Adaptations of Stephen King’s stories and books for the big or small screen don’t always work out the way they should. This led his Constant Readers to worry about the upcoming film adaptation of “The Dark Tower.” Fans have grumbled about the actor playing Roland of Gilead for one thing, saying he is nothing like they imagined the Gunslinger to look, but it seems Idris Elba is doing a pretty good job. Even better, when director Nikolaj Arcel was recently interviewed by IGN, he said King is happy with the completed movie, despite the fact it varies from his original story.

'The Dark Tower' is not a direct adaptation but a sequel

King has all along warned fans who have read the book series that “The Dark Tower” movie will vary in many ways from the books, but now we hear that even he is satisfied with the way things have turned out, which is a good sign. The movie adaptation has been in the works for several years, never quite making it to the silver screen, but will finally be heading to theaters in August this year.

During the interview, Arcel went on to say how King cooperated with the production of the film, giving suggestions along the way.

After reading the script, the author reportedly added his own notes. According to Arcel, this was done very respectfully and politely, saying King acted like a “groundskeeper” for the characters in the "The Dark Tower' film. When King saw the completed film, he wrote to Arcel, saying it wasn’t exactly his novel, but that the film had the same spirit and tone.

He added that he was very happy with it.

As noted by Bustle, fans had already gathered from various King tweets that the movie is not a direct adaptation of the book series, and doesn’t follow any one story, but is, instead, what Arcel called a “cannon continuation” of the various stories in the original series of novels.

While most fans understood this fact, it was the first official announcement that the film would be some sort of sequel to “The Dark Tower” novels. In fact, King reportedly signed off on the idea before filming began.

It isn’t an easy thing to take a much-loved book franchise and convert it into something good for the big screen. It can be difficult, especially in the case of King’s amazing imagination, to make the story come across in a movie and within limited time constraints. While "The Dark Tower" movie probably won’t please every King fan, at least we know the author himself gives his approval.

And while we have no idea if the lobstrosities will make an appearance in the film, this image from Twitter is kind of cute.

Release date for 'The Dark Tower'

Now we just have to wait until August 4 for “The Dark Tower” to be released in theaters to see the final product, including all those tempting Easter eggs from other Stephen King stories, including “It” and “The Shining” we have already heard so much about. Idris Elba will be starring as Roland of Gilead, the famous Gunslinger, with Jake at his side (played by Tom Taylor) and facing up to the Man in Black, played by Matthew McConaughey. After that we just have to wait for the promised spin-offs to arrive.

In the meantime, fans can enjoy the various TV spots and trailer included below.
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