Even It’s Original Script Didn’t Touch Stephen King’s Most Shocking Scene
Cary Fukunaga’s original script for Stephen King’s It was a darker, more mature take on the source novel, yet the treatment still avoided the book’s most infamously controversial scene. Stephen King’s It had a long and rocky road to the big screen, with numerous creatives being attached to the adaptation before director Andy Muschietti eventually helmed the two-part movie. One of the most famous attempts to bring the story of Pennywise to life came from Cary Fukunaga, whose script for the movie adaptation was partially used in the finished film.
Like the eventual movie, Fukunaga’s script didn’t touch on Pennywise’s pre-Stephen King’s It backstory but the treatment did differ a lot from what viewers eventually saw in theatres. Fukunaga’s script for the movie featured more explicit abuse scenes involving Beverly and her father, more obvious references to King’s earlier hit The Shining, and a bigger role for Mike Hanlon. But even this early treatment steered clear of the source novel’s most infamous scene.
Related: Stephen King’s Pennywise Prequel Should Avoid It: Chapter 2 Taboo
Fukunaga’s partially discarded original script for It was more ambitious, stranger, and darker than the 2017 Andy Muschietti movie, with more scenes set in Pennywise’s sewer home, more violent deaths, and trippier nightmare sequences. However, even this more mature version of the project didn’t go near the infamous sewer sequence in It’s source novel. Presumably, this was because no mainstream movie, let alone a blockbuster, wanted to reference the original book’s deeply discomfiting sex scene between child characters. Even a Stephen King movie adaptation, which is always likely to feature some scary, disturbing content, would have trouble
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