‘The Dark Tower’: McConaughey And Elba’s Twitter Teaser Exchange Epic Or Cringe-Worthy?

Yesterday night, Matthew McConaughey logged onto Twitter to begin an exchange with The Dark Tower co-star Idris Elba that would prove to be huge news for the universes of Stephen King fans and cinemaphiles in general. The exchange, an in-character debate between Elba’s Roland Deschain and McConaughey’s Man in Black, would result in the first two teaser trailers for the movie being released. Many people are happy just to get a first glimpse of the film’s footage, but others are more excited about the awesome Twitter sparring match that led up to the reveal. Still, others think said back-and-forth was ridiculous and cringe-worthy.

“You want the Tower?” McConaughey Tweeted, tagging Elba’s Twitter account in the post so he would be sure to see it.

“To find the tower is my purpose. I’m sworn,” replied Elba several minutes later.

“Then as the world’s last crusader don’t break your promise,” McConaughey fired back. “You’re closer to the Tower than you know.”

“You know nothing of me,” Elba objected.

“I know this. Deal with it,” taunted McConaughey, and with that delivered to the world the first ever teaser trailer for The Dark Tower. The teaser came as a video attachment to the post.

The teaser showcases McConaughey’s character, the main antagonist of the Dark Tower movie. In the short series of clips, McConaughey stands atop what looks to be a snowy mountain. The teaser also contains one line of dialogue.

“The war is over. You know what’s coming. The Tower will fall,” the Man in Black says ominously in the clip. This idea, that the Dark Tower is bound to fall apart, is a central idea of Stephen King’s sprawling series and is presumably what McConaughey was referring to when he wrote “I know this” in his message to Elba.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZWo61dqxf4

That McConaughey-centric clip may have been the only Dark Tower teaser the world had yet seen, but it was to retain that status for only the next ten minutes, at which point Elba would respond to McConaughry’s direct order to “deal with it.”

“I deal in led,” Elba retorted, and attached the second of the two teasers.

This one showcased Elba’s Gunslinger, the main protagonist of the Dark Tower books. The footage starts off by showing viewers a glimpse of one of the series’ iconic free-standing doorways before cutting to Elba loading and firing his guns in one fluid motion. He also speaks one line of dialogue, a shortened version of the most famous line from the “Gunslinger’s code” in the series.

“I do not kill with my gun,” he says. “I kill with my heart.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuTGUto9GnM

That was where the Twitter exchange ended.

Reactions to the teasers themselves aside, what did people think about the conversation between the two stars that led up to them?

Well, a lot of people loved it, saying it was awesome that the actors were getting into character already and building up their rivalry in preparation for August 4 in the same way that pro wrestlers (even if everyone knows it is just roleplay) build up their rivalry on the public stage before a match.

“This banter between @IdrisElba @McConaughey is so great!” user Crystal #RIPYC commented on Elba’s teaser.

“It’s fun to roleplay,” wrote another, Sebastian Murdock.

“I liked it,” chimed in JustPickSomethin on Reddit’s Stephen King fan community page on the conversation thread. “Call it cringey, staged, whatever. Don’t care. I’m excited.”

This last comment was in response to a torrent of people who thought the little back-and-forth was too obviously scripted. In fact, the adjective most often used to describe it was “cringe-worthy.”

Cover di #EntertainmentWeekly con i protagonisti de #LaTorreNera Idris Elba (Roland) e Matthew McCounaghey (Flagg). pic.twitter.com/4Kt6juf9OP

— Federico De Lorenzi (@tveffe) July 15, 2016

One user, JustSFWThings, envisioned the conversation that was had between the Dark Tower producers and the two leads before the Twitter conversation.

“‘Okay fellas so here’s the script. Matt, first you post this here, then Idris, you respond with… You know what? We’re just going to log in to your Twitter for this. Trust us, people eat this s**t right up.'” Not exactly the rosiest view of what was probably supposed to be a fun little show to set the mood.

Another user, TheGoddamnShrike, summed it up nicely.

“The trailers are cool but that exchange between then was pretty cringey.”

What is your opinion on Elba and McConaughey’s Dark Tower-themed Twitter tiff? Fun exercise or too forced-sounding to be effective? And what about the teasers themselves? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below, and check back at the Inquisitr later today for some out-of-the-box commentary on the full Dark Tower trailer.

[Feautured Image by CrackerClips/iStock]