Before the 2017 film adaptation of IT would go on to break records for a horror films
opening weekend and a September film release of all time.
Before Killer Clown sighting would dominate news headlines throughout September and October
of 2016.
Before the 1990 ABC television miniseries would become a cult classic
Before Stephen King would release his Best Selling 1100 plus page novel in 1986
The character of Pennywise The Dancing Clown has been described as one of the scariest
clowns in popular culture. Much like the character in the Novel, it seems IT likes to take a
few decades of sleep before reemerging into mainstream consciousness to terrify a whole
new generation. The fan fair off of the most recent instalment starring Bill Skarsgard
has reached incredible heights with everyone talking about his creepy portrayal of the
character.
It's a pretty interesting story of how this all came together and how the Stephen King
manifested the characted starter way back in 1978.
What's going on guys? My name is Michael McCrudden documenting everything you need to know about
IT or Pennywise, here for you on Before They Were Famous. Around this time last year I
jump started another channel titled Before They Were Fiction, there I documented the
creation story of fictional characters, including Rick, Darryl and Negan from the Walking Dead.
Mr. Burns, R2D2, Goku and Slenderman to name a few. I'm gonna leave a link down below becuase
we might be bringing that channel back to life. For now, let's jump into this Before
They Were Famous video.
Stephen King's IT was published on September 15th 1986. But Stephen stated that he first
conceived the story in 1978 while walking through Boulder Colorado. At the time he was
walking in cowboy boots, and stated:
“They sounded like a hollow clock. I thought of the fairy tale called "The Three Billy-Goats
Gruff" and wondered what I would do if a troll called out from beneath me, "Who is trip-trapping
upon my bridge?" All of a sudden I wanted to write a novel about a real troll under
a real bridge
As he played with the idea for a number of years, the bridge transformed into a city,
and what's under a city? Sewers. Eventually the troll tansoformed into IT. If you've read
the book or seen the film you know that IT can take on any form it imagines that will
drive fear into it's victims but why does he take on the form of a clown? Let's take
a look at the history of clowns which I've previously reported on in my Killer Clowns
Before They Were Famous video:
Stephen King had long been fascinated with clowns and saw something that the general
public was overlooking. Clowns were terrifying, their faces hidden behind white face paint
and their red lips looking like blood. Stephen would become one of the first people to popularize
the idea that
clowns were
in fact terrifying.
Ok, this is where things get really interesting.
Stephen King never credited John Wayne Gacy as inspiration for Pennywise but this horrific
story was all over the news at the time and one can only assume that it somehow played
some role in creating this character. King got to working on his horror novel making
IT an eternal entity whom exisedt in "the Macroverse". Which is a void containing and
surrounding the Universe. After arriving on Earth, IT lay dorminate awaiting civiliazation
to be built up around IT. Then it would sleep for approximately 27 to 30 years at a time,
then awaken to wreak chaos and feed, primarily on children's fear. In the novel it takes
on multiple forms including werewolves, bats, leeches, and sharks. Essentially whatever
it's victims worst fear would embody.
Stephen King's novel quickly became the best selling book in the United States for 1986.
Hollywood was quick to get to work on a film adaption. ABC originally conceived it as a
four-part eight-hour series, which was later worked into a two-part, four-hour miniseries
filmed in British Columbia, Canada.
There were many differences in Stephen King's novel that never made it to the small or big
screen. This includes a group sex scene involving the Losers Club following thier defeat of
IT. I can undestand why that never made it to camera. IT was credited as the best TV
Adapation of a Stephen King novel ever and Tim Curry received plents of praise for his
portrayel of Pennywise following it's boradcast on ABC over two nights in November of 1990.
The special attracted 30 million viewers in its premiere. It was later released on VHS
and DVD and received cult classic status, from then it seems the IT much like it's protagonist
would more or less disappear from mainstream media.
In 2009 Hollywood decided that IT deserved to be show to the world on the big screen,
initally attached to the production was Cary Fukunaga as the director with Will Poulter
originally cast as Pennywise. If you don't know Will, he's better known as eyebrow kid.
Things would stretch on for some time with director Andy Muschietti taking over and Will
Poulter dropping out due to schedule conflicts.
Other actors were considered for the role of Pennywise include Mark Rylance, Ben Mendelsohn,
Kirk Acevedo, Richard Armitage, Hugo Weaving and Tilda Swinton but eventually the role
would go to Bill Skarsfard. Producer Dan Lin stated:
"His build is really interesting. He's really tall and lanky, and feels a little clown like
in his movement. When he came in—we had a lot of different actors read, and when he
came in he had a different spin on the character that got us really excited."
Rather than stay true to the novel's original 1958/1985 time frame the most recent film
takes place in 1989. Production of the film started in June of 2016 with the filming taking
place all over Toronto, Ontario Canada. My home town. Working with a budget of $35 Million
it's likely the producers, cast and crew were all pretty excited as the Killer Clown frenzy
was dominating headlines during production.
The film was released on September 5th 2017, As of September 13, 2017, It has grossed
$151.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $66.3 million in other territories, for
a worldwide total of $217.8 million. For better or for worse, all of a sudden Bill Skarsgard
face was everywhere.
A follow up to the film is set to go into production in 2018 with the children from
the film having grown up and it will be set in the present era. So look forward to that,
as for the rest of the story, well that's pretty much it becasue this is Before They
Were Famous.
My name is Michael McCrudden – be sure to check out Before They Were Fiction for more
creation stories of your favorite fictional characters and their series. Also, if you
guys want me to focus on a Bill Skarsgard video I could get that done for you.