If you're not familiar with the name Andres Muschietti, you won't be for long. The director's upcoming feature IT, the adaptation of Stephen King's classic horror novel, is tracking extremely well and has been all over social media. If IT manages to live up to these expectations, then Muschietti will have some serious leverage when he picks his next project following IT Part 2. Turns out that Muschietti is totally happy staying in Stephen King Town, and if he had to choose amongst the author's body of work, Pet Sematary would be his next top choice to direct. Muschietti said the following:
Pet Sematary is one of my favorite books of Stephen King and I have a deep love relationship with it. I love the movie Mary Lambert made back in the day, but I think there is margin to make another version that is even cooler. But nothing is confirmed yet.
Andres Muschietti wouldn't mind trading demon clowns for zombies cats. The director is busy delivering an adaptation of one of Stephen King's most popular stories, IT, and even though a sequel is in the planning stages, he has an idea for a movie about another one of King's novels. Muschietti told Deadline that he'd love the chance to tackle Pet Sematary, which is about a pet cemetery that resurrects any dead creature buried under its soil. The 1983 novel is one of Muschietti's favorites from King, but whether or not he'll ever get to make the movie is still up in the air.
Pet Sematary was made into a film back in 1989 by director Mary Lambert. The movie isn't typically regarded as an untouchable classic (it has its fans and haters), so Muschietti is right that there could be room for another interpretation. Technology has advanced far enough that you can do a lot more than making a cat's eyes glow yellow. IT looks like a solid adaptation, so if Muschietti has the idea and the passion, then I say let him at it!
In case it wasn't already clear, Andres Muschietti has been a longtime Stephen King fan. He mentioned that he and his producing partner and sister, Barbara Muschietti, were fans of horror and King ever since they were children. His King obsession actually began with Pet Sematary, so getting to do a movie would be full circle for him. As Muschietti put it:
We were fans of horror at very early age; we were exposed to horror movies very early in life so there was this addiction we carried very early, and then came Stephen King. We're very big fans of his. He's my literary hero. It all started with Pet Sematary but then It came along and for me, it was a mind-blowing experience.
IT tells the story of a shape-shifting entity that targets a group of children living in a small Maine town in the 1980s. The children must band together and find a way to rid their town of the monster, who has a habit of taking on the form of a demented clown named Pennywise. The movie is set to re-ignite clown nightmares on September 8.
