Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with some bad Memorial Day news. If The Wrap's sources are correct, it looks like not only is True Detective's Cary Fukunaga out of the big movie adaptation of Stephen King's IT, but it's likely the movie is on hold permanently. At least his ambitious version of the story, which would have had two films, one telling the story of the main characters as kids and the second focusing on them as adults.
That's very much how the book is structured and it would have een really interesting to have seen that done on a cinematic scale. I mean, I love me some Tim Curry as Pennywise, but there's a whole lot of that book that either didn't make it into the miniseries or was done poorly.
The rumor is that Fukunaga is out after fighting with the studio about the budget and filming location. He wanted to film in the very expensive New York State, for instance.
The thing that blows my mind is the article also cites cold feet from the studio after the poor box office performance of Poltergeist because the marketing of Poltergeist centered around a scary clown and that didn't work. Um... If that's true, then there are some real big dumbasses at work at Warner Bros/New Line. By that rationale all they have to do is cast an Avenger as one of the adults, slap their face on the poster and they'll make a billion dollars.
This is a real bummer because I have a feeling Fukunaga was a real inspired creative force behind this project. The last thing we need is another mediocre IT adaptation. Seriously, if you haven't read the book, don't be intimidated by the page count. It's one of King's richest, most superb works as a storyteller.
I'd kill to read Fukunaga's scripts for the two-parter, but I'd much rather see his movies. Casting Will Poulter as Pennywise was either going to be the most brilliant casting decision of the decade or result in a massive trainwreck. No room for much middle ground there... Maybe WB will realize they fucked up, but I wouldn't hold my breath...
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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