as in the movies??
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Into the Void. You'd DIG IT! 4:30
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I thought the guy from Lost would make an incredible Roland, with hair and the loss of a few pounds to make him look lean and gangly. His scenes with his "apprentice" who ends up dead made me think he had the intensity. I never really pictured Roland looking like a hollywood leading man. Clint in a cameo as his dad in the first and fourth episodes would be classic, though.
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Please never stop the dirty joke final question. In fact, I think it would be hilarious to release them all some day in a book or some sort of online viewing page. But regarding the possibility of DT movies.... There's one problem - JAKE CAN'T AGE!! He only experiences a few months maybe over 7 books? I can't remember how long it is exactly, but they'll have to be extra creative to overcome that part.
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I'm pretty sure Todd McFarlane will grab ahold of the DT series really soon after/before it hits film. That is...if he hasn't already.
I bought the 12" Gunslinger Spawn just because it reminds me so much of Roland. -
...congrats, dude. You seriously lived out one of my fantasies - chattin' it up with Stephen Motherfuckin' King. Of course, in my world, it took place in a dark house in Maine with him telling stories and scaring the bejeezus out of me. Heh. Anyways, congrats. Who's got two thumbs and is insanely jealous? THIS GUY!
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They'll need to shoot it all within a year or a year and a half, I guess. Also, narratively speaking, injecting Patrick Danville into the series at the end without having had his presence predicted by Insomnia may seem from left field.
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They're decent books on their own right, but they feel sort of... disconnected....first of all it's clear he rushed through them while the first ones were conceived over several years. Second, his car accident was shoehorned into the story... and then... I don't know... it simply didn't hit the spot. Loved the ending though.
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F--- him up his ass. It's his fault that Oy is dead. I hate his mute funny picture drawin ass.
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someone called Quint on his Harry-class name dropping. That being said, I enjoyed the interview even if I have never read nary a Dark Tower book. Oh, and for future reference, it's "oughta" not "outta".
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By the way, I'm friends with "insert name that King could care less about here". Lame, dude.
I don't get why anyone is excited about this. Nearly every single Stephen King movie has sucked, with the major exceptions of Stand By Me and Shawshank. I'll leave The Shining up in the air, but otherwise... -
Dammit Quint you set it up perfectly to get King to spill about Talisman 3 and then you let it slip away. I like DT as much as the next guy but damn if I don't want to get the further adventures of Jack Sawyer in my hands...
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Frankly I don't want anything of Jack's on my hands, but I understand your frustration, Flagg. Still, the series felt very true for me all the way through. Honestly, even though I love it, W&G was the hardest to get through just because the overall plot was barely advanced. I actually stood up while I was reading when I realized Eddie and Roland were cruising to meet their maker. Granted, I'd been waiting almost a decade for the conclusion of the story, a feeling which King actually works into the narrative as a nod to his "constant readers," I guess, but I actually feel that the waits and the manner in which they were handled added somehow to the overall dramatic scope. The Dark Tower is awesome on its own, and when taken into context with the rest of King's work is thrilling and unique. I can't stand people who come on this site just to gush.
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Wish i knew as much about the future of DT.
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... until about a year ago when I started reading a lot of positive buzz about the series on this site. I duly purchased all seven of the books and spent the next few months devouring them on my 1-hour (each-way) daily train journey. To me, the entre series became one enormous book, and I wouldn't have the faintest idea where one started and another ended, nor which parts were covered in what book.
All I know is that it was a glorious journey and one that made me very sad to complete. I would say that, of all the SK books, the Dark Tower series is at the top, perhaps being just pipped by The Stand - in my opinion, of course.
To chime in to the film debate, I agree strongly that it should be an HBO-style treatment/series. The key to King's storytelling is the emotional investment you make with the characters, as each one is richly-textured and drawn. It needs time to flesh out such characters and introducing them in a movie would, I believe, compromise this. I also have no desire to wait 12 to 18 months between each movie for seven movies.
The 'mature' TV series is definitely the way to go, although at the moment I will be happy enough with the Marvel comics if they are as good as being reported... -
No 13 No Mordred No "eeeee" Crimson King No Stephen King in the story... Just tell the tale u wanted to in the beginning King .. seriously
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I meant 19 not 13
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You're the man! Great Interview!
