'True Detective' director Cary Fukunaga will reportedly direct adaptation of Stephen King's 'It'
Stephen King properties continue to prosper on the small screen (see: Haven, ), even as multiple film adaptations 鈥� based on the iconic pop horror/suspense novelist鈥檚 work 鈥� have started to make their way down the pipeline. Indeed, in the past few months, we鈥檝e seen (among other developments) the remake enlist a new director, Warner Bros. actively scouting for a filmmaker to helm , and the movie adaptation finishing up its casting in order to begin production this year.
One King project that we haven鈥檛 reported on since 2012 is , a big-screen treatment of King鈥檚 hefty best-selling novel, published in 1986 and made into a famous TV mini-series four years later (starring Tim Curry as the clown monster, Pennywise, who haunted many a child of the 鈥�90s鈥� dreams). Last time we tuned in, acclaimed cinematographer-turned writer/director聽聽had just been recruited to get the ball rolling again, after the project had spent the previous few years to, essentially, a complete stop (at that time).
Producer Dan Lin () added a new hit intellectual property to his belt when opened big at the box office, and while promoting the animated feature/toy adaptation, he provided (hat tip ) with an update on Fukunaga鈥檚 prospective聽IT听补诲补辫迟补迟颈辞苍:
鈥溾�� Cary Fukunaga is writing and directing Stephen King鈥檚聽It聽for me, and I鈥檓 really excited for that.聽 So I鈥檓 hoping that鈥檒l be his next movie after the indie he鈥檚 shooting in Africa.聽 So I love what he did with聽True Detective.聽 I think it鈥檚 a great sample for Stephen King鈥檚聽It.聽聽So I鈥檓 really excited about that.鈥�
The聽鈥渋ndie he鈥檚 shooting in Africa鈥� in this case refers to Beasts of No Nation, Fukunaga鈥檚 adaptation of Uzodinma Iweala鈥檚 novel 鈥� about an African child soldier 鈥� that will include award-winner Idris Elba () in a key role. According to previous reports, Fukunaga is going to be collaborating on the IT script with Chase Palmer 鈥� Fukunaga鈥檚 writing partner on the developing project聽No Blood, No Guts, No Glory 鈥� with the intention of covering King鈥檚 (more than) 1,000 pages-long source material during the course of two feature-length films.
It鈥檚 not clear yet whether a two-part movie is still the plan for聽IT, though nowadays that鈥檚 not so much of a far-fetched idea, with young adult franchises (Harry Potter, Twilight and later this year,聽) and recent genre tentpoles (see:聽) having popularized the practice 鈥� demonstrating just how lucrative the box office reward can be. Not only is a King property like IT arguably popular enough to justify such a move from a business perspective, artistically the story lends itself to such an adaptation 鈥� as the novel alternates between two time periods (the 1950s and 1980s), yet revolves around younger and older versions of the same characters.
HBO鈥檚 Fukunaga-directed聽 limited series relies upon a related narrative structure, wherein extended flashbacks set during the mid-1990s are framed with scenes featuring the same lead characters in the year 2012. Moreover, the acclaimed detective drama has exposed聽聽of pure visual storytelling to a larger audience than that which saw his arthouse releases (see: Sin Nombre, Jane Eyre), while having also illustrated his ability to weave a yarn that is both fairly atmospheric, yet at the same time character-focused and contemplative.
In other words: an IT movie by Fukunaga sounds all the more promising now, perhaps even more so if it were to be split up into two separate movies.
Sandy Schaefer blogs at .
