A whole generation of kids who grew up in the late '80s and early '90s probably developed an irrational fear of clowns thanks to ABC's TV miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's "It." Now another generation could get to experience the same thing. The studio has tapped Cary Fukunaga to helm a long-gestating update of the property.
Those familiar with either the miniseries or the original book are aware that "It" is rather massive, spanning over 30 years of events in the lives of "The Losers Club," a group of kids who do battle with a malevolent entity known only as "It." There's a lot of story to tell here, and WB has obliged to let it breathe by conceiving this as a two-part film from the get go.
In theory, this could allow the new "It" to stretch out even longer than the original miniseries, which ran for about 195 minutes, meaning the adaptation could be more faithful, at least in terms of stuffing in more material. Both the original film and the novel bounce back and forth between the '50s and the '80s, and it'll be interesting to see if this method is retained by the new two-parter.
Fukunaga is perhaps an off the board choice, having directed the likes of "Sin Nombre" and "Jane Eyre," but there's something to be said for going with an unexpected approach. Plus, his take on "Jane Eyre" truly brought out that novel's gothic sensibilities; he may be able to do the same for "It."
As the production gears up, all eyes will certainly be looking toward the casting of Pennywise, the clown guise assumed by "It" to both lure and terrify the children of Derry, Maine. Tim Curry famously played him the first time around to creepy perfection, so whoever steps into the role will (literally) have big shoes to fill.
This is the latest in a long line of attempts to get another adaptation of "It" off the ground. At one point, it was simply going to be one feature-length film, which sounded disastrous considering the length of the novel. At least WB has wised up on that front. This is suddenly a project that horror fans should be very excited about again.
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