Blu Gilliand<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nSome might view books like The Dark Tower: The Art of the Film<\/em>\u00a0as big, expensive brochures for upcoming movies, but for me they’ve always provided a fascinating glimpse into the process of bringing these large-scale extravaganzas to our screens. Even when they come from the kind of rich source material of, say, an eight-book series written by Stephen King, there’s a lot of designing and refining that goes into the look of a movie like\u00a0The Dark Tower<\/em>. This volume gives us a glimpse of that, but I’ll confess that it left me wanting much, much more.<\/p>\nThe production history that culminated in the release of\u00a0The Dark Tower\u00a0<\/em>has been a long and convoluted one, to say the least. I can only imagine the mounds of production art, design concepts and revised scripts that have been produced along the way. While I understand that getting a comprehensive look at materials that belong to different creative teams and studios is virtually impossible, I can’t help but wish this particular\u00a0Art of the Film\u00a0<\/em>was a more comprehensive history of the making of the film.<\/p>\nSo, what are we left with? I won’t be able to say for sure until I see the movie, but it looks like this is, for the most part, a representation of the designs and ideas that made it to the screen.\u00a0The Dark Tower: The Art of the Film<\/em> is a mix of concept art, publicity stills and behind-the scenes photos, accompanied by text written by novelist Daniel Wallace (Big Fish<\/em>). \u00a0There’s some beautiful stuff here—alien landscapes, elaborate architecture, machines that appear to be hybrids of old and new technology. The designs in these pages lean more toward science than mysticism—hopefully the film will strike the tenuous balance between the two in the same way the books did.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
There are several glimpses of things that will be recognizable to Dark Tower readers—machines stamped with the North Central Positronics logo, for example, as well as portals and dogans. My personal favorites are the close-ups of Roland’s guns and the Horn of Eld, pivotal pieces of Dark Tower lore.<\/p>\n
A word of warning to those wanting to go into\u00a0The Dark Tower<\/em>\u00a0blind—the book seems to follow the exact chronology of the film, and Wallace’s text gives quite a bit away regarding its approach to the story. Time will tell if\u00a0The Dark Tower: The Art of the Film<\/em> is a document of the opening chapter of a groundbreaking multi-media series, or a shrine to a failed experiment. Either way, Constant Readers and Dark Tower junkies will want to save a space for this in their collections.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Dark Tower: The Art of the Film text by\u00a0Daniel Wallace Scribner (July 2017) 208 pages; $27.19 hardcover Reviewed by\u00a0Blu Gilliand Some might view books like The Dark Tower: The Art of the Film\u00a0as big, expensive brochures for upcoming movies, but for me they’ve always provided a fascinating glimpse into the process of bringing these … Continue Reading! “Review: ‘The Dark Tower: The Art of the Film’”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[80],"tags":[301,1255,1252,79,29,1254,32],"class_list":["post-10350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-blu-gilliand","tag-daniel-wallace","tag-dark-tower-week","tag-reviews","tag-stephen-king","tag-the-art-of-the-film","tag-the-dark-tower"],"yoast_head":"\nReview: 'The Dark Tower: The Art of the Film' - Cemetery Dance Online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Blu Gilliand reviews The Dark Tower: The Art of the Film by Daniel Wallace for Cemetery Dance Online.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-dark-tower-art-film\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cemetery Dance Online\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-dark-tower-art-film\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-dark-tower-art-film\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cemetery Dance Online\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61\"},\"headline\":\"Review: ‘The Dark Tower: The Art of the Film’\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-04T12:00:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-dark-tower-art-film\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":480,\"commentCount\":1,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-dark-tower-art-film\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/07\\\/DarkTowerWeek_Banner.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Blu Gilliand\",\"Daniel Wallace\",\"Dark Tower Week\",\"Reviews\",\"Stephen King\",\"The Art of the Film\",\"The Dark Tower\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Reviews\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-dark-tower-art-film\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-dark-tower-art-film\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-dark-tower-art-film\\\/\",\"name\":\"Review: 'The Dark Tower: The Art of the Film' - Cemetery Dance Online\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-dark-tower-art-film\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-dark-tower-art-film\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/07\\\/DarkTowerWeek_Banner.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-04T12:00:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61\"},\"description\":\"Blu Gilliand reviews The Dark Tower: The Art of the Film by Daniel Wallace for Cemetery Dance Online.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-dark-tower-art-film\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-dark-tower-art-film\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-dark-tower-art-film\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/07\\\/DarkTowerWeek_Banner.jpg?fit=830%2C120&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/07\\\/DarkTowerWeek_Banner.jpg?fit=830%2C120&ssl=1\",\"width\":830,\"height\":120},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-dark-tower-art-film\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Blog\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Reviews\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/reviews\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Review: ‘The Dark Tower: The Art of the Film’\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/\",\"name\":\"Cemetery Dance Online\",\"description\":\"Free Horror Reads, News, Interviews, Comics, and More!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61\",\"name\":\"Cemetery Dance Online\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Cemetery Dance Online\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Review: 'The Dark Tower: The Art of the Film' - Cemetery Dance Online","description":"Blu Gilliand reviews The Dark Tower: The Art of the Film by Daniel Wallace for Cemetery Dance Online.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-dark-tower-art-film\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cemetery Dance Online","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-dark-tower-art-film\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-dark-tower-art-film\/"},"author":{"name":"Cemetery Dance Online","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#\/schema\/person\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61"},"headline":"Review: ‘The Dark Tower: The Art of the Film’","datePublished":"2017-08-04T12:00:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-dark-tower-art-film\/"},"wordCount":480,"commentCount":1,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-dark-tower-art-film\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/DarkTowerWeek_Banner.jpg","keywords":["Blu Gilliand","Daniel Wallace","Dark Tower Week","Reviews","Stephen King","The Art of the Film","The Dark Tower"],"articleSection":["Reviews"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-dark-tower-art-film\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-dark-tower-art-film\/","url":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-dark-tower-art-film\/","name":"Review: 'The Dark Tower: The Art of the Film' - Cemetery Dance Online","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-dark-tower-art-film\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-dark-tower-art-film\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/DarkTowerWeek_Banner.jpg","datePublished":"2017-08-04T12:00:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#\/schema\/person\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61"},"description":"Blu Gilliand reviews The Dark Tower: The Art of the Film by Daniel Wallace for Cemetery Dance Online.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-dark-tower-art-film\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-dark-tower-art-film\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-dark-tower-art-film\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/DarkTowerWeek_Banner.jpg?fit=830%2C120&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/DarkTowerWeek_Banner.jpg?fit=830%2C120&ssl=1","width":830,"height":120},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-dark-tower-art-film\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Reviews","item":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/reviews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Review: ‘The Dark Tower: The Art of the Film’"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/","name":"Cemetery Dance Online","description":"Free Horror Reads, News, Interviews, Comics, and More!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#\/schema\/person\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61","name":"Cemetery Dance Online","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","caption":"Cemetery Dance Online"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/"]}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p81cXa-2GW","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10350"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10369,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10350\/revisions\/10369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/DarkTowerWeek_Banner.jpg?resize=830%2C120&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/ArtofDT.jpg?resize=260%2C207&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n