Having all the right pieces and players doesn’t always guarantee a winning finished product and, unfortunately, that was the case with the 2017 adaptation of The Dark Tower. The film was based on hugely popular Stephen King source material and had Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey serving as headliners, but it still wound up with a rock bottom 15% on Rotten Tomatoes and only managed to take in $50.7 million at the domestic box office.
The subpar results didn’t come as much of a surprise when The Dark Tower hit theaters in August 2017. Not only did it take quite some time for the adaption to get off the ground, but once it did with director Nikolaj Arcel at the helm, there were rumors of creative differences and lackluster test screenings, causing release date delays and then ultimately a massively disappointing debut.
On Collider Ladies Night we often cover bumps in the road in an effort to highlight how a creator overcame them, so when Katheryn Winnick joined us for an episode in celebration of Big Sky Season 2, we took a moment to look back on her experience playing Jake’s mother, Laurie, in The Dark Tower.
Here’s what she said when asked if the reported creative differences impacted her experience on set:
“Dark Tower was a very challenging project. I think it [has] a lot to do [with] where we were shooting, too. We shot that in South Africa, and there were crew issues and budgeting issues and what exactly was it gonna be? Obviously with an incredible cast like Matthew McConaughey and Idris Elba you would think it’s a slam dunk, but sometimes if it’s not executed right in terms of budgeting for visuals effects or how to tell the story a certain way, you can get into a little bit of a trouble that way.”
Scoring a role in a high-profile project with franchise potential only to see that longevity evaporate as you inch towards release must be disappointing, but it’s not always about the results. Similar to how Brittany Snow looks back on her experience making the 2008 Prom Night movie, Winnick emphasized the value of the experience of making The Dark Tower over the success of the finished product:
“I had a great experience on it. I definitely did. And every experience is a reason something else happens. There’s no such thing as a bad experience no matter what, for me at least! But I got a chance to visit South Africa. Went on my first safaris. Saw beautiful tribes of elephants. So there’s always pluses on every movie even if it’s not necessarily on screen. It’s also a part of experiences that shape you as a human being.”
Looking for more from Winnick? There’s a whole lot more from where this came from! Be sure to check out our full 40-minute Collider Ladies Night interview in podcast form below to hear about how she got her start in the industry with romantic comedies, what inspired her to finally embrace her martial arts background on screen, what it was like making the move from Vikings to Big Sky, and so much more!