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[DerekOfTheDykes]

Thank you, someone else who gets it.

Plus as I already said back when the thread was made other than Curry the miniseries wasn't all that good and (granted it's because of budget and network standards) not a very accurate adaption.

People need to realize it's not a remake but a new adaption of the same source material.

Yeah, there's basically a 0% chance anybody was going to be able to do Tim Curry nearly as well as Tim Curry, so judging this as "not Tim Curry" is basically saying that nobody is ever allowed to remake a pretty crappy made-for-TV miniseries. Don't get me wrong, Skarsgard could absolutely blow it for one reason or another. But so far, what I've seen from this movie is a desire to make something far more true to the book, and a lot of the updates from the director show a genuine familiarity with the source material. So I'm going to withhold judgment until we get trailers at the least.

To me, the costume is the giveaway. The description of the outfit as silvery with orange pomfs is a small detail from the book that is often repeated through many of Its forms, like the tongue on the bird. It pops up multiple times in the book, but probably wouldn't be mentioned in any synopsis or Wiki page. It just goes to show how few people read the book, or if they did how heavily the book was overwritten by the crap miniseries.

I don't see why anyone would say people thinking It is good is a joke, other than trying to sound edgy. The miniseries is good if only for Tim Curry's performance, and many people think the book is great on its own. It's a fucking tome, and there's one small part of it with questionable content (which is still weird, but less weird in context) that everyone cites as a reason for why the whole book is bad. It's fine to not like the book, but to only cite the preteen sex in the sewers just makes it seem like you heard about it second hand or read something off of wikipedia.

The book is a little inconsistent in quality, but when it's on point It is ON FUCKING POINT. I still remember the passage about the father talking about beating his son to death with a hammer, and how he didn't mean to KILL him, just make him shut up. "Did he stop crying?" "... Eventually." The book was chilling, not because of the movie monsters It transformed into, but because of how deeply it touched on the scummy side of human nature and how easy it is for evils to go ignored in rural areas.

 

[kavanf1]

I am happy for them to base everything on the book. I'm not so happy that the clown as I've seen it so far looks like something from a tryhard metal music video.

The house looks great though.

 

[Vault Dweller 111]

First photo of "The Loser's Club" from the new film:

Looks better than the Pennywise reveal IMO at least. Still not very optimistic.

So besides Bev, Ben, and Mike, who is who?

 

[Jarmel]

Are there more pics of Pennywise other than that shot with him in the fields?

 

[Matty77]

Yeah, there's basically a 0% chance anybody was going to be able to do Tim Curry nearly as well as Tim Curry, so judging this as "not Tim Curry" is basically saying that nobody is ever allowed to remake a pretty crappy made-for-TV miniseries. Don't get me wrong, Skarsgard could absolutely blow it for one reason or another. But so far, what I've seen from this movie is a desire to make something far more true to the book, and a lot of the updates from the director show a genuine familiarity with the source material. So I'm going to withhold judgment until we get trailers at the least.

To me, the costume is the giveaway. The description of the outfit as silvery with orange pomfs is a small detail from the book that is often repeated through many of Its forms, like the tongue on the bird. It pops up multiple times in the book, but probably wouldn't be mentioned in any synopsis or Wiki page. It just goes to show how few people read the book, or if they did how heavily the book was overwritten by the crap miniseries.



The book is a little inconsistent in quality, but when it's on point It is ON FUCKING POINT. I still remember the passage about the father talking about beating his son to death with a hammer, and how he didn't mean to KILL him, just make him shut up. "Did he stop crying?" "... Eventually." The book was chilling, not because of the movie monsters It transformed into, but because of how deeply it touched on the scummy side of human nature and how easy it is for evils to go ignored in rural areas.

Yeah I am not saying it will be good, I will reserve judgement until I have seen it, I'm just sick of people pre-judging it based on a previous adaption that was not only flawed, but also as good as Curry was (and I maintain it was a award winning performance that saved the whole miniseries) it was not a book accurate miniseries.

All these people talking about penny wise needing to be innocent looking to lure children are obviously not familiar with the book because pennywise was ITs public persona and other than George and bill was mostly seen in pictures of all the disasters and evil egging on and leading the mob. But you obviously know that.

