Yes, it’s frequently been claimed that we currently live in the Golden Age of Superheroes, as well as the Golden Age of TV, but when you stop to think about it, we also live in an approaching Golden Age of Stephen King, and a Golden Age of ’80s Entertainment. Okay, maybe that’s going overboard a bit, but for those kids who grew up watching horror and reading Stephen King novels, they’re finally getting a whole lot of love. 

Currently, the remake of THE STAND appears to be on ice, but THE DARK TOWER is in production along with an adaptation of the 1986 novel, IT. Like with practically every production based on a Stephen King novel, there’s been a whole lot of stop-and-go with IT. Not so long ago, the film was considered to be dead, and director Cary Fukunaga, who was set to helm the film, dropped out. Not too long after, a new director was named, the project was propelled forward, and a new image of Pennywise was released to the public (pictured at the top of this article).

Apart from that, there have been few details regarding the remake. It’s not even clear if they’re going with the original plan, which was to divide the film into two parts — one part would follow the leads as kids, and the second part would follow them as adults.

At the recent TCA press tour, Collider had a chance to throw some questions at the film’s producer, asking what we can expect from this remake. Here’s what Lin had to say:

“I think a great analogy is actually STRANGER THINGS, and we’re seeing it on Netflix right now. It’s very much an homage to ’80s movies, whether it’s classic Stephen King or even Spielberg . Think about STAND BY ME as far as the bonding amongst the kids. But there is a really scary element in Pennywise.”

The similarities don’t end with the style, either. Finn Wolfhard, who plays Mike in STRANGER THINGS, was also cast in IT in the role of Richard Tozier, a smart aleck kid who likes to do imitations of characters and celebrities, and who ultimately grows up to be a host of his own radio show. Wolfhard was a terrific find for STRANGER THINGS, and his being in IT certainly seems to imply that the casting director knew what they were doing when they hired their young talent.

Lin continued:

“You catching me at a really interesting time because we’ve been shooting mostly the kids’ work and now Pennywise is starting. We clearly had a great dynamic amongst the kids. Really great chemistry is always a challenging thing with a movie like It because you’re casting kids who don’t have a ton of experience, but it ended up being really natural. Each kid, like a GOONIES or STAND BY ME, has a very specific personality and they’re forming the Loser’s Club, obviously. And now finally the evil force is coming into our movie. We’ve spent a few months getting the kids to bond and now they’re going to fight this evil, scary clown.”

Lastly, we can’t go much further talking about IT without actually mentioning Pennywise. This is the very same clown that’s lived in the nightmares of children across the country ever since the original mini-series aired in the ’90s. What will this iteration of Pennywise be like?

“His build is really interesting. he’s really tall and lanky, and feels a little clown like in his movement. When he came in — we had a lot of different actors read, and when he came in he had a different spin on the character that got us really excited. You’ve had Heath Ledger doing almost a clown joker, you’ve seen obviously Tim Curry as a clown. We wanted someone who created a Pennywise character that would stand on its own and Bill [SkarsgÃ¥rd] came in and created this character that frankly freaked us out.”

SkarsgÃ¥rd will certainly have a lot to live up to, as Tim Curry’s interpretation is nothing short of iconic at this point (even if it does come across as slightly campy by today’s standards). 

What do you think of Lin’s comments? Let us know your thoughts down below!

IT hits theaters on September 8, 2017!

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SOURCE: Collider