Cary Fukunaga’s two-part adaptation of Stephen King’s IT is crawling toward a summer start, exciting news for all of us who want to see an epic realization of the spectacular novel. (I personally find much to appreciate about Tommy Lee Wallace’s TV miniseries, but we all know it’s not as good as it should be.)
Producer Seth Grahame-Smith recently spoke about the project with EW, and had some encouraging words to share:
I think that if anything, [the new film] will bring back some of the viciousness of the book that they couldn’t do with the miniseries because it was for broadcast… I think it’s going to be very scary, but I also feel like you’ve got Cary who is going to direct these kids—and he’s incredible at casting, incredible at shooting. He’s incredible with tone and atmosphere. One of the things I wanted to do is be a part of one of the really good King adaptations. As we know, there is an echelon of King adaptations that are classics. There are some that are okay. There are some that we’d rather forget.”
Asked about where the project stands, Grahame-Smith said the following:
We’re going to get a draft, what is supposed to be the shooting [script], any day now from Cary and his writing partner… We’re doing a deal for them to write the second movie. Our hope is to prep sometime in the next few months and shoot in the summer. That one is as much on the runway as we can possibly be. I know New Line is ready to go.”
Again… encouraging. With “True Detective,” Fukunaga has proven himself to be one hell of a storyteller. If this thing is done right, we may be looking at one of the great King adaptations of all time. And isn’t that something to be hopeful for.