Tim Curry was around the age of 43 when he played the role of the evil clown Pennywise in the ABC miniseries “IT” based on the novel by Stephen King. For that reason I guess I was expecting a similarly aged actor to take on the role as Cary Fukunaga (“True Detective”) is currently prepping to begin his journey to remake the horror story for the big screen, but that’s not the case.
Duties have fallen on the shoulders of Will Poulter, 22, according to Variety, who’s probably best known for his part in the comedy We’re the Millers, but perhaps by the time IT is released it will be his work in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu‘s survival drama The Revenant we’ll remember him for.
Apparently older actors were considered such as Mark Rylance (The Other Boleyn Girl) and the almost-too-obvious Ben Mendelsohn, but New Line wanted to go younger and, according to Variety‘s sources, Fukunaga couldn’t say no after being blown away by Poulter’s audition for the part and felt he was the right choice for the role.
[amz asin=”B002SR2PKG” size=”small”]The story follows a group of outcast kids that come together over summer break to take on the monster that’s haunting their town, battling their own personal monsters in the process, and is set over two time periods, separated by nearly 30 years, focusing on the same group of characters. Here’s the synopsis for the book:
A promise made twenty-eight years ago calls seven adults to reunite in Derry, Maine, where as teenagers they battled an evil creature that preyed on the city’s children. Unsure that their Losers Club had vanquished the creature all those years ago, the seven had vowed to return to Derry if IT should ever reappear. Now, children are being murdered again and their repressed memories of that summer return as they prepare to do battle with the monster lurking in Derry’s sewers once more.
Production begins this summer.