 

[Spoo]

I'm actually reading through the book right now (it's slow-going, as it's a very large book) and it's really excellent so far.

The miniseries was one of the first things I remember watching as a kid that really scared me -- probably because it was about kids dying, and I was a kid. Alien was another thing that terrified me about equally. Now that I'm older, I still love the miniseries, but don't find it scary of course; I mostly like it for the same reasons everyone else does: that Tim Curry is a beast.

And that's just it. Reading the book now, and I see there's a much larger story at play, with many interesting characters -- not just Pennywise -- and I'm starting to see the potential of a movie (or two movies, rather) where the focal point isn't Pennywise, per se, but is more in line with the book. The miniseries was always in the service of Curry's Pennywise, and not always in the service of the story. In fact, it's kind of a "Best Of" of Pennywise's moments in the story, and there's a good argument to be made that they didn't really choose all the best stuff. So, Curry kind of elevates the miniseries, and without him you'd have trouble selling it, I think.

So a movie, refocused, is a good idea.

Recently, the original script leaked -- the one by Cary Fukunaga (sp?) -- and the reaction to it has been mixed. A lot of changes, and some weird choices, though not particularly bad (I haven't read it -- only seen some overviews). I imagine that it was a good starting point, but I imagine rewrites are helping them out and keeping things more in line with the book. The talent attached to the latest version seems to understand the story, characters, and even Pennywise.

But you also have to remember, the character of Pennywise is not conveyed particularly well through stills. He is an animated presence, so you need the voice, the mannerisms, the sound, the lighting -- you need a lot to help support it. We all know Curry's performance so well that in a still frame we can immediately recall it, but without prior knowledge it might look or seem as unconvincing as what we are seeing.

I don't know if they made the right choice yet for their Pennywise, but I think it's an interesting one, so I'm not going to cast any premature judgement there. The character of It needs to be nailed, yes, but so too does the children, and the adult roles, when they get there. The town of Derry itself needs to be nailed. A lot needs to come together for it all to work, and starting with the book as a guidepost is going to help a lot.

I'm optimistic for this. Mama was competently directed -- and only hurt by an over-reliance on CG. The source material here is solid. The talent involved overall doesn't paint this as a "mess" yet, and starting with a foundation laid by Cary isn't a bad thing; True Detective was astounding, and as far as I know he hasn't made a bad thing yet. Hoping Bill manages a killer Pennywise, even if the stills released so far put him at a disadvantage.

Also, just dropped:

 

[EVIL]

I remember when Heath Ledger was cast as the joker and people flipped their shit about it. Then he gave one of the best modern joker performances ever.

I am optimistic

 

[digitalrelic]

I remember when Heath Ledger was cast as the joker and people flipped their shit about it. Then he gave one of the best modern joker performances ever.

I am optimistic

For every Heath Ledger there's a hundred Jared Leto's.


Looks shit.

 

[DontBeThatGuy]

Still hoping for the best.

 

[oneida]

never saw the first film, just downloaded the 44 hour audiobook. wish me luck!

 

[Hero_of_the_Day]

I want to see him not making that super villain face. I fucking hate "scary" clown designs. There is something naturally off and creepy about a clown. You don't need to design a lame creepy clown. You design a clown and have him do creepy things, like murder children.

 

[DerekOfTheDykes]

Also, just dropped:

I actually really like this shot. The facial expression can change a lot, and Skarsgard's more subdued expression makes Pennywise look much less obviously evil. Or rather, less monstrous and more in line with what you would want out of Pennywise.

It's really all down to Skarsgard's performance. This still really makes me feel like the face makeup isn't really that flawed, we've maybe just seen Skarsgard making the same overly-animated evil expression in every pic we've seen of him.

 

[RipperGrim]

They're trying too hard. The genius of the original Pennywise was how plain and ordinary he looked. He could be any clown at any kids birthday party.

That's why it was scary as fuck.

Didn't find it scary at all because of this.