But I still think you shoulda punched Quesada, for that god awful Civil War crap! You were in the same room for gods sakes man! Just slip on a red wig, and blame it on Harry! You coulda done a GI Joe Ninja Double Suflex and finished him off with a Pile Driver!
.......hmm of course the "Harsh Mistress" would have probably clotheslined you on the way out!
.......Never Mind.
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Feb 27, 2007 6:32:17 AM CST
I'd see a hard R movie version but I'd still prefer HBO
by performingmonkey
The series is very episodic, it would suit HBO episodes perfectly and they could adapt it correctly. With movies they would have to basically rewrite everything (I know some people might like that considering how the 6th and 7th book turned out, but for the first few they are perfect they need to be kept intact (like a virgin before her wedding night). I'd still see them. I could see it being Lindelof/Abrams scripted with Abrams in the chair, they would combine the first two books. After that it gets difficult, Wizard & Glass would be MUCH better as a HBO mini.
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You nailed it man, just fuuuuckin' nailed it. This interview needs a part two though, like tomorrow. Way too fucking short.
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Despite what the cute borg keeps saying, I really think you should consider Jim Caviezel as Roland. Thank you sir! And the theater really is the way to go - especially if you look at the slate of mini-series and regular series that are already coming to HBO and Showtime; if we don't want to wait until 2015 to see the Dark Tower, let's do it on the BIG SCREEN.
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Can't believe all of these stories are finally coming to film! I read a lot of these stories nearly 25 years ago now--FINALLY! So many great stories that should be realized into film. I always thought The Long Walk would be a great feature. Cell's gonna be a good'n.
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I wish there had been a sly way that you could have asked King why the hell he likes Mick Garris' work so damn much?
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Goddammit, I'm still in the middle of "The Wolves of Calla" here!
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... the creative process again. There was a long stretch there where he clearly wasn't and it showed. If true, that makes this a great time to revisit the latter part of Roland's journey and give all of those characters...the good, the bad and the ugly...their due.
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In the 2003 edition, that part was written so it is the child of of the Crimson King.
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http://www.thedarktower.net/gunslinger/
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To me, it sounds like Abrams couldn't tell King to his face that he was directing Star Trek so he got the option but probably won't excercise it.... I doubt the movies are made
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If the American Battle Royale re-make does well, I imagine we'll see a Long Walk movie in the not-too-distant future (though my hopes of one day seeing Rage on screen are long since dashed)
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4-7 please. I honestly believe 4 is where it started going wrong, 5 and 6 pissed me off, and 7 felt like a let down. maybe the answer would have been to have more books in the early part of the series (bear with me on this) as- and it is a while since I read them- so my memory could well be going wrong) If Book 3 stopped when they boarded Blane then the extra book would bridge the gap up to the storytelling starting, and make the narrative of Roland's youth less fragmented as one novel and not an annoying interruption to the quest. It's only an idea, though,
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fucking great read. Books 2 thru 4 are some of the best stories ever put down on paper .... yeish - what went wrong? Great interveiw by the way. Still love King even though the ending blew.
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I just meant that I think The Wasteland and Wizard and Glass were 3 books knocked into 2, and Wizard and Glass would have been a tighter book if it contained only the Young Roland story, and the link back to the beam or take it out all together and slip it into a prequel saga- wait- scratch that. We all know how "good" prequel trilogies are.
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...being one of the best of the bunch. The serious rewriting needs to be done on the latter half of Wolves and pretty much all of the two books that follow. That's where things just start to feel rushed, sloppy and unsatisfying (especially if you go back and compare them to books II and IV).
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IV was the best part of the Dark Tower series. Hands down. Upon picking IV up, I was also annoyed that we'd be taking a break from the adventure. But it didn't take long to realize how much an enjoyable read it was following those three kids from Gilead on their adventure. Their showdown with the Big Coffin Hunters in the saloon was the best scene in the entire damn series. Quote me on that.
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...it jumped the shark. Fact.
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Hugh Jackman has to play Roland...
