Stephen King’s IT: Freddy Krueger almost part of the cinematic carnage
By Joey Click
With Stephen King’s ‘IT’ destroying the box office, everyone is talking about the town of Derry. But did you know the dreamy Freddy Krueger almost showed up?
Stephen King’s A Nightmare on Elm Street…..IT does have a nice ring to it.
In a recent interview with Ain’t IT Cool News, director Andy Muschietti began talking the ins and outs of the #1 movie in America. While discussing everything Derry, the conversation eventually steers towards another maniac at New Line — Freddy Krueger. And you’ll be shocked to find out, the dream demon was almost in the movie.
Here’s what Muschietti is saying about a possible nightmare in Derry:
"“Obviously we considered that for a bit, but I wasn’t too interested in bringing Freddy Krueger into the mix,” Muschietti told the site. “I love the story and I love how Stephen King basically makes a portrait of childhood in the ’50s. He’s very genuine when he brings all the Universal Monsters to the repertoire of incarnation because that’s what kids were afraid of. It would be a natural path to try to recreate that in the ’80s, but I really wasn’t too crazy about bringing stuff like Freddy Krueger into the story. I thought it was a bit too meta with New Line involved in the film. It’s distracting and it didn’t feel right, for some reason.”"
The filmmaker, who just shot to the director A-list, goes on to say:
"“I wanted to bring fears that were a little more layered and related to childhood trauma and more surprising in general. I think that Stephen King was open to that. When he saw the film I basically wrote a letter to him asking him for forgiveness for having taken so many licenses, especially with the many different incarnations of Pennywise. He said ‘Don’t worry about it. All the changes are great!’”"
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- Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare — A nuanced take on abuse?!
- Robert Englund: Stay awake with his special Nightmare Blend coffee
Just…I can’t process this right now. Am I dreaming?
While I trust the filmmaker’s decision not to bring the New Line baddie into the fold, the thought is beyond exciting. With the picture set in the ’80s, it makes sense to have Freddy a part of Pennywise’s bag of tricks. But then, like Muschietti points out, it may be distracting as New Line is still the house that Freddy built.
But hey, we can dream can’t we?
Next: IT Factor: Five things to expect when you see Pennywise play
IT stars Bill Skarsgård, Jaeden Lieberher and Finn Wolfhard. Andy Muschietti directs a script by Chase Palmer and Cary Fukunaga. KatzSmith Productions, Lin Pictures and RatPac-Dune Entertainment produces, with New Line Cinema distributing. The adaptation is now playing everywhere.