Learn about the characters and the story for the upcoming Stephen King epic film adaptation.
Yet another Stephen King work is being adapted into a film. However, this King story is certainly a standout considering his normal body of work. It follows Roland Deschain, a force of good, attempting to prevent the Man in Black from destroying the last tower which would bring about a cataclysmic event. Stephen King penned this epic story in 8 novels which span much of his body of work across the years, making this an epic in every sense of the word. Besides Roland and the Man in Black, played by Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey, respectively, the film features a number of other up and coming stars. For example, the film features Tom Taylor, a fast rising British television actor, Michael Barbieri, an up and coming actor out of New York who made big waves with his first film Little Men, Abbey Lee who also starred in Mad Max: Fury Road, as well as Eva Kaminsky and producer/writer Jeff Pinkner. We got a chance to speak to them at the red carpet premiere of the film. Each shared their own little insight into the story, how their characters will play out in the film, how this story will proceed, their thoughts on the director and working with such prestigious stars like Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey and what we have to look forward to. The film looks to be the sci-fi rendition of “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly”. Check out our interviews with the cast below:
Michael Babieri:
Tell me about your character in this movie:
Michael: My character’s name is Timmy, he play’s Jake’s best friend and as all these things and dreams are happening to Jake he comes to me for advice and I just think he’s crazy. There’s a part in the film where I realized, wow, this is really happening, he’s not lying. I just remember wow, I should’ve listened to him.
When I first met you, it was at the premiere of Little Men. How does working on a big budget picture like this compare to a smaller budget film like that?
Michael: Personally, I try to look at all my films the same way and just remember three rules. Always know your lines, be passionate about what you’re doing, and if you put 110% into all your work you actually can’t ask for much more. Once I did Little Men, that being my first film was nerve wracking, but this being a major motion picture was a lot more nerve wracking. Once I got on set I felt the directors, the producers, the assistant directors, Idris, Tom, they were all just like, help me out, relax, be yourself and that really helped moving forward on.
Abbey Lee:
Tell me about your character.
Abbey: Tirana is the name of my character. She’s a servant to the dark side so she’s Matthew McConaughey’s right hand woman.
What was your favorite part about playing this character?
Abbey: Working with such elite people, with Nikolaj and Matthew. It was about the character per se. On the film, a lot of it had to do with the director and Matthew.
Nikolaj is a very unique director to say the least. How was working with his as compared to some of your previous directors?
Abbey: Nikolaj is wonderful. He’s very light and easy to communicate with where you’re doing such a big film. He’s just a good person to be able to chat with. My role is small so the work I got to so with him is not vast. Hopefully I get to work with him again in the future. I don’t know. I love him.
Eva Kaminsky:
Tell me about your character.
Eva: I play Jill, she’s sort of a henchman of the man in black. She’s a bit step ford wifey.
How was working with Matthew McConaughey?
Eva: It was intense and wonderful. He is a very focused person and he’s very tall, but he was great! He was very present. He just radiates a sort of “movie star”
Jeff Pinkner:
What attracted you to this particular Stephen King work?
Jeff: Well I’m attracted to many of them, but this one is many ways impossible to adapt, which made it a great challenge. It’s just an awesome story. It’s about good and evil. It’s about faith. It’s about story telling.
What are some of the difficulties you had making this film because it’s based off of eight books as well as a number of other Stephen King novels. It makes it an incredibly difficult universe to build. What are some of the difficulties in building a universe like that?
Jeff: We made the decision early on that we couldn’t satisfy all of that so we sort of identified to us the themes, what was an access point for audiences and try to focus on that. The books by nature are a story that’s told time and again and again and again and again and ultimately over the course of the books you realize it’s just one journey to the tower for Roland so we’re telling another journey to the tower for Roland using elements that existed in all the books.
Tom Taylor:
Tell me a bit about your character.
Tom: Jake, basically, is your average New York teenager who has visions of these different worlds, of Roland, of the Man in Black and no one believes what he’s saying, like a child in school who’s got an illness and everyone’s mocking you. He’s brought into an environment that is unexplored and things happen.
How was working with Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey?
Tom: It was mad. You hear all these names and find out they’re just real genuine people. It’s so nice to meet and work with people who are nice cause they make you feel comfortable.
The film hits theaters this Friday.
