It’s been a long time in the making, but the highly anticipated big screen remake of It will go in front of cameras next year. Producer Dan Lin broke the news in a recent interview, confirming that the Stephen King adaptation is set to be his next project. True Detective’s Cary Fukunaga is set to direct the movie.
“The idea is to start official prep in March for a summer shoot,” Lin revealed. “Cary likes to develop things for a while, and we’ve been with this for about three or four years, so we’re super excited that he stayed with it.”
However, the plan is to split the lengthy Stephen King novel into two, and Fukunaga is currently only attached to part one, but Lin is currently in the process of closing a deal which will see the director return to at least co-write the second instalment. If he decides not to also helm that movie, it may not feel too jarring as the plan is for the It sequel to shift the focus to the main cast of characters as adults. The first meanwhile will be a coming of age story focusing on them when they were children being tormented by It.
“The book is so epic that we couldn’t tell it all in one movie and service the characters with enough depth. The most important thing is that Stephen King gave us his blessing. We didn’t want to make this unless he felt it was the right way to go, and when we sent him the script, the response that Cary got back was, ‘Go with God, please! This is the version the studio should make.’ So that was really gratifying.”
King hasn’t always been very happy with the adaptations of his work (he hates The Shining for example), so the fact that he’s given It his blessing should come as a huge relief to fans of the critically acclaimed novel!