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And the more I think about, that could work, instead of starting with the "bear" attack - book 4 would have been much longer - which is fine - more epic - but the train sequence was pretty exciting. I think it would have been harder to read though since the flash back story built up for a long time (which, was cool too). Epic wise, yeah, end of Wastelands into Wizard would have been cool. Volume 4 could have been - is the epic - volume 7 should have been.On a side note .... always thought - WISHED - Wolves would of been - could have been - more like the movie Aliens. I kept thinking "Aliens" but was let down. I did like Wolves though.
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and Drawing of the Three is just so, so perfect. From beginning to end, it is terribly creative and engaging, and I can understand the lack of love for 5 and 6, but I loved 7, and I thought it was an incredibly satisfying conclusion. I look forward to re-reading Wizard and Glass, as I wasn't that huge on it when I read it originally, but maybe that's because I was on the edge of my seat with Blaine, and the Gilead stuff, while still great, was much less tense when it starts. Michael Emerson for Walter.
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The Wizard & Glass flashback story is fucking excellent, King at his very best. But the bookending parts where they end up in the same (or similar) world as The Stand and then the fucking huge emerald palace at the end (complete with several Oz references) really DO need a rewrite. Wolves of the Calla was great, I thought, even though it seemed to take so long for nothing to happen. It was afer Wolves that things went wrong. Susannah is carrying the child of the Crimson King and the gunslinger combined and this ends up meaning NOTHING. I thought the whole series was going to hinge on that but in the end...fuck. I DO like the ending of the series, what I didn't like was King speaking directly to the reader just before the end basically saying 'don't fucking write to me saying you didn't like the ending, I don't care if you don't like it, it's the only ending there can be, just fucking accept it' he should never have done that, if he rewrites VII he should take that out and just let the reader get on with reading instead of taking you out of it (as if his own appearance in the series doesn't take you out of it enough!)).
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Because no Stephen King interview is complete without a Hot Fuzz reference!!!
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If SK is going to rewrite the book, and Roland has already taken multiple trips to the tower, let's see the story where he finally gets redemption. It would be a chance to improve on obvious weak points (Pat Danville's eraser, the screeching Crimson King and uber-villain Walter being done in by a schnauser-sized spider come to mind) while exploring the whole concept of ripples in the time stream. Roland doesn't sacrifice Jake - he saves him - and go from there.
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That scene in the saloon where Roland and his friends keep upping the ante with the Big Coffin Hunters is amazing. Kind of reminds me of the last stand at the end of Reservoir Dogs. All of them waiting to see who's going to flinch.... --G
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A great American storyteller. I rank King up there with Twain and Richard Yates.
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Not King himself ! So the disappointing outcome of the series was, in fact, pretty much what was coming from the day King grudgingly allowed it to be published in trade paperback (as he seems to be saying). His attitude, when talking about how "not getting what they want might do them some good" seems to be that the first Gunslinger book was all that he wanted to write, and that people should have been satisfied with that. Which means that the next six volumes, no matter what neat little moments cropped up in them, were forced out of the man. I personally felt that the Gunslinger ended perfectly with the dark ending of the "Slow Mutants" chapter ... it was similar to the dark ending to "The Long Walk". Now King is going to revise everything, but he's going to go the goofy "Hah, it was all a joke, I never meant any of it seriously" route to revising. If you think he's going to erase the goofy parts, think again. He's going to erase the serious parts because they conflict with the goofy parts.
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Hey did anyone hear about her flashing the audience at the DGA Awards? Can't seem to find a video link anywhere... anyone got one?
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I mean I hope that doesn't happen for a long time, but I've always been curious once King passes on will his works fade away or not? Will perception of him strengthen or weaken?
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He is today's young Clint Eastwood afterall...
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Watch "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" and you will see the resemblance.
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was a classic "king ripping off king" scenario from his earlier black house. but in that story the disclaimer actually fit the entire narrative where the omniscient narrator seemed to speak directly to us, the reader. speaking of, black house was the last great king book in opinion and even he had straub's help on that one. that and everything's eventual... but that was a short story compilation...
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What an excellent idea you've got there. Good job.
