One of the many problems with the beloved 1990 adaptation of Stephen King’s It is that it was made-for-television, which served to rob the source material of much of its terror. I’m personally of the mind that the mini-series adaptation left much to be desired, and the good news with Andy Muschietti’s upcoming feature adaptation is that it’s not going to be pulling any punches.
Speaking with Collider, producer Dan Lin just promised an R-rating:
It is a rated-R movie. If you’re going to make a “Rated-R movie”, you have to fully embrace what it is, and you have to embrace the source material. It is a scary clown that’s trying to kill kids. So of course that’s going to be a rated-R movie. The kids are amazing. You very much get a Stand by Me vibe as far as their camaraderie and the way they joke with each other and that they really care for each other. They do have a scary clown that’s taken over the town of Derry, so it’s going to be rated R.
The current plan is to turn the novel into two separate films.
In theaters September 8, 2017, the first film is set “in a small town in Maine, where seven children known as The Losers’ Club come face to face with life problems, bullies, and a monster that takes the shape of a clown called Pennywise.“
Bill Skarsgard stars as Pennywise, the sewer-dwelling monster.
Jaeden Lieberher, Finn Wolfhard, Nicholas Hamilton, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs, and Jeremy Ray Taylor are the modern Losers’ Club.
Creature performer Javier Botet will play The Leper, and Owen Teague plays Patrick Hocksetter, a bully who torment the Losers’ Club.
Dan Lin, Roy Lee, Seth Grahame-Smith, David Katzenberg, and Barbara Muschietti produce.
