Alex Moss EditorStephen King remains one of cinema’s most desirable authors to adapt to the big screen and while some of said films have been a bit hit or miss the man tells a damn fine story that often chills to the core. So it is with great terror and happiness that the news comes of a new adaptation of Stephen King’s It.
Published in 1986 It tells the story of a group of kids who are hunted and traumatised by a malevolent force known simply as “It” which takes the form of their worst fears. In order to lure its preferred prey of children to their doom It often takes on the form of a menacing looking clown (see main picture). The book was adapted for the small screen with a mini-series back in the ’90s with Tim Curry playing the terrifying clown and scared a generation of kids half to death when watching it presumably without their parents permission.
This new adaptation comes from The Lego Movie producer Dan Lin, clearly making kids happy isn’t enough he also wants to send them to bed with nightmares about clowns. He’s hired True Detective director Cary Fukunaga to call the shots on the project which will split the door-stopper sized book into two films. This should come as no surprise given the recent rumour that an adaptation of King’s The Stand will be split into no less than four films. Lin told Vulture “The book is so epic that we couldn’t tell it all in one movie and service the characters with enough depth,”. The convenient thing about King’s novel is it is split between the kids growing up and facing the menace and then when they are adults and realised it has returned to finish what it started meaning the two films will easily split over the two time-lines. At present Fukunaga is only slated to direct the first film but is in talks to write the second so with any luck will want to return for continuity reasons.
And the best news of all is this adaptation comes with Stephen King’s blessing himself. Lin sent the script to the horror maestro who replied with the statement ‘Go with God, please! This is the version the studio should make.’ Which is nice. Source – Vulture
