Just recently it looked like the long-gestating remake/re-adaptation of Stephen King’s celebrated story It was finally moving full steam ahead with rising British star Will Poulter in talks to play the dreaded Pennywise the Clown. However, recent developments have thrown things up the air.

The Wrap reports that due to certain disgreements behind-the-scenes, director Cary Fukunaga has left the project. He had some big and bold plans for the film including splitting it into two parts but it looks like he’s clashed with New Line (it was originally over at WB but switched in recent weeks) over certain details, which has now left it without a director and the project pushed indefinitely.

Of course it’s all conjecture and reports from unnamed “inside sources” at the moment but apparently the studio had imposed budget cuts which would have compromised the True Detective helmer’s creative vision. The director also purportedly wanted to shoot in New York, traditionally a very expensive place to shoot, and there’s even rumors that the studio has lowered the budget due to getting cold feet from the partly clown-themed Poltergeist remake not doing as well as hoped at the box office.

Interestingly The Wrap has new details about the coveted lead role. As stated, Poulter apparently won out the role over other actors including the in-demand Ben Mendelsohn, the latter of which had turned down the role because he was tied up with Star Wars: Rogue One. However, it appears that Fukunaga actually wanted to cast him and he could have fit both this and Star Wars into his schedule just fine but New Line wanted the actor to take a sizeable pay cut. Hmm, the plot thickens!

The studio also then wanted a proper movie star in the role and were dubious over Poulter who, as great as he is, isn’t a big established name (yet, we hope!). What this means for the prospects of the young actor actually playing the role now remains to be seen because the whole thing is now in flux.

Will the studio continue with a combination of their plans and Fukunaga’s, just substituting in another filmmaker, or will they start from square one? Don’t be surprised if it ends up back as a single movie as opposed to the more ambitious, and let’s face it more worthy two parts that would no doubt have done the 1100+ page source material better justice. The studio was apparently worried about Fukunaga’s vision of Part 1 focusing on the protagonists as kids and Part 2 as grown-ups and wanted one movie with both kids and grown-ups featuring at different points.

It’s a real shame to see this happen as Fukunaga is an amazing talent – just look at his fantastic Jane Eyre adaptation and, of course, his work on HBO’s True Detective as proof – and I think he was a fascinating, brilliant choice to remake arguably Stephen King’s scariest story.

Source: The Wrap