Clowns have always been scary, but not as much as the one from It.
A saga of children’s nightmares that triumphed in literature, television and cinema, disturbing
many generations.
A story that exists thanks to Stephen King’s quill.
In the late 1970s, King already was a referent for modern horror, due to novels such as Carrie,
'Salem's Lot and The Shining.
However, underneath commercial success lied personal problems: he was an alcoholic and
drug addict.
Despite of all this, he found the way to turn these vices into fuel for his creative boost.
The inspiration for It came from different places.
In 1978, the author decided to go walking to a repair shop.
He went through a desert industrial park, and soon the night fell.
Then, he came across a wooden bridge over a stream.
As he walked along the bridge where his steps resounded, he recalled the story Three Billy
Goats Gruff.
In this Norwegian story, the three goats from the title need to cross a bridge to get to
a farm covered with delicious grass, but they encounter a horrible troll.
King imagined that this troll could appear in front of him, and from there he thought
of a story about one of these creatures living under a real bridge.
The same idea came to his mind two years later.
He pictured the story in Bangor, Maine, where he lived: under this city, in the tunnels
and sewers, a troll could live just fine.
He also found inspiration in his childhood living in Stratford, Connecticut.
There, he used to go to a library where a short hallway separated the section for kids
from the one for adults.
He thought about that short distance being a metaphor for maturity.
And there was another important source of inspiration: John Wayne Gacy.
This serial killer was sentenced to death for raping and murdering 33 young boys of
fourteen to twenty-one years.
As it’s usual in cases like these, Gacy seemed to be a standard citizen, who enjoyed
entertaining kids’ parties by dressing up as a clown, called Pogo.
He wouldn’t dress up when it came to killing his victims, but just the thought that he
did is still nerve-wracking.
With all this in mind, added to his addiction problems, on September 9, 1981, King started
writing his new novel.
He didn’t finish it until December 28, 1985.
The book of 1,138 pages, was going to be titled Derry, after the town where the story takes
place, but the author changed it for something more disturbing: It.
According to King, the Losers Club, conformed by six boys and a girl, fight against this
evil being that could change shapes and turn into their deepest fears.
In general, it appears as Pennywise, a frightening clown.
A being that comes back every twenty-seven years to feed off young meat, and to whom
the antiheroes will have to fight again once they’ve grown.
Based on this premise, King wrote a book that comes and goes in time, which also contains
a good share of subplots.
Far from being a story for young people, it has elements of extreme physical and psychological
violence, as well as sex scenes, including between the young protagonists.
To the author’s surprise, the famous orgy the Losers had so they could stay together
against the Evil was more shocking to people than deaths.
Published in 1986, It became United States’ best-seller that year.
Besides, it confirmed the writer’s highest authority in horror.
The book also had a great impact on popular culture.
For example, the hardcore band Pennywise took the name of the scary clown.
And as it couldn’t have been otherwise, soon came up the opportunity to adapt the
novel.
Due to its extension, a film wouldn’t be enough, it would be more adequate for a television
format.
The ABC network obtained the rights and got down to work.
The original plan was a ten-hour miniseries.
For the challenging task of adapting such a novel, they hired Lawrence D. Cohen, who
had done the same with Carrie.
The first director they contacted was George A. Romero, who had worked with King in the
anthology film, Creepshow.
Romero had been close to bringing the novels The Stand and Pet Sematary to the big screen,
and his status of master of horror made him the perfect fit.
Romero started working on pre-production and collaborated with Cohen to improve the script.
However, he left the project for reasons that still aren’t so clear.
It was said that he didn’t agree with the budget and that he was already committed to
work on the remake of his big success: Night of the Living Dead, which directed the make-up
specialist, Tom Savini.
There was also the rumor that the board had decided to let him go because of his record
of gruesome movies.
As the adaptation of It was a product for TV, it was necessary to leave out every violent
or sexual scene.
Regarding this last issue, they not only left out the orgy, but also the description of
homosexual relations, which could’ve been shocking for the public at that time.
Another decision from the ABC was to cut the length to just two transmission of two hours
each.
This meant they had to make an important number of cuts that upset Cohen.
Meanwhile, they hired the director, Tommy Lee Wallace.
Born on 1949, Wallace had come from working on films directed by his childhood friend,
John Carpenter.
In Halloween, for example, he was responsible for making the mask for Michael Myers, the
killer in the movie.
Curiously, as a second option for the mask, Wallace had thought of a clown.
But his debut as a director was in Halloween III.
Wallace loved the project for It, but he didn’t read King’s novel.
He decided to based his work exclusively on Cohen’s script.
Years later, he admitted his mistake and realized how many good parts of the book he had left
unexplored.
Once the director was set, they only needed to put together the cast.
There were no problems selecting the actors, young and adult; many of them came from working
on TV, like John Ritter.
But Wallace and his team knew the real challenge would be on picking Pennywise.
Among the first names considered were Malcolm McDowell and Roddy McDowall, with whom Wallace
had already worked in Fright Night Part 2.
Another name discussed was the musician, Alice Cooper, a big fan of horror.
But Wallace’s favorite was Tim Curry, Born on Great Britain, Curry stood out in
theater and from there he transitioned to movies in his first most iconic role: Dr.
Frank-N-Furter in the musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
At first, Curry wasn’t sure about accepting the role of Pennywise.
After working as Darkness in Legend, he was trying to avoid long sessions in the make-up
department.
In the end, he didn’t just accept, but would walk around in the set dressed up as Pennywise
even when he didn’t have to film a scene.
Another habit he had was to be silent at all times, especially around the kids, to be more
intimidating while filming.
According to Curry, the key to his performance was in only wearing classic makeup and not
turning to prothesis, which was the idea in the beginning.
