Many fans doubted that Stephen King’s 1,000-page tome IT would be suited to a big screen adaptation. While a lot of people enjoyed the 1990 miniseries, it wasn’t what critics would call a quality adaptation, and most of those who loved it did so because of the nostalgia it brought. Given the overall length of the story, it never seemed suited to a theatrical adaptation, and you could say that the filmmakers and writers involved in IT: Chapter 1 agreed, as they opted to split the narrative in half, with the first half covering the Losers Club as kids and the second half covering them as adults.

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Against all odds, this first chapter managed to be a surprise hit for both audiences and critics. But what can we expect from that second film in terms of the overall approach it’s taking? Speaking with /Film, screenwriter Gary Dauberman, who co-wrote the first film and the impending sequel, gave us a taste of what to expect:

“Like I said with the first one, it’s really this embarrassment of riches. It was trying to do your best job of taking what Stephen King wrote so beautifully all those years ago and try to translate it to the script page. For me it was just really fun to be able to revisit these characters and see what they’re up to 27 years later. There was a challenge trying to get all those character introductions and ‘here’s where we are so far’ which is fun to tackle. How can we find an elegant solution to introduce this many characters again to the audience? In the first one, they’re all together in school so you see them in a bunch but 27 years later, I don’t think it’s a spoiler they’re sort of scattered all over the country. So we see pieces of who they’ve become which I think is really exciting. Then of course it was great to see them return to Derry. The Jade of the Orient is such a defining and iconic scene in the book. That was something I remember as a thing I was writing towards. It was like, ‘Okay, coming up is Jade of the Orient. That’s going to be super cool.’ It was a nice signpost to write towards which I dug.”

For those who don’t know, The Jade of the Orient scene is where the Losers Club finally reunites in the original story, so you can understand why it was a big deal finally getting to that point. My own concerns about the second part is how it will thematically hold up.

The original story bobbed in and out between decades, allowing each moment in the ’50s have a thematic link to the ’80s counterpart. This film will sadly be lacking in that department, so it will have to stand on its own as a narrative.

Are you any more excited for IT: Chapter 2? Let us know down below!

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SOURCE: /Film