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Thread: Stephen King's IT

  1. #1
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    Stephen King's IT

    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.

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    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.

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    Quote Originally Posted by fillow View Post
    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.

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

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sebek View Post
    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.

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    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.
    Last edited by elevenism; 11-02-2015 at 08:26 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by elevenism View Post
    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

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    Quote Originally Posted by elevenism View Post
    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).

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jinsai View Post
    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!

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    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.
    Last edited by fillow; 11-04-2015 at 01:50 AM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jinsai View Post
    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.
    Last edited by elevenism; 11-04-2015 at 12:17 PM.

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    I want The Dark Tower mini-series.

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    Quote Originally Posted by elevenism View Post
    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.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Khrz View Post
    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.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Deepvoid View Post
    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.

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    Quote Originally Posted by elevenism View Post
    And have you read The Dark Tower series?
    Yeah, I started it, and as you could have guessed from my previous comment, I'm not a fan
    It showed some promise, great creative work, then more creative work, then it gets really messy. I would have loved to finish it out of curiosity, but having King insert himself into his own serie and somehow shove his accident in that whole narrative ? Made me Nope, made me Nope real hard. But then, that's pretty much what I expect from him nowadays. I like the guy, used to LOVE his work, but now I just find it mostly tacky.

    He seems to be having fun, but (and here's Lucas again) he's at a point in his career where every idea is good enough. He could write pretty much anything, and as far as I'm concerned, that's exactly what he's doing. Except I don't mean that as a compliment.

    Also, the guy doesn't know how to end a story. Never did. Which worked as long as everything was doom and gloom, because "and then everyone dies" or "this is our life now" are perfectly good finish moves, no need for closure in these cases. But when the hero is supposed to come up with a solution, and that solution is "magic card tricks !" "surprise atom bomb" or "suddenly, aliens !", I feel seriously cheated.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Khrz View Post
    Yeah, I started it, and as you could have guessed from my previous comment, I'm not a fan
    I think it's great... probably the best thing he's written (aside from IT). I don't get how anyone could read Drawing of the Three and dislike it.

    I also never got why people seem to be so stuck on the differences between the film and book when it comes to The Shining. I've heard people claim it's a completely different story. It's a more faithful adaptation than most.

    Both the book and movie tell the story of a recovering alcoholic writer and his wife who have a psychic son who move into an abandoned hotel to take care of it during the winter when it's closed and cut off from the world. The hotel is notoriously the site where a lot of bizarre murders happened in the off-season. Cabin fever sets in, and the son's psychic abilities resonate with the ghosts that haunt the hotel, empowering them to materialize and reach out to the father and manipulate him through his alcoholic weakness. His father goes crazy, and tries to chop em all into haggis. In the end of the book, King defaults to his "let's blow everything up!" ending habits, while in the movie the dad freezes to death chasing his son through the hedge maze. The topiary animals don't move around in the film, the wife isn't as hysterical and seemingly helpless in the book, there's more backstory to the ghosts that haunt the building in the book... and that's about it when it comes to the major differences. Oh yeah, and Halloran doesn't die in the book, and I guess it's important that Jack has his moment of redemption in the book, even though I don't think it would work as well in the film.

    I kept hearing about how furious King was with the adaptation, and hearing from fans saying that the movie got everything wrong. So when I read the book, I was expecting a completely different story... and ended up reading a book that was more true to the story than most adaptations I've read. It's also a great film, regardless of how it represents the source material.

    I think a lot of the King fans who despise the movie are operating on suggestion through the author, who I think had other reasons to hate the film.
    Last edited by Jinsai; 11-04-2015 at 04:22 PM.

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    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?!

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    Quote Originally Posted by perceptionnexus View Post
    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."

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

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

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

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    Quote Originally Posted by cicada View Post
    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.

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    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.

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    Quote Originally Posted by kleiner352 View Post
    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.

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    Quote Originally Posted by kleiner352 View Post
    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.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Khrz View Post
    Yeah, I started it, (TDT) and as you could have guessed from my previous comment, I'm not a fan
    It showed some promise, great creative work, then more creative work, then it gets really messy. I would have loved to finish it out of curiosity, but having King insert himself into his own serie and somehow shove his accident in that whole narrative ? Made me Nope, made me Nope real hard. But then, that's pretty much what I expect from him nowadays. I like the guy, used to LOVE his work, but now I just find it mostly tacky.

    He seems to be having fun, but (and here's Lucas again) he's at a point in his career where every idea is good enough. He could write pretty much anything, and as far as I'm concerned, that's exactly what he's doing. Except I don't mean that as a compliment.

    Also, the guy doesn't know how to end a story. Never did. Which worked as long as everything was doom and gloom, because "and then everyone dies" or "this is our life now" are perfectly good finish moves, no need for closure in these cases. But when the hero is supposed to come up with a solution, and that solution is "magic card tricks !" "surprise atom bomb" or "suddenly, aliens !", I feel seriously cheated.
    Okay please forgive me this small bit of drift, but what do YOU like to read these days?
    This isn't some sort of assholery where i'm going to tell you why what YOU like to read isn't up to snuff. Rather, it's quite the opposite-i read King, Anne Rice (who has been hit and miss for some time but i read it all anyway,) Kathleen and Michael Gear (who aren't good anymore so i stopped) and John Steinbeck (he isn't creating new work for obvious reasons.) I've read most of the requisite Orwell and Burgess and Burroughs and such, and i read all the Infinite Jests and Poisonwood Bibles and Houses of Leaves in between. Quite naturally, i'm running out of things to read! Please PM me some suggestions if you get a chance.

    (end drift.)
    Maybe there is still hope for It. Andy Muschietti is at the helm, and he directed and produced Mama, which i found to be pretty fucking incredible.
    Also. Lately, just this year in fact, i've learned to keep a more open mind about books adapted into film. 99% of the time, all i do is bitch about the differences.
    I've finally learned that it's NOT going to be exactly the same. They AREN'T going to capture what was in your mind.
    So with 11.22.63, i tried to, you know, celebrate the differences, if you will. I watched it and said "wow, that's different. that's kind of cool."
    And i enjoyed it.
    Last edited by elevenism; 04-22-2016 at 04:43 PM.

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    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.

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    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.

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