The Dark Tower - Casting Call 2008 Edition

Art by Michael Whelan

I first read Stephen King's Dark Tower series in 2008. I was enthralled. This was about a year after I first fell hard for movies. If I was directing an adaptation in 2008, this is who I would have cast for the three heroic leads. 

Clive Owen - Roland Deschain 

The gunslinger supreme is a descendant of Arthur Eld,  aka King Arthur, so the fact that Clive Owen played King Arthur is a bonus. Plus, he was in Children of Men as a character much like Roland, who lost his faith in his ideals, but recaptures them on a quest as he meets younger, idealistic people. Also, he could have played Stephen King when he appears in the story, much like he's playing a Stephen King stand-in the adaptation of Lisey's Story from AppleTV later this year. 

Joseph Gordon-Levitt - Eddie Dean

JGL is the man. Eddie Dean is the man. No brainer. Also, this is a good, meaty, character actor, giant arc of a role, and fits Joseph Gordon-Levitt (especially at the time) like a glove. He was also in Spike Lee's Miracle at St. Anna for a few minutes at the end, about gunslinger types, so there some is connective tissue here in my brain. 

Kerry Washington - Susannah Dean

She's a great actress, which this role demands since she'd have to essentially play three characters, switching back and forth between two before the healed composite character of Susannah emerges. And she was in Miracle at St. Anna for a bit, just like her character's husband, JGL!

And I just would have gotten any up and comer teenager to play Jake Chambers.