Hey guys! Horrorella here...
We were all crazy excited about the idea of Carey Fukunaga helming an adpatation of Stephen King's terrifying IT. When he left the project earlier in the summer over creative differences with the studio, disappointment abounded. However, this project has beenr receiving so much excitement that it was doubtful it would stay dead for long.
A new director is circling the project. According to THR, Andy (Andres) Muschietti is currently in negotiations to take over the film. Muschietti directed 2013's MAMA, based off of his own short film.
The MAMA short was utterly terrifying, and though the feature length version didn't hit all of its marks, I largely enjoyed it as well. It struck a good balance with creepy visuals and emotional moments from the characters, and was an interesting effort, overall.
I'm curious to see what Muschietti would do with IT, especially if he was allowed to go full steam ahead with an R-rating. THR is stating that the plan is still to move forward with a two-part film, which is realy the only real way to handle it. The story needs to be allowed to spend ample time with the characters as both children and adults to have any sort of impact on the audience. Once the deal is locked, New Line will reportely begin searching for a new writer to tailor the script to whatever vision Muschietti is bringing to the table.
The loss of Fukunaga in May also meant the loss of Will Poulter as a much younger version of Pennywise than what was depicted in the book, and in the miniseries that starred Tim Curry. It looks like it could always be possible for Poulter to return, but I also wouldn't be surprised to see Muschietti taking the story in his own direction, and recasting the role.
We'll see how this develops as they try to get the film closer to production. In the meantime, check out the MAMA short and try really really hard not to scream.