 

[Kyleripman]

I still remember the passage about the father talking about beating his son to death with a hammer, and how he didn't mean to KILL him, just make him shut up. "Did he stop crying?" "... Eventually."

Chilling is exactly the right word. That whole chapter about Eddie Corcoran is so creepy and good.

The book is fucking perfect at showing the worst side of humanity (and showing good in the face of that evil).

 

[DeviantBoi]

I remember when Heath Ledger was cast as the joker and people flipped their shit about it. Then he gave one of the best modern joker performances ever.

I am optimistic

True, but the second I saw a picture of Heath in the Joker makeup, I was sold.

The same can't be said with this version of Pennywise.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

First photo of "The Loser's Club" from the new film:

Looks better than the Pennywise reveal IMO at least. Still not very optimistic.

I just realized that's the kid from Stranger Things!

 

[LFMartins86]

So apparently Stephen King saw the first part of the remake and liked it.

 

[Yaboosh]

So apparently Stephen King saw the first part of the remake and liked it.

That's terrible news.

He still thinks Kubricks Shining is terrible.

 

[LFMartins86]

That's terrible news.

He still thinks Kubricks Shining is terrible.

And he likes that terrible mini series.

 

[Poppy]

does stephen king still think all the child sex was a good story inclusion or nah

 

[Ross61]

That's terrible news.

He still thinks Kubricks Shining is terrible.

Holy overreaction Batman!

 

[Gentleman Jack]

does stephen king still think all the child sex was a good story inclusion or nah

It's best not to ask King to remember anything through the haze of all the coke he was doing.

 

[zeemumu]

does stephen king still think all the child sex was a good story inclusion or nah

I read somewhere that he regretted putting that into the book.

Stephen King seems to like being campy as hell considering some of the adaptations of his stuff that he had a major hand in (like his short stories in Creepshow and Maximum Overdrive) so I'm going to interpret the news of him liking it as meaning that it's similar to the Tim Curry one, which can be good or bad depending on how you look at it because that one's kinda boring except for Tim.

 

[oatmeal]

does stephen king still think all the child sex was a good story inclusion or nah

As fucked up as it is; I totally get it for the story he's telling.

 

[Eppy Thatcher]

Such a hard act to follow in Curry. His gigantic, expressionist mouth ... big ol eyes and stage presence like movement all come together to emphasize this amazing voice that can whisper or boom or crack and scrape along your ear drum depending on what exactly he wants you to feel.

Tim could make ANY fucking thing scary if he wanted to. We all give so much credit to pennywise in the mini-series precisely because Curry made it magic.

I don't really know how you sidestep that shadow when portraying this character again for modern times. I think you either have to lean into it or just completely ignore it (which is what it looks like they are doing.) Aiming for that crowd that is more familiar with the book than the movie is probably the smart choice especially with the Dark Tower movie in development and such. Hopefully some people come fresh to the book and are interested in a more faithful adaption.

Either way - it should surprise absolutely no one that they aren't trying to one up Tim Fucking Curry. If the first pics had come out and it was just the original suit and makeup with a different dude I would be hanging up the clown shoes right now.
As it stands they might achieve something different than the original show. Whether that new and different thing is better or worse I gotta wait till i see at least some of this in motion before I decide cause even with this being more faithful it looks..... super rough.

 

[Kyleripman]

Aiming for that crowd that is more familiar with the book than the movie is probably the smart choice especially with the Dark Tower movie in development and such. Hopefully some people come fresh to the book and are interested in a more faithful adaption.

This is exactly what I want out of it.

New pic from the other day:

 

[Tremis]

This is exactly what I want out of it.

New pic from the other day:

That pic doesn't instill much confidence in the project for me.

 

[Snaku]

This is exactly what I want out of it.

New pic from the other day:

Georgie is a complete fucking idiot, and so is Pennywise for that matter. In what way is that disguise supposed to lure children in?

 

[HStallion]

This is exactly what I want out of it.

New pic from the other day:

I still think this pic shows they're missing the point. Pennywise wasn't trying to be scary while luring Georgie to stick his arm into the sewer drain as that would have resulted in the opposite happening and Georgie running the fuck away. He was trying to trick him by looking like a playful clown, one who offered him a good time, balloons, and tempted him in a way he knew a child would be willing to accept. He wasn't trying to look like some creepy killer clown hiding in the darkness so the audience can know he's scary and bad.

