Hot on the heels of the True Detective finale (and the attendant debate) comes news that series director Cory Fukunaga has signed on to direct a remake of Stephen King’s IT.
Of course, this is not the first time IT has seen a screen treatment, but I was still excited to see this news because I think Fukunaga is a talented director, and because IT, to my thinking, has never been properly adapted. The TV miniseries scared me as a kid—because CLOWNS—but it features some overbroad acting, and didn’t really come close to capturing the true creepiness and wonder of King’s novel. I’m excited to see what Fukunaga can do with the material.
Stephen King has always had uneven luck with adaptations—good on the page, mediocre to bad on the screen has seemed to be the general rule. (With a few notable exceptions, of course: The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and Misery, to name a handful.) But it’s been a good run for news of promising Stephen King adaptations lately: first it was the rumored Dark Tower movies, now news of this IT adaptation.
Interesting! The kid half of the TV miniseries still has its moments, but yeah it’s pretty silly overall. This one will be tough tough tough. Another ray of hope that we could see a King adaptation attempt on the right kind of network?
By the way that cover haunted me from my parents’ shelves long before I ever read any SK. There’s no way I could have handled this book as a youth, or probably even as a teen.
I am extremely excited about this news. Having just finished the first season of True Detective I can honestly say that Fukunaga is a great choice. Despite hit or miss moments in the actual story, the look, the feel and the character direction of the anthology were spot on.
I read SK’s IT when I was 16 and to this day I still visualize moments from reading this book when I feel the need to dredge up true childhood horrors.
Just look and see what King thinks of the remake. If he likes/approves of it. it’ll probably be terrible. Isn’t that the general rule?