Director Cary Fukunaga Talks 'True Detective' And 'It' Remake At Tribeca Film Festival

Just as the Tribeca Film Festival is winding down, director Cary Fukunaga stopped by on Thursday to chat about his upcoming movie “It” and a few of the lessons he learned while creating the hit HBO series “True Detective.”

Here’s four of the top tidbits from his Tribeca Film Festival discussion:

1. He’s In Pre-Production For A New Movie
Not only is Fukunaga tackling “True Detective” Season 2, he’s currently prepping for the remake of Stephen King’s “It” to film in New York City. Fukunaga begins filming in 8 weeks. “I think there’s this tremendous amount of optimism when in pre-production about you can accomplish.” He acknowledged “True Detective” required a bit more pre-production than his feature “Sin Nobre.”

2. On “True Detective,” The Director Planned His Shots Ahead
Since Fukunaga shot each episode in about 12 days on a very tight schedule; he needed a way to get the shots he needed as quickly as possible.

“I wanted to get the shot aspect out there, just to get everyone else in the crew inside my head,” he explained.

All the corresponding departments would spring into action to set up. Fukunaga said since they were on such tight schedules, there was no time for storyboarding or drawing out a picture of the shots he needed.

3. He’s Just As Scared Of Pennywise (The Clown From "It") As We All Are
“The image I always see, is the image that I saw when I was 12. That white face in the sewer, and poor little George getting sucked into the ground. I haven’t really gotten past that part,” Fukunaga told the crowd at Tribeca.

4. Fukunaga Wasn’t Always A Cinephile
He admitted to the audience he was familiar with the Hollywood classics, but it wasn’t until film school that he dove into international classics. “Film school opened my eyes to a whole new world of filmmaking,” said Fukunaga. He was hesitant to reveal he had never thought of a character developing over time until film school. "It never occurred to me," he continued. "I thought they just changed because things happened to them."

“It” has no announced release date. “True Detective” returns to HBO June 21 at 9 p.m. EDT. The Tribeca Film Festival runs through April 26.