 

[Anung]

This is exactly what I want out of it.

New pic from the other day:

Why would a kid trust a clown that looks like Satan? Who in their right mind would even talk to this thing? Total garbage design.

 

[benzy]

New Pennywise looks so uninspired. Creep factor is zero in comparison to the original.

 

[Last_colossi]

Holy shit, I never realised that was Tim Curry!, that's some damn good makeup and acting.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

This is exactly what I want out of it.

New pic from the other day:

Looks like a kid in makeup playing hide and seek.

 

[dan2026]

This is exactly what I want out of it.

New pic from the other day:

As long as he tears that stupid kids arm off I'm not bothered.

Seriously who sees a creepy clown in a drain and doesn't run full pelt to the next continent?

 

[Anton Sugar]

I'm optimistic from the SXSW footage impressions. Anyone know if that's going to be available soon? Can't remember if it was a trailer or just a mash up.

 

[Spoo]

I'm optimistic from the SXSW footage impressions. Anyone know if that's going to be available soon? Can't remember if it was a trailer or just a mash up.

I believe there's a trailer for this hitting in just a few days. The director put up a countdown I think -- or posted a picture of a 6 and some people figured out that was a hint for a release.

 

[Kyleripman]

Eh for all we know that shot is at the moment when he turns scary; he may still be a cheery clown up to that point to lure Georgie.

I feel pretty optimistic from what I've seen of the sets and the director's instagram but of course time will tell.

 

[BlueTsunami]

This is exactly what I want out of it.

New pic from the other day:

That photo makes it look like Pennywise belongs in that sewer versus the original where he looks out of place. Points towards the team producing this not getting why the original Pennywise was so good. This modern take may as well be Jason or Freddy Krueger it makes no difference design wise.

 

[Yaboosh]

Why would a kid trust a clown that looks like Satan? Who in their right mind would even talk to this thing? Total garbage design.

Why would a kid trust a clown in a storm drain?

 

[Beefy]

Not feeling the new look.

 

[Paracelsus]

In that shot the new guy looks like an edgelord. Go watch the very first kill from the original

He already was disturbing without doing anything at all, he was kinda scary when he was actually trying to be funny, but that face is abominable, he looks like "I'm gonna tear you to shreds" with such a hateful glare you would never assume he's going to kill a little girl, he looks like the girl is his mortal enemy. Should've forced Curry to just do it again.

 

[WormBoi]

He looks like Shaco from LoL.

Pretty cool design by itself but wrong for IT. He's supposed to look like a happy clown so he can easily fool his prey.

 

[Jarmel]

Why would a kid trust a clown in a storm drain?

You don't?

 

[DiipuSurotu]

Why would a kid trust a clown in a storm drain?

Maybe the kid watched too much TMNT

 

[Dynomutt]

Why would a kid trust a clown?

Why would you at all?

 

[Herne]

Cynicism is easy. I'm trying to keep an open mind.

 

[Vincent Alexander]

Why would a kid trust a clown in a storm drain?

Because there's a whole circus down there! With cotton candy and popcorn you can smell.
And balloons that float. I'd be sold.

 

[SuperStiltzkin]

I still think this pic shows they're missing the point. Pennywise wasn't trying to be scary while luring Georgie to stick his arm into the sewer drain as that would have resulted in the opposite happening and Georgie running the fuck away. He was trying to trick him by looking like a playful clown, one who offered him a good time, balloons, and tempted him in a way he knew a child would be willing to accept. He wasn't trying to look like some creepy killer clown hiding in the darkness so the audience can know he's scary and bad.

Yeah, the creep factor is already there because a fucking clown is in a sewer drain. You don't need to creep it up anymore by making him look all sinister.

 

[HStallion]

Why would you at all?

Because they all float down here!

 

[BlueTsunami]

In this reimagining, they all float down there would turn into

THEY ALL DIE DOWN THERE CAUSE I KILL THEM