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It Director Talks About A Scene From The Book That Won't Be In The Movie

"It's an unnecessary metaphor at the end of the story of a rite of passage..."

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The new Stephen King movie, It, opens in theatres this week. An adaptation of King's book about a killer clown who terrorises kids in small-town Maine, the film takes a number of creative liberties, director Andres Muschietti told Deadline.

There is one scene in particular in the book where the children engage in an act that would be shocking to see in a big tentpole release from a big studio like Warner Bros. This scene didn't make the cut, and Muschietti said he "wasn't interested in that part" anyway.

"My emotional experience with the book did not regard that scene at all, and I think in general it's an unnecessary metaphor at the end of the story of a rite of passage," he explained. "That actually was talked about during the whole story, but it was a bit unnecessary. It's great in the book. I love Stephen King's style, his way of shocking people with those tonal swings and unexpected intensity, but I think while it was jarring in the book, it wasn't necessary in the movie adaptation. For me it was about engaging the audience from an emotional point of view with the characters."

"I think the group scene was a bit of unnecessary broad metaphor of that rite of passage."

Muschietti's sister, producer Barbara Muschietti, said when former director Cary Fukunaga dropped out, there were no scenes in the script about the group sequence. That being said, Barbara Muschietti said Warner Bros. never came to them to say "stay away from this." Instead, the scene "just wasn't a natural way into the story."

Also in the interview, Andres Muschietti said Stephen King is his "literary hero," going back to Pet Semetary. "My first reaction, when offered the opportunity to direct [It], was basically to go back to my emotional experience reading the book when I was a child, and translating that into a movie that would blow my mind as an adult," he said. "Those were the big ideas when approaching the making of this movie."

Additionally, Andres Muschietti talked about sending a handwritten letter to King "asking for forgiveness" for all the ways the movie departs from the book. But thankfully for him, the famous author was OK with the changes. "He wrote me an email expressing how much he had liked it and that I shouldn't worry because all the changes were approved," he said.

The full interview is incredibly fascinating and in-depth. Go to Deadline to read it.

Keep checking back with GameSpot for more on It later this week before it hits cinemas on September 8.

This story has been updated and corrected.

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