'True Detective' Director Explains Why He Left Big-Screen Version of 'It'
Cary Fukunaga has confirmed that he left New Line Cinema’s two-part remake of Stephen King’s It over his artistic vision for the horror film, in which he cast rising star Will Poulter as Pennywise the Clown.
As TheWrap’s Jeff Sneider exclusively reported in May, the Season 1 True Detective director repeatedly clashed with the studio and did not want to compromise his artistic vision amid budget cuts after New Line initially greenlit the first film at $30 million. The situation came to a head over Memorial Day weekend, prompting Fukunaga’s abrupt exit from the ambitious project.
Fukunaga opened up about the career decision while speaking to Entertainment Weekly about his next film, Netflix’s Beasts of No Nation.
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“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 said. “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.”
However Fukunaga said the decision wasn’t “easy,” since he worked so hard on the screenplay with writer Chase Palmer.
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“Chase and I had been working on that script for probably three years,” Fukunaga explained. “There was a lot of our childhood and our experience in it.”
Fans of the King novel, which was adapted as a TV miniseries in 1990, can still look forward to seeing a big-screen version of the horror story about a shapeshifting demon who terrorizes a group of kids living in Derry, Maine.
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Since Fukunaga’s departure, Mama director Andy Muschietti has been brought in to bring It to back to life with a new writer to tailor the project to his vision.
Beasts of No Nation, starring Idris Elba, will start streaming on Netflix the same day it is released in theaters on Oct. 16.
