Stephen King's IT

[Jinsai]

I'm more excited about this than anything else Hollywood has cooking.

I always hated the original ABC miniseries, and while I get why some people love it (and how that has everything to do with Tim Curry's iconic performance as Pennywise) that movie was really a piss poor adaptation of the novel. I'm a pretty big Stephen King fan, but IT is my favorite novel of his, and the movie they made out of it is one of the crappiest adaptations.

So now Cary Fukunaga (True Detective) is directing, and has stated that he wants to do justice to the original novel... Stephen King read the screenplay and was apparently thrilled.

aaaaaand now they've cast the role of Pennywise.



Not what I was expecting, but at least they're obviously going in a different direction with this?
Really though, if they did a gritty, disturbing version of IT, it could be the greatest horror film ever. I'm not going to expect that, but I'm keeping my hopes up that this will be at least a little great.

[fillow]

No. No. No. No.
Just fucking stop making Steven King movies and miniseries. The odds are, 9 of 10 of them will suck major ass. One can literally count all of his good films with one and a half hand's fingers. Even less if you exclude the ones that have no supernatural stuff.

[Jinsai]

No. No. No. No.
Just fucking stop making Steven King movies and miniseries. The odds are, 9 of 10 of them will suck major ass. One can literally count all of his good films with one and a half hand's fingers. Even less if you exclude the ones that have no supernatural stuff.

I'm more optimistic about this one, mostly because Cary Fukunaga is directing, and everything he's said has seemed to imply that he's determined to do it right.

[Sebek]

It looks as though Cary Fukunaga has pulled out of this due to budgetary reasons.

[Jinsai]

It looks as though Cary Fukunaga has pulled out of this due to budgetary reasons.

There goes my enthusiasm.
This could have been so good, but if they're not entrusting the proper funds to pull it off right, just leave it alone.

[Ryan]

http://bloody-disgusting.com/news/33...m-next-summer/

[elevenism]

i've read every SK book. All of them. And i think i've seen all the movies.
The only good one is Secret Window, Secret Garden.
BTW, the kid who played Eddie Spaghetti in the original miniseries went to middle school with me.

He was a real, uptight snobby little bitch. He wore his cast jacket from It EVERY fucking day, rain or shine. And he had people who followed him around.
I wanted to beat his ass.

edit: i meant the only good MOVIE. I love almost all of the books, stories and novellas.

[Ryan]

BTW, the kid who played Eddie Spaghetti in the original miniseries went to middle school with me.

He was a real, uptight snobby little bitch. He wore his cast jacket from It EVERY fucking day, rain or shine. And he had people who followed him around.
I wanted to beat his ass.

wow what an asshole

[Jinsai]

edit: i meant the only good MOVIE. I love almost all of the books, stories and novellas.

Awwwwwwwww, come on, The Shining (sorry Mr King, you're wrong), Shawshank Redemption, Misery, Stand By Me, Carrie, The Dead Zone, Salem's Lot, and 1408 were all pretty damn good movies. Even the adaptation of Needful Things was a better-than-decent horror movie (based on a really underrated novel).

[Ryan]

Awwwwwwwww, come on, The Shining (sorry Mr King, you're wrong), Shawshank Redemption, Misery, Stand By Me, Carrie, The Dead Zone, Salem's Lot, and 1408 were all pretty damn good movies. Even the adaptation of Needful Things was a better-than-decent horror movie (based on a really underrated novel).

Shawshank Redemption ftw!

[elevenism]

Awwwwwwwww, come on, The Shining (sorry Mr King, you're wrong), Shawshank Redemption, Misery, Stand By Me, Carrie, The Dead Zone, Salem's Lot, and 1408 were all pretty damn good movies. Even the adaptation of Needful Things was a better-than-decent horror movie (based on a really underrated novel).

Sorry, of course, Stand By Me is incredible as is Shawshank Redemption. and they are both also from novellas, and incredibly similar to the book.
The Shining doesn't have much of shit to do with the book.
@Jinsai , being an SK fanatic, faithfulness to the source material can make or break it for me. You know what i mean-that shit where you are watching the movie and saying "but it wasn't like that in the book!" every 10 seconds can totally ruin a movie.