It was all about the way he stared at others and his interpretative resources.
The shooting of It was mostly in Canada and turned out to be a nice experience for everyone.
Ritter was a fan of King and the novel, and regretted the absence of the darkest moments,
but enjoyed the role of Ben Hanscom and managed to keep a playing card with Pennywise’s
face on it.
The first episode of It was broadcasted by the ABC the night of November 18, 1990, and
the second one, two days later.
30 million people watched it.
The viewers as well as critics were shocked and amazed by Curry’s Pennywise.
They also praised the kids’ performances, and Wallace himself admitted his favorite
scenes are the ones he did with them.
King was pleasingly surprised with the final result; though, his only big complain was
the same of many: the ending.
The protagonists fighting a giant spider (Pennywise’s true form apparently) was deficient.
Wallace confessed he wanted a better spider and ending, but the low budget made it impossible.
Neither the faults, nor the controversies about the lack of fidelity to the book stopped
the impact of the miniseries.
Some scenes and quotes, like “they all float”, stayed in the viewer’s imagining.
As for Pennywise, he was given a seat among the monsters of the era, such as Jason, Freddy
Kruger, Pinhead and Chucky.
The cult created after It transcended generations.
And now in the 21st Century, the idea to readapt King’s novel appeared again.
In 2009, screenwriter, David Kajganich, was hired by the Warner Bros to condense the book
into two movie-hours.
One of his first crucial decisions was to change the years.
In the novel, the story went from 1958, when the protagonists are kids, to 1985, once they
are grown.
Kajganich placed the past in the late 1980s so it’d end in the present days.
The project wasn’t taken so seriously until 2012, when Cari Fukunaga joined.
Born on 1974, Fukunaga had already directed two films, but the world started noticing
him thanks to the first season of True Detective.
His ability to tell a story with deaths and intrigues, with dreadful atmosphere, made
him an interesting choice.
The vision Fukunaga had for It was very specific.
With Kubrick’s The Shining as main source of inspiration, he ambitioned a horror film
for adults, capable of transcend the genre.
And decided to make two films.
The first would be centered in the protagonists as kids.
The second one, when they are adults.
The director and his co-writer, Chase Palmer, brought back from the book the sexual elements,
but without the famous orgy.
He also made some polemic changes: he got rid of Stan (a member of the Losers Club)
and changed the characters names.
Fukunaga seemed to have everything on track, and between 2014 and 2015, two versions of
the script went public.
Besides, he soon found his Pennywise.
Although Mark Rylance and Hugo Weaving were considered, he finally picked Will Poulter,
young English actor who had worked on adventure, comedy and had stood out in The Revenant.
Choice that was well received by fans and also had Tim Curry’s blessing.
However, Fukunaga dropped the project in 2015 due to creative differences with Warner.
According to the director, the studio preferred a less extreme view, more similar to The Goonies.
Warner started searching for a new director.
Among the candidates were the brothers, Matt and Ross Duffer, who didn’t get the job
and instead, they developed a series for Netflix with a similar plot: Stranger Things.
Then, Warner noticed Andy Muschietti’s interest.
Born in Argentina, he came from making Mama, based on his short and produced by Guillermo
del Toro.
As a fan of King and his novel, Muschietti struggled to be hired and finally got it.
Bárbara Muschietti, his sister and producer, also joined the team.
They kept the ideas of making two movies and changing the years.
However, Muschietti and their new screenwriter, Gary Dauberman, reinvented some scare sequences,
with different monsters from the ones in the novel and more related to childhood traumas.
Muschietti still wanted Poulter to play Pennywise, but the actor had lost interest and stepped
aside.
The director went quickly in search for a new clown, and found it in Bill Skarsgård.
Member of a prestigious family of Swedish actors, Skarsgård showed a natural interest
in the character, and he even made it easier for the people in special effects.
In the script, Pennywise moved only one eye and the actor did it by himself.
This was possible due to an ocular problem he had been having.
As for Curry, he also blessed him.
Finding the young cast was more difficult.
Muschietti was looking for actors with similar personalities to the characters, so he could
get them together and see the chemistry between them.
Considering that friendship is the soul of the story, he nailed it.
Just as it was in the 1990s miniseries, they filmed it in Canada and it was a positive
experience for everyone involved.
The kids became friends and saw in Muschietti an inspiring and thoughtful adult.
The first It movie was released in movie theaters in September of 2017.
With a 35 million budget, the movie grossed 700 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing
horror film in history.
Reviews were also positive, praising Skarsgård and the kids’ performances, as well as Muschietti’s
directing.
One of the first people to praise their work was Stephen King.
Muschietti was worried about the creative licenses, he even sent him a letter apologizing,
but the author enjoyed the changes.
For those who like fun facts: the movie was released 27 years after the telefilm and Skarsgård
turned 27 in 2017.
It makes you wonder if it really is a coincidence... or something else.
Faced with such success, it was clear there would be It 2, which would complete the novel’s
adaptation.
Just as it was planned, the plot would be around the adult versions of the Losers.
Jessica Chastain was one of the favorites to portray Beverly as an adult.
Muschietti had worked with her in Mama, so they already knew each other.
Then, James McAvoy joined in the role of Bill; comedian, Bill Hader, in the role of Richie
Tozier; and other actors less known but full of talent and, as if it wasn’t enough, who
looked pretty much like their younger selves.
But as the movie contains flashbacks, the director called for the kids from the first
film.
Added to that, the Muschiettis could count on King for a cameo.
The author showed a lot of interest for the shooting, he even got to shout “action”
before filming a scene.
It is proof that a great story can transcend generations and formats, and that childhood
terrors never leave us.
Because, after all, they all float down here... and you’ll float too!