Elba-ing up in movie world
THE DARK TOWER: IDRIS PUTS IN ‘FORMIDABLE’ PERFORMANCE AS GUNSLINGER
Mid-World section filmed on vast, surreal, beautiful landscapes in South Africa.
When Idris Elba was first offered the iconic role of Roland Deschain, aka The Gunslinger, in the eagerly awaited action adventure blockbuster, The Dark Tower, he admits he was a little taken aback.
With typical modesty, he points out that there are a lot of other actors who could have been considered for the part. “I didn’t know The Dark Tower books when I was first approached,” he says. “I had made a few films with Sony Screen Gems and when Sony came to me I was like, wow, because many, many talented, good actors could have got this role. Obviously I was very pleased that I landed it.”
But for director Nikolaj Arcel (A Royal Affair) there really was only one choice when it came to deciding who should play him.
“I’ve been a fan of his since The Wire,” says Arcel. “He’s a magnificent performer. I wondered if Idris would have the same vision. And when we discussed Roland’s character, his journey and his psychology, it turned out that he did. It just clicked and he was formidable.”
Based on the novels by master storyteller Stephen King, The Dark Tower is an epic tale of good versus evil. Roland Deschain is the last knight warrior who has been locked in an eternal battle with Walter O’Dim, also known as The Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey), to try and prevent him from destroying The Dark Tower, which holds the universe together.
If the tower crashes, millions of lives will be lost but for Roland, it’s personal, too. The Man in Black has killed his family. When we first meet him, he’s weary, disillusioned and losing his will to fight until he meets 14-year-old Jake Chambers (Tom Taylor), who crosses over from contemporary New York City into Mid-World, a parallel earth.
“To say that Roland is haunted is a bit of a cliche, but he is,” says Elba. “He has a past that he can’t shake off, he can’t let go, until he meets Tom Taylor’s character, Jake, and then he finds a way to confront his past, really confront it. Everything has been taken away from him and he is on a quest for vengeance; it’s become part of him and his consciousness.”
Playing Roland/The Gunslinger was, he says, unlike anything he’s tackled before.
“I felt that the part had a lot of depth,” he says. “I feel that as an actor, you get some roles that are challenging in a way that means you have to reinvent yourself. With Roland, I worked on him from the inside out. I tried to compare who I was and who he was, and started building him.”
The production filmed the Mid-World section on vast, surreal, beautiful landscapes in South Africa.
“It was a lot of hard work, especially when we were in South Africa, our Mid-World. It was long hours and quite physical.
“Playing a super-hero is like nothing I’ve ever done before. The character has a lot of depth but he also gets to do a lot of action sequences, which was fun to do. I learnt new skills like gun handling and the challenge was to do something pretty cool and to make it look good. It was also great working with Tom Taylor, who plays Jake Chambers. He’s fantastic.”
Elba has starred in blockbusters before, of course. He’s played Helmdall in the Marvel films Thor, Thor: The Dark World and Avengers: Age of Ultron for example, but he says The Dark Tower was different.
“I’ve been in big productions before but not as a lead and not like this,” he says. “It’s a big blockbuster film and it’s a different energy when you are at the front of that train. It’s full on and it’s very interesting.”
He was, though, in safe hands. Director Nikolaj Arcel, who cowrote the screenplay, has loved King’s books since he was a kid growing up in Denmark.
“He has interpreted them in a way that makes perfect sense as a movie, which is really challenging because the books don’t read as linear as our story does.
“He had figured out a through line which honours the story and makes perfect sense. It was a huge production for him and he handled it really well. He’s a great director.”
Elba was born in London and after appearing in several British TV series, he played the charismatic drug dealer Stringer Bell in the acclaimed HBO series The Wire.
He won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of a troubled London cop in the BBC TV series Luther and in 2016 became the only actor to win two SAG awards the same year (supporting actor in a film for Beasts of No Nation, and best actor in a TV movie or miniseries for Luther).
His films include Beasts of No Nation, Pacific Rim, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, Thor: Dark World, Zootopia, Jungle Book and the upcoming films Mountains Between Us and Molly’s Game.
He is currently directing his first feature film, Yardie.
The Dark Tower is being released today. – Citizen reporter
It was hard work, especially when we were in SA