The Dark Tower Draws Nearer As Filming Begins On The Epic Stephen King Adaptation

You can set your watch and warrant on it: Stephen King has confirmed via Twitter that filming is officially (read: finally) underway on the big-screen adaptation of The Dark Tower. That’s all the prolific author teased about the film’s production, but with casting ramping up and less than a year to go until release, fans should definitely be excited.

Rumors began swirling around an official announcement for the film earlier in the year, and then in March it was confirmed that Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey would play Roland Deschain and The Man in Black, respectively. Abby Lee was cast in a lesser-known role, while newcomer Tom Taylor netted the all-important part of Jake Chambers.

The start of production announcement came out of CinemaCon in Las Vegas, and MTV even managed to chat with McConaughey, who got a chance to discuss what caught his eye about the multi-faceted (and multi-aliased) Man in Black:

I’m not a big sci-fi buff… this one came along, though. The man in black, I looked at that and said, ‘Oh, I can be whoever I want to be in this one.’ I’m not sure who I’m going to be yet.

Hopefully more information will begin to roll out surrounding the movie, because the novels are so expansive and dense that it’s hard to even decipher what exactly the first movie will be adapting. One thing’s for certain: given the strange, otherworldly, occasionally gruesome bits of the books, director Nikolaj Arcel has his work cut out for him in crafting a story that appeals to newcomers as well as diehard fans.

It’s only a matter of time before we see the first leaked set images of Elba rocking his cowboy gear on the hunt for his arch-nemesis, and that elusive nexus of all realities, The Dark Tower itself. We’ll be sure to keep you updated, but in the meantime, drop your suggestions of who you think should be cast as Eddie and Susannah in the comments below!