14 DAY TRIAL // Stephen King’s iconic horror novel “IT” was turned into a miniseries for ABC in the ‘90s, which remains a staple for the horror genre. In recent years, various efforts have been made to bring it to the big screen, with Warner Bros. and New Line finally taking on the challenge: the movie was supposed to go into production this summer.
Earlier this month, word got out that Will Poulter, star of “We’re the Millers” and “The Maze Runner,” was in talks to take on the role made famous by Tim Curry, that of the clown Pennywise, the demonic bad guy from the story.
Today, chances of the film ever making it to the big screen are slim to non-existent, as the director has bailed out shortly before the start of production.
Cary Fukunaga is out, fate of the film uncertain
Variety confirms that Cary Fukunaga, who received critical and fan acclaim for his work on HBO’s “True Detective” series, has dropped out of the project. He’d been involved since inception, in 2012, even working on the script with Chase Palmer.
Shooting was supposed to start this summer. The director’s abrupt exit might be explained by tensions between himself and studio bosses, who had been pulling to make “IT” into 2 movies. At the same time, they only wanted one made right away, with the sequel to be confirmed if this one fared well at the box office.
Either way, if they had their way, the story wouldn’t be completed in the first film. Fukunaga, Variety says, wanted to have the story compressed into just 1 film, because dragging it out made no sense to him.
These creative issues and budget problems arising from them eventually forced Fukunaga to make the decision to step down.
So, right now, “IT” doesn’t have a director and no clear direction. Even Stephen King is doubtful it would ever be made, as you can see from his tweet embedded below.
The challenge of bringing “IT” to the big screen
The reason why the ABC miniseries worked so well is that it was a miniseries, thus offering the treatment King’s voluminous work deserved.
Studios have been toying with the idea to bring it to the big screen a lot in recent years, with the first (failed) attempt dating to 2009. The biggest challenge of making a solid “IT” movie is in treating the source material in a way that doesn’t feel diluted or lazy to King’s loyal fans.
They will obviously not settle for anything less, not when they have the novel and the excellent miniseries as terms to compare the fresh offering to. Because this is a well-loved horror story, Hollywood can’t just throw another lazy remake out there, not if whoever is financing it wants to make a profit.
The remake of IT may be dead--or undead--but we'll always have Tim Curry. He's still floating down in the sewers of Derry.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) May 25, 2015
