Adapting one of Stephen King’s most beloved novels to the screen was no easy task.The story of a group of seven disparate youngsters fighting an unknown, formidable evil has resonated with every generation since it was published in 1986. Of course there was also the two-part mini-series in 1990 that redefined TV horror. Director Andy Muschietti is a capable enough director, with a very strong visual sense. However, with only one other feature under his belt (Mama) many in the industry were scratching their heads at the decision to hand the reigns of an anticipated epic horror movie. 

Of course the even bigger question was Pennywise.  Tim Curry’s Pennywise will forever be regarded as one of the greatest horror performances ever. This left  huge clown shoes to fill to be sure.Bill Skarsgård, a young, up and comer, best known for his work on the show Hemlock Grove, landed the coveted spot. Another relative newcomer to the horror scene at the center of a cherished property. Warner Bros. was taking some serious risks. Would this be a fresh take that would revitalize this beloved story or would things fall flat?

The bet paid off. While not the most terrifying film, IT has its moments. The true success was in the deft way Muschietti juggled 7 lead speaking parts and captured a remarkable chemistry with his young actors. IT has heart.

For his part, Skarsgård must be commended on infusing spastic, slobbery new life to Pennywise. As intricate and detailed as the layered clown costume he wears, his performance is at once menacing and immature. There is some fine work done.

How did the to men at the center of this cultural juggernaut tackle things? We were able to speak with Muschietti and Bill Skarsgård, on IT and they way the two approached this beloved property.

“Going into this I saw the miniseries and read the novel. I had watched the miniseries and then kinda stayed away from it because I knew we weren’t doing that again, you know? But the novel was my bible, my source material. I would go back to it through the whole shoot.” said Skarsgård. “There are so many details, so many little bread crumbs, especially with the character Pennywise. There is a purposefully mysterious aspect of what the character is, and there is a lot of room for interpretation.”

How to approach bringing Pennywise to the screen again? Skarsgård explained “There was also plenty of preparation involved too Andy and I had a lot of conversations about it and we had a similar idea of what the character is, sort of the psychology behind him.” Taking a more philosophical approach to things, Skarsgård continued “it’s a lot like plays, with different actors doing different characters. It’s a new interpretation on the character. For me, for all of us, really, as filmmakers, we didn’t want to do the same thing. Andy, in casting me and I’m obviously much younger, and different, and a different person. Tim Curry is Tim Curry and nobody will do a better job at being Tim Curry.”

True. Curry, the stout, brash, larger-than-life performer with the belting baritone and silky British accent is a totally different animal. Skarsgård hails from Sweden, is a soft spoken, 6 foot 4 inch gentleman with paper white skin and piercing blue eyes. “I used MY tools. I had to think, ‘How get a new take on this and make it original and make it my own?” Said Skarsgård. “There is a section of the novel where Stephen King sort of writes as Pennywise. You can sort of go in and really get into his mind, and the psychology of the character. For me going into it, after I booked the job, we had like 10 days to go through the 1,200 page book.” Next were the make up tests where the actor sat in a chair as the make up artists played with different prosthetics and appliances for the look of the character. “I also had that whole stage where I try the makeup on, it was just me intellectualizing the character, ‘What does he do? Why is he around? Does he even exist aside from in the imagination of kids?’ We explored all of these things, existential things, that are very true to the book.” said Skarsgård

The team behind this new incarnation came up with a brand new look for Pennywise that, all told, took two and a half hours to create each day. As if peeled from a vintage circus poster, Pennywise is a cracking antique with an insatiable bloodlust. Skarsgård credits director Muschietti for much of the visual pop saying “Andy is such a visual guy, he was such huge part of designing the look,  I came to the production and saw the temp picture and I began working on his voice and what he would sound like. Then the first time I got the make up on, it took like 5 hours and I would be like, ‘Wait wait, is that how it’s gonna look?’ and I would just stare at myself in the mirror for hours looking at the faces and how things read. Then we tweaked a few things, made them a little better, then we had the screen test. Andy would kind of guide me and how to move and wear the make up. Then also in between takes I would sit in my trailer with my phone, looking at how I moved, and trying to scare myself. But the make up was a huge part in creating the character.”

But those teeth. Who came up with the bunny teeth? “The teeth were all Andy’s idea.” said  Skarsgård. 

“It took me a while to convince everyone.” said Muschietti. “The childlike look and the cheeks and the huge forehead. It gives it this weird dichotomy of something that should be so cute but looks so horrible. That is such a key element to what the character is.”
During the shoot, Muschietti attempted to keep Pennywise hidden from the kids until the second they began filming. Andy “I wanted to capture the first impact on camera. I wanted to preserve it. The kids didn’t know what he was going to look like so I wanted to capture that moment, the first shock. The first scene we shot with Bill and the one of the Loser’s was with Eddie.

”Yes where I come out of the refrigerator.” said  Skarsgård. 

“You don’t know if it really worked or not because the kids are so good but, I think it was a pretty good idea.” said Muschietti.

Skarsgård added, “I remember us talking about it and thinking ‘why not?’ But I kinda thing that the kids were a little bit to old and all little actors. When we did the first scene, the first take with Eddie, (Jack Dylan Grazer) and the first time he see’s me he was like, “Oh Man that is fuckin’ awesome!”

Recalling one scene in which Grazer was to shoot an intense encounter with Pennywise, Skarsgård said, “So we go to do the scene and I’m over in the corner walking in circles making my Pennywise giggle noises and muttering, and we start. I go I do it and it’s the whole thing and I am mocking his asthma and his breathing and I am drooling and he’s screaming and gagging and it’s like okay, CUT! I was like Jack, are you okay, and he’s all ‘Yeah man that was fucking awesome! I love what you are doing.’

“It freaked him out but he used it. That is a key element of being an actor. He took his reaction and used it to enhance his performance. He was grossed out by me drooling, but he used that to be even more grossed out. That is just a testament to how good these actors were. We didn’t have to teach them or coax a reaction. They knew intuitively how to enhance their performance.”

With the anticipation and the film being as high as it was, we wondered what type of pressure Muschietti was feeling to deliver a movie that people responded to. Muschietti said, “There was no pressure to try to make something that would make Stephen King proud. But for me, it was about looking into my own emotional experience I had when reading the book when I was a kid and getting that to the screen as an adult. So, that was complicated enough to even think about.”

“I have to tell you that Stephen King was such an influence on me growing up that I didn’t have to make an effort to tell a story in the way he tells it. Muschietti said. “Stephen Kings way of story and conveying emotions are so much a part of me. I think that most notably, the adaptations that fail are the ones that try to mimic his tonal schizophrenia, and swings. But I didn’t do it in an artificial way. In order for people to be scared you had to get them to care for these characters and I had to do it in such a way that you were invested. King is such a master of that. Getting to the heart and the soul of these characters are and what the Loser’s Club is it helped me to wire the tone of my storytelling.”

That, in a nutshell, is the real triumph of IT. The film feels like a mix of Stand By Me, The Goonies, and Halloween. It’s suspenseful, occasionally startling, but has a profound understanding of what it is to be a kid, afraid, with no one else to turn to except your very best friends. Let’s hope that Part 2 is soon in its way. 

You can read our review of IT here.