With the first half of Stephen King’s ‘It‘ taking place in the past, it should come as no surprise that the show’s producers would want to compare it to Netflix’s ‘Stranger Things‘. Internet buzz is pretty clearly positive for this 80s horror series so with a movie that is about to follow a group of kids in the past going up against a dangerous evil, the comparisons are almost clear cut. I’m just happy to hear that the plan seems to have the same kind of feeling in mind that ‘Stranger Things’ gave us as honestly, it is one of the best things that I’ve seen on television in years.
At the TCA presentation for The CW, most of the questions were about upcoming shows on the network but when ‘Frequency’ was being talked about, producer Dan Lin was also asked about ‘It’ and what their tone for the movie would be like:
“I think a great analogy is actually Stranger Things, and we’re seeing it on Netflix right now. It’s very much an homage to ’80s movies, whether it’s classic Stephen King or even Spielberg . Think about Stand by Me as far as the bonding amongst the kids. But there is a really scary element in Pennywise.”
Not only is he comparing it to the series but believes that his cast has the same elements that made the younger cast from ‘Stranger Things’ really steal the show:
“You catching me at a really interesting time because we’ve been shooting mostly the kids’ work and now Pennywise is starting. We clearly had a great dynamic amongst the kids. Really great chemistry is always a challenging thing with a movie like “It” because you’re casting kids who don’t have a ton of experience, but it ended up being really natural. Each kid, like a “Goonies” or “Stand By Me,” has a very specific personality and they’re forming the loser’s club obviously. And now finally the evil force is coming into our movie. We’ve spent a few months getting the kids to bond and now they’re going to fight this evil, scary clown.”
I’ve already stated that I’m not against a reboot of ‘It’ as I am for many other horror films, but much of King’s work really wasn’t done justice in the past. In retrospect, if it wasn’t for Tim Curry’s iconic performance, the original would have felt like a dud so these actors have a chance to really shine here.
Of course, what about Bill Skarsgard following such an amazing performance?
“His build is really interesting. he’s really tall and lanky, and feels a little clown like in his movement. When he came in — we had a lot of different actors read, and when he came in he had a different spin on the character that got us really excited. You’ve had Heath Ledger doing almost a clown joker, you’ve seen obviously Tim Curry as a clown. We wanted someone who created a Pennywise character that would stand on its own and Bill came in and created this character that frankly freaked us out.”
While it will be hard to see them top Curry’s performance I’m glad that they have Skarsgard taking an original approach to the character. I just hope it works.
Are you looking forward to the reboot of ‘It’ or are you as sick of reboots as I usually am? What are your thoughts on the producer comparing the younger actors to those on ‘Stranger Things’? Share your thoughts below!
Pennywise will be haunting theaters in Stephen King’s ‘It’ Part 1 on September 8th, 2017!
Source: Collider
Stuart Conover is an author, blogger, and all around geek. When not busy being a father and husband he tries to spend as much time as possible immersed in comic books, science fiction, and horror! Would you like to know more? Follow him on Twitter!
