Latest News: Stephen Kings IT and Pet Semetary Remakes
Pennywise. Who here can honestly say that Tim Curry’s performance as the evil, shape-shifting clown in the TV adaptation of Stephen King’s novel “It” wasn’t one of the greatest performances of his career? However fans of the original two-part film might be a little put off with what is shaping up to be a far darker and more accurate representation of the novel.
Rumours of a possible remake began circulating a few years ago in 2009, before the project went underground and fell silent for a few years. With David Kajganich writing the script for a single feature length film with a darker mood than the original, and which would be aiming for an R rating, things looked interesting, if not entirely promising for a remake of the absolutely incredible ABC mini-series of 1990.
Since then, Warner Bros. has managed to get Cary Fukunaga (Sin Nombre, Jane Eyre) on-board to both direct and co-write with Chase Palmer of Dune fame. More good news also surfaced late last year with Warner Bros. also agreeing to split the film into two parts, allowing more time to properly explore the themes, concepts and terror contained in the 1,200 page novel than a single feature film would allow.
They have also assembled Roy Lee, Dan Smith, David Katzenberg and Seth Grahame-Smith to Produce, however no news has surfaced yet on who will be playing Pennywise, or on any other cast or crew additions. It’s worth noting that this film has been stuck in pre-production since the first script was penned in 2009, so don’t get your hopes up for a release any time soon.
Also on the horizon is a remake of Stephen King’s Cult Classic 1989 film “Pet Semetary”. Written first by, yet again, David Kajnagich, it is rumoured Paramount Pictures who took on the film have decided instead to go with a draft script submitted by 1408 writer Matthew Greenberg.
Several high profile directors, chief among them Guillermo del Toro put their hands up to direct once it became apparent Paramount was shopping for a director, but it seems Paramount has eyes only for French director Alexandre Aja (of Haute Tension infamy) and his experience in directing visceral and somewhat gory remakes such as The Hills Have Eyes, Piranha and Mirrors.
Unlike It, it seems that this film at least may start filming sometime next year, with Aja currently busy directing another Paramount film in late 2013.
Either way, we’ll be sure to keep you up to date with the latest news on these two remakes and any further developments that arise. In the meantime, what Stephen King stories would you like to see made (or remade)?
