The Dark Tower Begins Filming!

The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.... finally!

By Sam Hill /

Marvel

For anyone who still wasn't sure whether this thing was actuallygoing to go ahead, despite the recent casting revelations, it's time to relax: The Dark Tower is getting made and there are people out there right now shooting it. Phew.

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If you had the bad luck of tracking The Dark Tower's progress, you'll know that this property has been in development for more than a decade; whenever the film seemed to be gaining traction, it was shelved (again and again). For shooting to have genuinely commenced... well, it marks a special occasion.

For those who don't know, the plot centres on a mysterious gunslinger named Roland (IdrisElba), who sets out across an endless desert in pursuit of The Man in Black, a villainous sorcerer (MatthewMcConaughey). That's the premise at its most basic level, but this is an insanely complex tale filled with inter-dimensional travel and strange meta-events, whilst linking to many of King's other novels and stories.

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As a huge King aficionado - and as a big Matthew McConaughey fan - I'm both excited and dubious with regards to this project. I think that Nikolaj Arcel will prove himself to be a great choice for director (his film A Royal Affair is a great one), but I'm not so convinced by Akiva Goldsman on script duties.

We're talking about the guy who wrote Batman & Robin, after all.

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The Dark Tower is currently slated for release in February 2017