So yeah, if you haven't read the books yet, here's the deal: Stephen King writes himself into The Dark Tower series as a character, and actually quite an important one at that. It's presumably something this film series will have to deal with at some point and the worrying thing is if it's done wrong then the whole thing could collapse in on itself under the weight of its own self-awareness (or self-indulgence, depending on how you look at it). Of course, the films could avoid the thorny issue by not including the character, but that would surely necessitate a huge re-write, which, judging by the vitriol that greeted an announcement of a potential new character in Tirana, would not go down well. Ideal Casting: Stephen King Director Nikolaj Arcel has already said he would want King to play himself in the series, even though the writer himself has stated he's too old to play the part. King is right, of course - the version of the author who appears in the novels is much younger than he is now - but there's a lot that can be done with makeup and CGI these days! I have plenty of reservations about King playing himself; he's made plenty of cameos in adaptations of his works but the man himself would admit he's no actor. That said, it's hard to picture anyone else playing the venerable author. If they're going to have the Stephen King character appear, they might as well do it properly. Back Up Casting: None If you're not going to have King do it himself, then maybe it's better to go in a different direction. What does your dream Dark Tower cast look like? Let us know in the comments below.
David is an office drone and freelance writer for WhatCulture and Moviepilot, among others. He's also foolishly writing a serialised novel on Jukepop and has his own irregularly updated website. He's available for freelance work. Reach out on Twitter to @davefox990
