After breaking onto the scene with Sin Nombre, it didn’t take long for NYU grad Cary Fukunaga to rise the ranks of Hollywood. He garnered major attention, but sadly not enough, for last year’s excellent Jane Eyre adaptation starring Michael Fassbender and Mia Wasikowska. With a few projects in the air, he’s now attached himself to one, certainly his most ambitious yet.

THR reports that Warner Bros. has hired the director to helm and co-write a two-part adaptation of Stephen King‘s novel It. He’ll work on the script with Chase Palmer on the update to the classic 1986 book, which was already turned into a four-hour miniseries back in 1990 (cover to the right). The book follows seven kids who get terrorized by It, a mysterious creature who sometimes takes the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown. One expects this film to be split into the two different time periods it takes place in, 1957–1958 and then 1984–1985.

Fukunaga was able to create such wonderful tension in his first two films, ones that were firmly in the drama genre. I can see him creating something truly terrifying for this adaptation and it’s great to see a studio take a chance with someone so talented, especially for such a beloved property like this. The two-part nature of the ambitious project, especially for a horror film, seems like something that could take awhile to surface, but we’ll certainly be waiting.

Do you think Fukunaga is a good fit for It?