By Travis Johnson
We’re staring down the barrel of a tonne of of big screen Stephen King adaptations, and they’re all heavy hitters in the King canon. No Sometimes They Come Back or The Night Flier to be found here – no sir! The Dark Tower. The Stand. And, of course, It, King’s 1985 doorstopper about childhood and death that remains one of his most highly regarded works.
While some changes have been made to the source material – the original was set in the late ’50s and the mid ’80s, while the film will bring it forward to the ’80s and the current day, over on Instagram director Andy Muschietti (who subbed in for Cary Fukunaga after the usual “creative differences”, has been dropping a steady stream of intriguing pics that will light up the memory receptors of dedicated King fans.
And here they are:
http://www.instagram.com/p/BJD2hAAjHTu/?taken-by=andy_muschietti
http://www.instagram.com/p/BJCA1gVjzdq/?taken-by=andy_muschietti
http://www.instagram.com/p/BIfhpUBj48_/?taken-by=andy_muschietti
http://www.instagram.com/p/BIfRMAEDqBa/?taken-by=andy_muschietti
http://www.instagram.com/p/BIfQZqqjUB5/?taken-by=andy_muschietti
http://www.instagram.com/p/BINkc26Dwn5/?taken-by=andy_muschietti
http://www.instagram.com/p/BHvnN_lBxA3/?taken-by=andy_muschietti
https://www.instagram.com/p/BHgHcMGhDB0/?taken-by=andy_muschietti
So, what can we glean from this? Well, for one thing, the attention to detail is impressive: that gate with the “29” on it has to be 29 Neibolt Street, while the street names below are true to the book, and poor miss Ripsom is a canonical victim of the monster. We’re getting Stuttering Bill Denbrough, of course, and he’s coming correct with his bike, Silver, his anti-stuttering mnemonic, and his poor dead brother. And that doll’s head in the last shot has to be floating in the Barrens, right?
What really jumps out, though, is the Missing poster for Ritchie Tozier who, in the novel and the TV miniseries adaptation, never went missing – he’s one of the Losers Club, the kids who come together to fight It. Possibly it’s a promotional thing, and we’ll be getting Missing posters of all the Losers? Maybe this one is first off the rank because Ritchie – young Ritchie in any case – is being played by Finn Wolfhard, currently one of the most popular kids on the planet due to his turn as Mike in Stranger Things.
It’s all pretty exciting stuff! Everyone was bummed out when Fukunaga jumped ship, but everything coming out of the current It camp indicates this is going to be a hell of an adaptation.
It is due out in September 2017.