That being said The Green Mile was fucking great.

[Khrz]

The Shining doesn't have much of shit to do with the book.

Well, apart from streamlining it quite efficiently...

Guy with an alcohol problem goes full-on dark once isolated with his family. All the rest is flourish supporting the actions and reactions.
In my point of view anyway.
Which is why I have a problem with King going all Lucas with his mythos, actually. Talisman didn't need a follow-up, neither did The Shining. Honestly, as far as I'm concerned, It represents the tipping point in Kings' work. From this novel on, everything was magic and voodoo and the power of creativity and innocence against the forces of evil. Blerg.
Before that, the shit the characters faced only served to highlight their own flaws and defects. Mediocrity, greed, selfishness, dishonesty, bigotry, blown out of proportions under extraordinary circumstances.
As far as I'm concerned, King is now writing fairy tales. Which I wouldn't object to, if he was any good at it.

[elevenism]

Well, apart from streamlining it quite efficiently...

Guy with an alcohol problem goes full-on dark once isolated with his family. All the rest is flourish supporting the actions and reactions.
In my point of view anyway.
Which is why I have a problem with King going all Lucas with his mythos, actually. Talisman didn't need a follow-up, neither did The Shining. Honestly, as far as I'm concerned, It represents the tipping point in Kings' work. From this novel on, everything was magic and voodoo and the power of creativity and innocence against the forces of evil. Blerg.
Before that, the shit the characters faced only served to highlight their own flaws and defects. Mediocrity, greed, selfishness, dishonesty, bigotry, blown out of proportions under extraordinary circumstances.
As far as I'm concerned, King is now writing fairy tales. Which I wouldn't object to, if he was any good at it.

Oh wow. I just couldn't disagree more.
I LOVED Black House.
And have you read The Dark Tower series?

Maybe it's just a question of taste.
But for me, King's Magnum Opus (TDT) is nothing short of "Lord of theRIngs" for a new generation.

And as far as him "not being any good," to me, he's the new Mark Twain.

[fillow]

Stand By Me is amazing and it really moved me when I watched it, years before discovering it's made from SK novella. (Which is also amazing).
Also: The Running Man, despite all its cheese and differences from the novel.

[Deepvoid]

I want The Dark Tower mini-series.

[perceptionnexus]

I want The Dark Tower mini-series.

I've had arguments with friends about this and whether or not the series is "cinema-friendly" enough to justify its potential existence.
I think it is, if done properly. To me, the best way would be to just make it a full series on a premium channel (preferably Netflix or HBO), do it the right way, and just take on one book per season. That would be 7 seasons, 10 one-hour eps. per season = 70 hours total. I think that would allow enough time to tell the story properly. It's bound to be a failed overkill if they tried to do it all in feature-film format.

[perceptionnexus]

I look at Kubrick's Shining kind of like Cash's version of "Hurt", it didn't pay a great deal of resemblance to the original, but on its own it took on its own kind of meaning and was still completely brilliant.

With IT, are they seriously considering that little kid for the role of Pennywise?!

[Jinsai]

With IT, are they seriously considering that little kid for the role of Pennywise?!

Yeah, apparently... though I'm seeing how it could work... the biggest problem for me is the studio morons (who probably haven't read the book and have no interest in any aspect except the financial bottom line) showing disinterest in making this the edgy fucked-up thing it should be, and instead pushing it to be a spooky movie about an evil clown monster. They should have supported Fukunaga, who really seemed interested in doing this "right."

[cicada]

Of course the elephant in the room is, if this happens, how will they address the gangbang in the tunnels scene?!?!?!

[perceptionnexus]

Of course the elephant in the room is, if this happens, how will they address the gangbang in the tunnels scene?!?!?!

I'm sure they'll make it some kind of pussified, modern Hollywood PC implication, or detour from it completely, which will be sad because it's such a key part of the book regarding the development of the Losers as a cohesive unit . I mean, they don't need to show hardcore child porn, but at least stay try and stay true to the book.

