Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. The Dark Tower is currently filming in S. Africa. I'm dying to see how it's coming together, but we won't have long to wait if their announced release date of February 23rd, 2017 sticks.
Judging from previous talkbacks many of you don't agree with me that the casting so far has been pretty spot on. I'll defend Idris Elba as Roland until he gives me a reason to back down, but I think it's a pretty inspired choice. McConaughey as The Man In Black is probably the most perfect match of actor and character since Patrick Stewart as Professor X. Don't know much about the kid playing Jake, but he looks right for it. So, what about this new bit of casting?
When I saw the name Fran Kranz pop up (via THR) I thought maybe they were introducing Eddie Dean early, but I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw he was in fact cast as Pimli Prentiss, the primary henchman of McConaughey's Man in Black.
This is a bit of a departure from the book's characterization (again). Pimli in the book was bald and overweight, but the core of the character was a guy struggling with the evil shit his boss and his boss's boss (The Crimson King) are trying to do.
He's the reluctant villain, essentially, and Fran can pull that off pretty well, I think.
That's the latest update! I assume we'll start getting looks at the Dark Tower production in the next few months. I'm actually surprised Sony hasn't released a hero shot of Elba as Roland yet, but that might just be me.
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
Follow Me On Twitter
