After the first season of True Detective, the idea of Cary Fukunaga directing a remake of Stephen King’s classic killer clown tale It was amazing. Plans were in motion and roles were being cast and then, seemingly out of nowhere, Fukunaga left the project and Mama director Andy Muschietti stepped into the role.
Now Fukunaga has revealed why he and Chase Palmer left the project, opening up to Entertainment Weekly during their preview for Beasts of No Nation in their Fall issue. It turns out that the split came down to a simple reason: disagreement:
“It’s never easy,” he says. “Chase [Palmer] and I had been working on that script for probably three years. There was a lot of our childhood and our experience in it…
“Ultimately, we and New Line have to agree on the kind of movie we want to make, and we just wanted to make different movies,” Fukunaga says. “It’s like a relationship: you can try to make the other person who you want them to be, but it’s impossible really to change. You just have to work.”
Now The AV Club adds that some of the apparent disagreements stemmed from the usual suspects like budget and story direction, but one of the sticking points was also the casting of Will Poulter as Pennywise the Clown. Apparently Fukunaga and company were looking for someone along the lines of Ben Mendelsohn — my personal king of the movie scumbags. The age difference is clear, but having a younger version of the ancient evil running around in Derry, Maine also provides some troubles for whatever childhood stories that Fukunaga and Palmer poured into the movie.
It’s disappointing, but that does happen quite a bit. The pitfalls of working with a studio as opposed to finding independent financing is like night and day when it comes to the movie you want to create. At least we still have Beasts Of No Nation in October.
(Via Entertainment Weekly / The AV Club)
