I think either Crowe or Mortensen would do OK with the part; I just think Isaacs would be better. By King’s own acknowledgement, the character and original storyline were born when he was watching Eastwood spaghetti westerns so it’s hard to argue against Clint as the archetype. However, in the subsequent books he gets increasingly descriptive in the physical details of Roland to include thick black hair (which later takes on some gray) and his, “bombardier blue eyes.” Roland was also high born and grew up in something of a courtly environ, although being turned over to Cort Andrus for rigorous training as a child, then grew to learn the ways of the road and a more knight-errant type existence, so he has a rough hewn exterior with a nobility at his core that is the result of nature and nurture...
Roland is also far from heroic in his ruthless willingness to kill and let those closest to him die in his lust for the tower. After all he allowed Jake to die. “Go then, there are other worlds than these.”
After all, the very first book started with him walking away from the desert town were he killed every living thing.
Probably one of the more complex characters I’ve read about.