Stephen King's IT reboot - Cary Fukunaga takes on Pennywise

  1. I didn’t even know there was a reboot of IT due from New Line and Cary Fukunaga (True Detective).

  2. It will be split into two movies.

  3. They’ve picked the new Pennywise. It’s Will Poulter, the goofy fake brother in We’re the Millers.

Yes!

  1. It will be split into two movies.

I, uh, well okay I guess. It’s a pretty long book, makes sense.

  1. They’ve picked the new Pennywise. It’s Will Poulter, the goofy fake brother in We’re the Millers.

huh

Yeah, that about covers it.

He was actually pretty good in We’re the Millers. The Variety article you linked mentions he’s also getting attention for his role in Innaritu’s next movie, The Revenant.

But this is disheartening:

After considering older actors like Mark Rylance and Ben Mendelsohn for the Pennywise role, New Line wanted to take a different route and go younger.

Any movie is weaker for not casting Mark Rylance (you guys are watching Wolf Hall, aren’t you?) or Ben Mendelsohn! And I don’t know anything about any dopey Stephen King clown novel, but why do you need to “go younger” to cast an evil clown?

-Tom

I’d love to see Tom Noonan play an evil clown. Or Michael Shannon.

It’s been a LONG while since I saw IT but wasn’t it basically some clown in the sewers who turned into a giant spider and then was easily dispatched?

I’m guessing the actual book has a more worthy take on the story?

Also, there’s a shower scene that’s pretty cool

I am actually a big Stephen King fan, but I’ve never understood all the love for “It”. To me it was the novel that signaled a fall in quality and originality from his excellent early work.

You’ll hear this tune at least once a day on London’s pirate stations.

Neuromancer - Pennywise

lol that’s some old school protracker shit.

I have to disagree, most of the stuff written since IT has been poor a real drop off in standards. It felt like IT was King at the top of his game. He’d reached the top and had stop after that and it’s always bothered me.

I adored King’s IT - right up until the part when the kids had to find their way out of the sewer. Such a WTF moment.

Yeah they should have just fought a clown would have been scarier instead we get a what. Maybe that’s when his decline set in 90% through IT.

I think that King has always been a solid 90% writer. Great characters, great dialog, great set up, mostly terrible endings.

I’m not against going younger. There is no reason to have an ‘old clown’. People’s interpretation of a scary clown differs (unless you’re my wife because ALL clowns are scary). A young creepy clown can be just as effective as an older creepy clown.

Most of my favourite authors (not going to list them for fear that I will be judged) suffer from a failure to ‘end’ their stories.

Nah the last 15 years he has really released some drivel, books by numbers for his big publishing bucks really. His early stuff at the time was just so good.

The best stuff he’s written in years has been his articles for magazines, or maybe his pulp novel Joyland.

Well, sure there is, when the names on the list include Mark Rylance and Ben Mendelsohn. This younger Will Poulton clown better be good!

-Tom

Yes, I agree with this entirely. This was the start of the Tommy Knockers era.

IT was the first Stephen King book I read (beside some short stories as a youngin) and after I finished I declared it my last Stephen King book. Some great parts, but far far too long.

On a strange whim I picked up The Shining a decade or so later, mostly because it wasn’t 1000 pages long, and realized that King really can write awesome stuff. That led me to try the Dark Tower which is also, mostly, really great.

I’m optimistic about this movie but I think splitting it into two movies will be a mistake. A lot of that book deserves to be on the editing room floor.

You clearly haven’t gotten through the 4th book, which is when Dark Tower just starts becoming wretched.

I loved all of King’s early stuff from the 70s and early 80s. From the mid-80s to early 90s his stuff was becoming more indulgent and bloated, but there was still some great stuff. After that his writing seemed less coherent and really bloated and indulgent, although he never ran out of cool ideas.