True Detective’s Cary
Fukunaga seems the perfect choice to direct the first ever big-screen adaptation
of Stephen King’s It. The 1990 miniseries benefited from a crackerjack-crazy
turn from Tim Curry as Pennywise, the leering, sneering killer clown who haunts
a small Maine town. But 25 years later, the production seems melodramatic, and
some of the adult performances – not to mention the haircuts – are straight out
of a Roger Corman flick.
Fukunaga’s brooding
style ought to make for a far scarier movie, and there is talk that this will be
a two-part film to mirror the split narrative of King’s epic 1,138-page tome.
Furthermore, King himself is reported to have given the screenplay his seal of
approval.
So far, so good. But
Fukunaga says he is still struggling to find the right actor to play Pennywise,
the main manifestation of the shape-shifting supernatural nasty. Here’s a few
suggestions to help him out.
Michael Shannon
The Boardwalk Empire
actor proved that he can play the powderkeg villain to a tee as Nelson Van Alden
AKA George Mueller. He may lack Curry’s clownish grin, but those bulging
basilisk eyes are unmatched in modern Hollywood.
Tilda Swinton
The current fan
favourite would make for some powerful stunt casting, though the Oscar-winning
British actor’s androgynous look is very different from Curry’s extravagantly
proportioned features. Swinton was the best thing about The Lion, the Witch and
the Wardrobe, and really went to town on the camp villain front with her
squinting, spitting Minister Mason, a cross between Hilda Ogden and Hitler, in
the excellent Snowpiercer. She looks scary in clown makeup, and has been tipped
for – and played – high-profile male roles before.
Willem Dafoe
A wide grin and
intense, baleful eyes are essential to capturing Pennywise’s demonic malignancy,
and Dafoe has the perfect look. His Green Goblin stands second only to Heath
Ledger’s Joker in the grand pantheon of big-screen supervillains, and his
sleazy, dentally challenged mobster Bobby Peru in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart
was downright abhorrent.
Kiefer Sutherland
Nearly three decades
after essaying a pretty decent camp cult villain in The Lost Boys, Sutherland
would make for an assured Pennywise. He has the ability to deliver the husky New
York brogue that Curry pulled off to surprising effect, and his poisonous leer
would be straight out of the seventh layer of Hades.
Nicolas Cage
Bear with me. Cage may
have the furniture-chewing capacity of an army of hungry termites, but when he’s
good, he’s very good indeed. And while Fukunaga’s take on Pennywise is likely to
be more subtle and layered than the 1990 version, it’s still a pretty
one-dimensional role. Whoever takes on the part needs to be capable of adding
genuine venom to occasionally shonky dialogue (remember all that stuff about
“floating in the deadlights”?) Cage has off-kilter energy in spades, as well as
a willingness to push the boundaries of taste at every available opportunity. He
could be a car crash in the role, but he might also prove a
revelation.
Geoffrey Rush
The Aussie Oscar
winner certainly has a knack for gurning, sneering villains, with his Captain
Hector Barbossa from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies occasionally surpassing
even Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow for sea-dog pantomime posturing. And it’s a
little-known fact that Rush trained under the late, legendary French mime actor
and teacher Jacques Lecoq, so the physical side of the role should be well
within his sphere of expertise.
