Cary Fukunaga is to be trusted. From Sin Nombre to his evocative adaptation of Jane Eyre to last year’s moody, weird fiction-recalling cop drama True Detective, the director’s atmosphere is real deal and it’s exciting to anticipate his take on a real deal horror property like Stephen King’s It. Similarly exciting, whatever his vision of the now iconic Pennywise the Clown might entail. In March, Fukunaga was quoted as seeking the perfect guy to play Pennywise. He looks to have found it in young, striking Will Poulter.
You might remember Poulter as very young in UK coming-of-age film Son of Rambow. He’s since been seen in The Maze Runner, Glassland and 2013 comedy, We’re the Millers. Variety reports the casting of Poulter for Fukunaga’s adaptation, which will be split into two films. Stephen King’s IT focuses on a group of friends Derry known as the Losers Club and both their child and adult conflicts with the monster, who most famously takes on the appearance of Pennywise.
King’s It was of course previously made into a television miniseries, directed by Halloween III‘s Tommy Lee Wallace. That film starred Tim Curry as Pennywise, and has been haunting viewers ever since. Production on New Line and Cary Fukunaga’s It gets underway this summer. For more on It, see our look at the line of Stephen King miniseries here.