Writer David Kajganich talks remakes of Stephen King’s It & Pet Sematary

Last Updated on July 23, 2021

Recently I found myself wondering what classic films would be acceptable to remake. In this genre it’s difficult to make everyone happy, actually it’s damn near impossible… So when talking about classic films to be remade you should always be ready for a backlash. Personally… I found many Stephen King adaptations of yester-year worthy of remakes. Not to say the original films aren’t outstanding… but let’s just say I wouldn’t lose sleep if they decided to remake some of them.

With that being said, let’s talk about a couple Stephen King flicks that have been on the remake block for a while now: IT and PET SEMATARY. You see, Lilja’s Library recently caught up with screenwriter David Kajganich to chat about the two projects, in which the scribe has been attached. Now we know Paramount has decided to go with another writer for PET SEMATARY but that isn’t stopping Kajganich from chatting it up!

“After I turned in my first draft, Paramount went through a top-down regime change and I was given a new executive who had creative ideas I just couldn’t stand behind. They wanted to appeal to younger audiences, so there was talk of making a teenaged Ellie the main character, and etc. It was really heartbreaking, but that’s how the process works sometimes. The studio was gracious enough to let me out of my contract and the project was dormant at the studio until very recently.”

The writer then goes on to talk about the IT remake, which he is currently attached to for Warner Bros. Here’s some of what he had to say:

“I think the biggest difference is that we’re working with about two-thirds the onscreen time they had for the miniseries. That sounds dire, I know, but it doesn’t necessarily mean two-thirds the amount of story. I’m finding as many ways as I can to make certain scenes redundant by deepening and doubling others. To me, this is an interesting process because it has the effect of thematically intensifying the whole, but it can lead to dramatic surprises. Certain scenes I thought would be crucial to the coherence of the whole ended up cut, while other scenes, which were somewhat cursory in the book, ended up being pivotal in the script.”

Enough to tease your appetite huh? For the entire interview you’ll want to head right over HERE and be sure to keep it here for anything and everything Stephen King as we hear it!

Clowns aren’t all that bad, are they?