We don’t mean to stereotype, but a clown will always come off as a psychotic murderer or a monster in disguise to us. This is all thanks to director Tommy Lee Wallace, who implanted that scary image through his psychologic drama miniseries that is based on Stephen King’s “It” in the 1990s.
And now, the horror classic has found its way back to haunt us because sources told Variety that “The Maze Runner” star Will Poulter is currently in negotiations to play Pennywise the Clown in New Line’s upcoming remake of “It”.
The original story of “It” revolves around an inter-dimensional predatory life-form, which has the ability to transform itself into its prey’s worst fears, allowing it to exploit the phobias of its victims. It mostly took the form of a horrible and sadistic wisecracking clown called “Pennywise the Dancing Clown”.
The novel was made into a 2-part drama miniseries in 1991, with Tim Curry portraying Pennywise. The 1st part centres around a group of outcast kids (a.k.a “The Losers Club”) who discover Pennywise while the 2nd part is about the kids being called back as adults to destroy the clown who has resurfaced.
According to Screen Rant, Warner Bros. has been planning to develop a film adaptation of the horror classic for more than 3 years. However, the size of the book made it difficult for screenwriter David Kajganich to pen the remake.
Fortunately, the project was picked up by “True Detective” director Cary Fukunaga, who revealed that the latest script he co-wrote with Chase Palmer “will stay true” to the original story. Fukanaga, who is directing the 2-part feature film, also said that the film will be given a new look as New Line “wanted to take a different route and go younger” with the clown. Older actors like Mark Rylance and Ben Mendelsohn were previously consiered for the Pennywise role.
Image source: Indiewire
Sources told Variety that Poulter emerged as the top choice for the role as Fukunaga was “blown away” by Poulter’s performance during his audition for the part. It was also revealed that insiders, who have seen an early footage of Poulter in Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu’s “The Revenant”, felt that he is “more than capable of taking on the character” that is dark and evil.
Seth Grahame-Smith and David Katzenberg of KatzSmith are producing the remake alongside Dan Lin and Roy Lee. Niija Kuykendall, Dave Neustadter, and Walter Hamada are overseeing the project, which will begin filming this summer.
(Source: Variety)