Actor Will Poulter is in negotiations to play the evil clown Pennywise in New Line Cinema's highly-anticipated remake of Stephen King's IT. It has already been confirmed that the adaptation will be split into two feature films, with Will Poulter set to star in both movies. Stephen King's original novel was previously adapted into a three-hour mini-series, which starred Tim Curry as Pennywise.

The original novel follows a group of young friends known as The Losers Club in the 1950s, who manage to fight off an evil demon, posing as a nefarious, child-killing clown known as Pennywise. 30 years later, they are forced to join forces once again when Pennywise re-emerges. The first movie will center on the children's battles with Pennywise, while the second follows the same characters as adults. The production had been considering older actors such as Mark Rylance and Ben Mendelsohn for the Pennywise role, but New Line wanted to go younger, and director Cary Fukunaga could not say no to Will Poulter, 22, after being "blown away" by his audition.

Cary Fukunaga is directing the two-part movie from a script he co-wrote with Chase Palmer. Seth Grahame-Smith and David Katzenberg are producing through their KatzSmith company, alongside Dan Lin and Roy Lee. Production is scheduled to begin sometime this summer. Will Poulter most recently starred in The Maze Runner, and he will next be seen in The Revenant, alongside Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy and Domhnall Gleeson.