Director Cary Fukunaga ran away from New Line Cinema’s remake of Stephen King’s It back in May after finding out that it was about a scary clown—and also after finding out that New Line’s budget wasn’t going to be as high as he wanted. Now, Variety is reporting that the studio may have found a replacement in Andy Muschietti, the guy who directed 2013’s Mama. That movie, like It, was also about a supernatural figure threatening children, though the scary mom ghost thing in Mama was—arguably—much creepier than even Tim Curry’s clown/shape-shifting creature that predates the universe in It. Maybe that means Muschietti’s version of Pennywise will be so creepy that it becomes the new creepy clown that all other creepy clowns are compared to. We imagine people who are afraid of clowns wouldn’t mind having something new to visit them in their nightmares every night.
Speaking of, Will Poulter is still attached to play the hip, new Pennywise, though Variety isn’t sure if he’ll stick around now that Fukunaga is out.