[Ryan]

https://mobile.twitter.com/StephenKi...93304814800896

THE DARK TOWER movie is filming; IT begins soon. Pretty cool.

[Ryan]

Filming starts in June:

https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/16...-filming-june/

[implanted_microchip]

Ummmmm ....

As a huge SK fan and It fan I can safely say the gangbang scene is the worst part of the entire book and is not well-done at all. It is, at best, in the most forgiving interpretation, an act of symbolism that in no way could translate well into another medium and is not essential at all. The same point -- that their innocence is gone and they're all growing up -- could be made in a far more nuanced way and a far less bizarre way. I'd be surprised if King himself considers it something that needs to be in a movie of it. I don't think it would work at all in a natural or compelling way, and definitely not unless they age up all the characters. I'd rather they just not do it.

All that said I'm sure this movie will suck anyway so I'm not terribly concerned what they do or do not do.

[perceptionnexus]

Ummmmm ....

As a huge SK fan and It fan I can safely say the gangbang scene is the worst part of the entire book and is not well-done at all. It is, at best, in the most forgiving interpretation, an act of symbolism that in no way could translate well into another medium and is not essential at all. The same point -- that their innocence is gone and they're all growing up -- could be made in a far more nuanced way and a far less bizarre way. I'd be surprised if King himself considers it something that needs to be in a movie of it. I don't think it would work at all in a natural or compelling way, and definitely not unless they age up all the characters. I'd rather they just not do it.

All that said I'm sure this movie will suck anyway so I'm not terribly concerned what they do or do not do.

I respect your opinion but disagree about the tunnel scene. I do agree though that the movie overall will likely suck, so it probably won't even matter anyway.

[Jinsai]

Ummmmm ....

As a huge SK fan and It fan I can safely say the gangbang scene is the worst part of the entire book and is not well-done at all.

Yeah... That is probably the most disgusting and unnecessary 2 pages of anything I've ever read. I love the book, it's one of my favorites, and I still feel like that short fucked up bit really degrades the novel on a whole. I think he went a little too far down the rabbit-hole there, and I would suspect on some level he regrets it.

[implanted_microchip]

A thing for me is that It is so much more than horror. It's Stand By Me with monsters. It's the death of adolescence. It's the death of pure friendships. It's the bonds between us and our childhood friends that never break inside. It's the racism of a small town and the historical shame that fills it. It's the recovery of meaningful relationships and the overcoming of adult depression and disaffection with where you're life went. It's reconnecting with your roots that maybe you've tried to outgrow but you just can't escape and it's making peace with those things you wish you could have changed but didn't.

So somebody who made a decent horror movie isn't enough in my eyes. It just isn't. Cramming all that into one film isn't enough in my eyes. Fukunaga had me thrilled because the visual mood, tone and language he built and established in True Detective for Louisiana would've translated effortlessly into the aura of Derry, Maine. There was a depth to his photography that felt perfect and I really trusted his ability to weave an interconnected plotline that could balance strong character development with eerie happenings. And him wanting two films and a hard R seemed perfect and seemed like it'd give it the appropriate space to breathe. I have zero faith in it now and will likely skip over it completely.

[elevenism]

yes, @kleiner352 , i see your vision very well now, about the tone of TD working for Derry, and i, too, am sad.

I haven't read It since probably longer than you've been alive, but Stand By Me with monsters is very evocative and brings back the memories.

[Jinsai]

I actually completely agree with @Khrz about King's endings... A lot of the time he loses the pacing at the very end and then just blows everything up. He did it in his first book Carrie, he did it in The Shining, he did it in Needful Things, he did it in IT... and these are some of my favorite books of his.

If anything, one thing the movie version of The Shining improved massively was the ending. Super classy and iconic ending.

[Mantra]

No film adaptation is ever going to feature the gangbang scene, obviously. They're not gonna show a bunch of children having sex.

[Ryan]

No film adaptation is ever going to feature the gangbang scene, obviously. They're not gonna show a bunch of children having sex.

Maybe they'll reverse it and the adult versions of them in the latter half will do it.