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you're living the dream, man. Congrats...and a question for you Bobo, I'm in a movie fantasy league with my friends and from what you saw do you think this movie has some blockbuster potential in the long run, via word of mouth...Financially the next Ring?...........oh yea and Quint is the ish, and yes never stop the dirty joke finale!
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Thanks Quint. Great interview.
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this time adding its own complete story, like the other books had. all it is in its current form is a lengthy prologue to book 7.
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Viggo Mortensen. He's got the acting chops and the quiet (yet tough) center that Roland demands. Blue eyes too. IGNORE ME!!!
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Scott Glenn,
In my mind the perfect mix of heart, grit, humor and action.
Just hope they make the movies beofre he gets too old. -
Scott Glenn?! Yeah, that'll drive box office #'s. I don't even know if that dude's still alive.
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Glenn's too old now, dude. I can see Mortensen. I only really loved the Tower up until the palavar with the man in black. Haunting, evocative. The last paragraph of The Gunslinger and the Dark Man was burned into my brain. Books 2-7.... just didn't work for me at all. Maybe a rewrite is too much to hope for, but after waiting so long for the Drawing and finding it and the rest of the series such a disappointment, I can still maintain a little hope.
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I picked up Transformers on my Fantasy list ;), but some bastard has Harry Potter. Thats the one i'm really scared of.I'm just hoping its a completely different demographic....man, theres no hope even if it is I'm still going to be blown out of the water.....I just hope 1408 makes some nice cash for the sake of King, Cusack, Sam L. and online bragging rights amongst my buddies.
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...but I guess I'm a little stinker. Back in January King talked about upcoming new works in an interview at Lilja's Library--probably the most comprehensive SK fan and info site on the web. http://www.liljas-library.com/showinterview.php?id=35
Hey Steve, if you're reading this and you can forgive me for posting that link, go The Zone section of AICN and check out the official Stephen King thread in the books section. I'm the very first post there; it's a lengthy one. Sincerely, A Long-Time Constant Reader -
Is a good book, just a bit fragmented, it is as if he really wanted to tell the young roland story, but couldn't work out how to shoehorn it into the saga. I don't mean totally rewrite it just seperate the Young Roland bit out as it stands really well on its own. It is arguably the best individual bit of the saga. Still it's not the atrocity the later books became, not by a long wat
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I havent posted in a log time but THIS talkback has me goin'! I confess that Jackman was the first name that came to mind as many have said(put best by he/she who pointed out Hugh's resemblance to Clint) but Biggles idea of Viggo is VERY interesting as well...it didn't go ignored as predicted! I fear Caviezel isn't right for the part. His style to me isn't right, his chops ain't there, and his personal politics would probably keep him from accepting the role in any event. Not to judge in any way, but I think his christian-right leanings would keep him from workin on a project written by a pro-choice author. The "gun abortion" scene would be a dealbreaker.
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Anyone who thinks that any of the titles were "forced" is crazy. You don't force 7 titles just because the fans demand it. If that were the case, and King was just trying to get the story finished, he could've skipped #s 4 & 5 (and maybe 6) all together. I think King, when revisiting the story-arch years later, caught the itch just like the rest of us...except his low opinion of the constant fan-demand allowed him a certain "who cares" attitude, which led to him writing the rest of the story exactly how he wanted, and to take liberties he otherwise might not have considered. Maybe I'm the only one, but I think inserting himself into the story was brilliant and unique. It allowed the story to transcend the pages into the real world. Because of this, I really took comfort in the end at the idea (silly as it might be) that Eddie and Jake and all were really living out their lives somewhere in the real world. Also, don't hate on the ending. It really was the only way...I mean how else could it have ended? Seriously, I would like to know...
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PS, Roland = David Strathairn; Eddie = Adriane Brody; Susanah = Paula Patton
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Quint actually got to me Stephen King? damn that's awesome
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I need to go ahead and vent my thoughts on the "last 3 books". I read the entire Dark Tower series back to back over the span of a month and I loved the entire thing from beginning to end (I even loved the ending, as The Eskimo says it couldn't have ended any other way), if I had to lodge any complaints I would say that parts of 5 were indeed a bit tedious and I was disappointed the Turtle Maturin didn't make a personal appearance, but that's it
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