The LA Times’ Hero Complex ran an impressively in-depth article exploring Ron Howard‘s barely in the works, multi-platform adaptation of Stephen King‘s über-tale, The Dark Tower (and I wrote up a post examining what details Deadline could pull from Howard). Now Moviefone explores the supposed shortlist of leading men in consideration for the lead role of Roland of Gilead, the last gunslinger of a quasi-futuristic (and weirdly familiar) world, with his all-consuming quest to find the Dark Tower.
The role call (ha! get it?): Viggo Mortensen, Daniel Craig, Hugh Jackman, and Jon Hamm. All of these actors are stars, they’d all give the role a nice weight, and – perhaps most importantly – they’d attract the kind of budget required to pull off what Howard and producer-writer Akiva Goldsman have in mind. 
Stephen King wrote the epic series’ opening line when he was nineteen years old (a number which gains a certain significance in the story): The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed. Since the first book’s publication in 1982, the saga has spanned seven books (a grand total of 3,795 pages and 30 million copies sold, outpacing The Lord of the Rings and Frank Herbert‘s Dune saga in size and scope); it remains one of the best loved (and closely protected) of hardcore King fans, and for years the idea of a Dark Tower movie has filled readers with an equal mixture of dread and anticipation.
Howard, Goldsman and Brian Grazer‘s proposed idea sounded almost like heresy at first… but that’s only because any adaptation of this material will be greeted with groans of discontent (and probably outright rebellion) by the Dark Tower‘s committed fans. They are reportedly planning a film trilogy, augmented by a television series between the films. It sounded kind of insane to me at first, too… but I’m warming to the idea, if only for the chance to see this story on the screen. The Dark Tower spills over into many, many other King stories, too – novellas, short stories, a kind of prequel comics series released by Marvel, and even an interactive browser game set in the Dark Tower world, playable for free at StephenKing.com.
This first hurdle, though, is the casting of the lead role and main character, Roland Deschain, the last gunslinger in a line of warrior-diplomat-lords who tasks himself with finding the elusive Dark Tower, a kind of lynchpin in the center of reality itself, and conquer the evil which spreads outward, infecting and destroying entire worlds (They’ve got their work cut out for them – no wonder Damon Lindelof decided to bail, having spent six years of his life on Lost).
Of the four choices – all excellent performers, serious about their careers and choice of roles – my personal favorite is Viggo Mortensen. He has proven himself comfortable in the world of high fantasy as Aragorn in LOTR, and he is the closest of these four to the ideal star for Roland (let’s be honest): a younger Clint Eastwood.
Daniel Craig is going the cowboy route in Cowboys & Aliens and surprisingly enough, he looks pretty good in that world. Craig is a far better James Bond than a lot people give him credit for (in my opinion, the best since Sean Connery – and yes, I’ve seen the Tim Dalton flicks and I stand by my words), but he seemed uncomfortable in the fantasy realm of The Golden Compass (although, to be fair, so did everyone else). 
I think Hugh Jackman is a terrific actor and one of our more charismatic stars – but he’s too giddy. I’m a fan of the X-Men films (it and Batman were my favorite comics growing up, so I even forgive X-Men: The Last Stand for it’s relative lameness because when it was good, it was very good), but I still think he was miscast as Wolverine – I know it’s his signature, star-making role, but he’s just too nice as Wolverine. I suspect Jackman’s Roland – who has almost no sense of humor, has been born and bred to kill, and masks a romantic nature few suspect – would end up a bit too goody-two-shoes.
And what about Jon Hamm? He’s excellent as Don Draper in Mad Men, and the role put him on the map. After a well-placed cameo in The A-Team and a terrific turn as an FBI agent in The Town, his star is absolutely on the rise (and few have deserved it more). And, oddly enough, I think had Roland of Gilead been an ad man in the 60’s, he’d be Draper – guarded, seemingly heartless, his past shrouded in mystery. I can’t seem Hamm in this kind of fantasy epic… but we’re so used to him as Don Draper, it was a little jarring seeing him as an almost-dorky FBI agent. A Western, maybe… but he’s a good actor so we’ll just have to wait and see.
These are all just rumors and speculation, naturally. Who will get the role? Someone willing to commit themselves to this granddaddy of epics, a story that spans (in a sense) thousands of years and multiple realities. And Roland isn’t the only important character – there’s the people he meets on the way, Jake Chambers, Susannah, Eddie Dean… and what about Walter, the Man in Black? Well, we still have a long way to go. In the meantime, I recommend you catch up now – it’s really a hell of a story.
Who would you like to see as The Gunslinger? Do you have someone else in mind?