Podbit · Last Podcast On The Left
Clint Eastwood's silence in the Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns gave Stephen King the template for Roland the Gunslinger. The Dark Tower was always a western at heart.
Where this was said
At 12:50 · chapter starts 12:40
Henry admits he's deep into The Dark Tower for the first time and can barely contain himself, while Joe Hill offers the most precise description of the series anyone has given: it's the unified theory of the Stephen King world, a nervous system running through the entire body of his father's work. Stephen traces the origin directly to the spaghetti westerns of Sergio Leone — he saw them in a cinema, widescreen, and Clint Eastwood's near-total silence shaped Roland the Gunslinger. When the 2017 Idris Elba film is raised, the consensus is that the material needs 25 hours of screen time. Stephen reveals that Javier Bardem was once in talks for Roland. Joe mentions there's currently an attempt to make a 5-season TV series, though its progress is uncertain. The mood is that of something precious that Hollywood has yet to do justice.
The Idris Elba Dark Tower film flopped because the saga needs 25 hours, not two. There's currently an attempt to make it a 5-season TV series, but nobody's sure how far along it's gotten.
Steven Pressfield's insight: don't wait for the commitment to feel real before acting like a professional. Set up the studio. Make the schedule. Show up. Commitment doesn't precede action — it follows it. You act like a pro first, and your brain catches up with justifications after. The action is the commitment.
Robby Hoffman isn't fearless — she's terrified all the time. The difference is she does it anyway, because not doing it feels worse than the fear itself.
John Mulaney texted Robby Hoffman out of nowhere saying he'd been a fan for a while and wanted to make a Netflix special with her. Robby called it 'shocking, horrifying, anxiety-inducing, surreal and thrilling' — and said yes.
Mulaney is buttoned-up, suit-wearing, classy. Robby is gritty, raw, and undefined. Together they made the collab nobody expected. Batman and Robin. Eminem and Dido.
Music had Pope Gregory forcing notation. Comedy has had 'magical thinking' — he's just got funny bones. But jokes work through discoverable, teachable mechanics. Writing down the rules doesn't kill the magic; it gives more people access to it.
Howard Ashman had one insight nobody else had: animated Disney films should be Broadway musicals. The third song of every great musical is the character sitting alone explaining what they want. That's 'Part of Your World.' That structure — combined with Alan Menken's compositions — generated Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King, and turned Disney Animation into the most profitable creative engine in entertainment history.
The Lion King musical has been running for 30 years across Broadway, London's West End, and global touring companies. It has grossed over $11 billion in total revenue — more than Avatar, more than Avengers: Endgame, more than any album, more than any video game. It generates an average of $350 million in revenue every single year. Disney owns it outright.
The anonymous French artist Invader has hidden 1,500 pixelated mosaic artworks across Paris alone, with thousands more scattered across 80+ cities — affixed to the Eiffel Tower, the Hollywood sign, and even sent to the International Space Station. He might be even busier than Banksy.
The Flash Invaders app turns city streets into a treasure hunt, letting players scan Invader's hidden mosaics for points. Players have collectively logged over 47 million flashes. Unlike most mobile games that glue you to a screen, this one forces you to look up and engage with your surroundings.
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