Director Andy Muschietti says his idea of the older version of Mike Hanlon is darker from that of Stephen King's book.
- Sep 12, 2017
AceShowbiz - It has been known that the newly released "It" which has become a box office hit would be the first part of adaptation of Stephen King's novel. It's affirmed by the end credits which feature the title "It" with the phrase "Chapter One" written underneath.
Speaking to EW, producer Barbara Muschietti says the sequel has not had the official greenlight from New Line Cinema and Warner Bros., but the writing and development of the second film have begun. Director Andy Muschietti has even shared his idea for "Chapter Two", which will be set in the present day and feature the Losers Club as grown-ups.
The helmer says the kids will appear in the second movie as memories of the adult versions. "The hope is we'll find the best way soon, because it's also important for Andy to get flashbacks with the kids, who are growing very fast," his sister and producing partner Barbara says. "They are an important component in the next film."
Andy adds that the kid elements in the next movie won't just be brief throwbacks, but "they're a very big part of the action."
He says of the timelines, "On the second movie, that dialogue between timelines will be more present. If we're telling the story of adults, we are going to have flashbacks that take us back to the '80s and inform the story in the present day."
There have been talks about who should play the adult versions of the kids, but no one has been cast just yet. Insiders say that they may go for unknown actors would be better if adult doppelgangers for the Losers are hard to find.
As fans of the book have known, the Losers, bound by their blood-oath, return to Derry when Pennywise resurrects 27 years later. But one of them won't make it [SPOILER ALERT!] as Stan Uris (Wyatt Oleff) dies by suicide when he's informed about Pennywise's return.
"There is something in the future for him, taking his own life, that finds its seed in this film," Andy explains why Stan chooses to die than to face the evil clown again. "He is the one who doesn't want to accept what's going on. And being the one who didn't want to participate he gets the worst part."
His encounter with It that came in the form of the creepy woman from the painting in his father's study leaves him with traumatic stress. "The thing about Stan is he doesn't bend," Barbara says. "He breaks."
As for Mike Hanlon (Chosen Jacobs) who decided to stay behind and serve as a watchman, he will pay the price for his devotion. Mike will spend his time studying Pennywise and that will weaken him mentally and physically by the time of the reunion.
"My idea of Mike in the second movie is quite darker from the book," Andy shares. "I want to make his character the one pivotal character who brings them all together, but staying in Derry took a toll with him. I want him to be a junkie actually. A librarian junkie. When the second movie starts, he's a wreck."
He continues, "He's not just the collector of knowledge of what Pennywise has been doing in Derry. He will bear the role of trying to figure out how to defeat him. The only way he can do that is to take drugs and alter his mind."
One of the things that Mike will have learned in those years is the Ritual of Chud, which involves a duel of imagination between the shapeshifting trickster and the Losers who want to end It once and for all.
The Muschiettis additionally confirm the return of Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise. "We've got Pennywise and it's Bill Skarsgard," Andy says.
