variety.com reports that Will Poulter is "in negotiations" to play the evil clown, Pennywise, in the upcoming IT movie. The movie is not a remake of the mini-series so much as it is a retelling for the big screen.
Justin Kroll at Variety reminds us that the IT project is really two feature film. Kroll notes, "Fukunaga has been very vocal recently that the latest script will stay true to the King story while also giving the film a new look."
The plan is for the first movie to tell the kids’ story and the second movie to focus on the adults.
About Poulter as Pennywise, Kroll says that New Line originally looked at older actors like Mark Rylance and Ben Mendelsohn to play the evil clown. However, they decided to "go younger" with Poulter. Why? Because Poulter rocked the audition with Fukunaga -- leaving the director unable to say no.
Honestly, Pennywise does seem like the role of a lifetime. What fun.
comingsoon.net notes taht Will Poulter, best known for his roles in The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Maze Runner.
Pennywise probably is the role of a lifetime.
ReplyDeleteThat said, the more I find out about the It project the more I have reason for pause.
For instance, it seems like they are basing the script on the 1990 mini-series.
This perhaps doesn't bother as much as it might other King fans, and I'm less worried about who plays who then about the idea that the filmmakers may be repeating themselves.
Also, another thing I worry about is executive meddling to make things more PG. That may not sound like much, but be aware, more PG means more parents willing to take their kids along.
What's that got to do with anything? Well, from an artistic standpoint, nothing. From a marketing standpoint it means more box office revenue from more filled seats, hence I worry that they may try to tone down material that is anything but PG (and here I'm thinking of the Creature from the Black Lagoon or Frankenstein scenes).
These misgivings come from, among other things, hearing how Del Toro's Lovecraft film kept getting mangled.
Imagine, if you will, a version of At the Mountains of Madness with a love interest?
Yeah, that's the kind of thing I worry about.
ChrisC
I think it's too soon to judge, which generally means: I remain hopeful. Sometimes with a King movie I just DECIDE to like it. I liked a Good Marriage. Was it a good film? I think so. But I also decided ahead of time to like it.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, that lame answer aside, I think the project shows real promise. Nothing I've seen makes me think they are running back to the mini-series. If anything, the decidedly different Pennywise casting choice should assure us of that.
Was the mini-series bad?
No.
The second half was terrible. Terrible!
But the first half was almost good enough to make the whole thing work.
What's interesting is that I think the first half of the novel works better than the second. Sometimes a good movie can redeem an already good book with a few weak spots.
My opinion only -- the IT novel is uneven. It's very strong at points; but rambles on and fails at times to be scary.