{"id":116098,"date":"2017-09-05T03:54:35","date_gmt":"2017-09-05T07:54:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=116098"},"modified":"2017-09-05T03:54:35","modified_gmt":"2017-09-05T07:54:35","slug":"stephen-king-inspired-it-filmmakers-to-become-storytellers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/09\/05\/stephen-king-inspired-it-filmmakers-to-become-storytellers\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen King inspired ‘It’ filmmakers to become storytellers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"FILE:<\/a>
FILE: Stephen King (Photo: Stephen King\/Facebook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. \u2014 In 1989, when Stephen King had already published more than 20 books, three teenagers were discovering his horror novel \u201cIt,\u201d a 1,100-page epic about a group of adolescent outcasts and a shapeshifting villain who most often manifests as a child-eating clown.<\/p>\n

Those teenage readers grew up to become filmmakers, and they joined forces to make \u201cIt\u201d into a movie, opening Friday. Director Andy Muschietti, screenwriter Gary Dauberman and producer Seth Grahame-Smith say King’s work shaped the storytellers they are today, and his approval of their adaptation is critical if they’re to consider the film a success.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s no way I would be a writer or a novelist without Stephen King,\u201d said Grahame-Smith, author of \u201cPride and Prejudice and Zombies\u201d and \u201cAbraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,\u201d both of which were adapted for the screen. \u201cThe last thing we would ever want is to be part of a lesser Stephen King movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s definitely on my Rushmore of horror writers,\u201d Dauberman said, also mentioning Edgar Allan Poe, Christopher Pike and R.L. Stine.<\/p>\n

If King dislikes the film, \u201cit’s like disappointing a family member in a way,\u201d said the screenwriter, who counts the horror hit \u201cAnnabelle: Creation\u201d among his credits. \u201cAnd my wife’s from Maine (like King), so I’m like, ‘Am I going to be able to go back and visit?’ He’s just everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Muschietti said King is one of the greatest creative influences in his life. \u201cI’m wired with his way of telling stories,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But with \u201cIt,\u201d the filmmakers immediately made two major changes to the original novel: they chopped it in half and shifted its setting by 30 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just became evident that you can’t take an 1,100-plus page book and condense it down into one movie,\u201d Grahame-Smith said.<\/p>\n

The novel centres on seven characters in Derry, Maine, during two periods in their lives: as kids in the late 1950s, and as adults in the mid-’80s. The film, though, focuses only on their childhood, when they first meet Pennywise the Dancing Clown. And it’s set around the time the filmmakers first discovered the book.<\/p>\n

Today’s moviegoers may be more nostalgic for the 1980s than the 1950s, Grahame-Smith said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey remember growing up and being teenagers in the 1980s, so it just made sense to push it forward,\u201d he said. \u201cSo that ultimately when we do hopefully get to tell the second part of the story, it’ll be present day.\u201d<\/p>\n

This film is about how a group of kids who call themselves \u201cThe Losers’ Club\u201d band together when they discover a mysterious and evil force is responsible for the frequent disappearance of children in their small town. One boy in the club lost his beloved little brother to it. Others have had personal encounters with the creepy being. They decide that their only chance of beating it is to stick together.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u201d stars a fine bunch of child actors, including Jaeden Lieberher (\u201cThe Book of Henry\u201d) and Finn Wolfhard (\u201cStranger Things\u201d), with Bill Skarsgard as the terrifying Pennywise.<\/p>\n

King said in an interview last week that the book is among his favourites, \u201cin kind of a problematic way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a point in my career where people were calling me Horrormeister and, you know, the scary guy. And I thought well, fine. OK. We’ll do a final exam and I will say everything there is to say that I know about monsters and fear and how childhood is the perfect growth medium for terrifying things _ everything from Hansel and Gretel to the Werewolf of London _ and I’ll put it all in one book and that will be it, that will be done and I can move on and do whatever other things that I’ve got to do,\u201d King said by phone from his home in Maine. \u201cAnd so for this to come back at this time is kind of a remarkable thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

King would go on to write many other horror stories, including \u201cMisery\u201d and \u201cThe Tommyknockers,\u201d both of which were adapted for the screen.<\/p>\n

He said he has no problem with the 1980s setting for \u201cIt\u201d because \u201cthere’s the same feeling of nostalgia for people who are grown-ups who say, ‘Well, I remember that era.\u201d’ And he thinks it was a \u201cno-brainer\u201d to split the book in two and focus just on the protagonists as kids.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was a terrific idea,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I’m hoping that the movie will be a success and they’ll do the grown-ups, and then they can do a DVD package where everything’s together!\u201d<\/p>\n

Summing up his thoughts on the film, King said, \u201cI liked it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was when I exhaled,\u201d Dauberman said. \u201cI want everyone to enjoy it, but his opinion was the one that mattered to me most.\u201d<\/p>\n

The same goes for the director and producers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn some ways, the best day of this whole experience was when we screened the movie for him and he loved it,\u201d Grahame-Smith said. \u201cAfter that, it was a huge sigh of relief because whatever else happened, we pleased the man himself.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. \u2014 In 1989, when Stephen King had already published more than 20 books, three teenagers were discovering …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":109930,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[22932],"class_list":["post-116098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","tag-stephen-king","mauthors-sandy-cohen","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}