It (2017 film)

It
File:It (2017) logo.jpg Teaser poster
Directed by	Andrés Muschietti
Screenplay by	Chase Palmer Cary Fukunaga Gary Dauberman
Produced by	Dan Lin Roy Lee David Katzenberg Barbara Muschietti Seth Grahame-Smith
Starring	Bill Skarsgård Jaeden Lieberher Jeremy Ray Taylor Sophia Lillis Finn Wolfhard Wyatt Oleff Chosen Jacobs Jack Dylan Grazer Nicholas Hamilton Jackson Robert Scott
Cinematography	Chung-hoon Chung
Edited by	Jason Ballantine
Music by	Benjamin Wallfisch
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date	September 8, 2017 (2017-09-08) (United States)
Running time	135 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

It is an upcoming American horror film based on Stephen King's 1986 novel of the same name. Produced by New Line Cinema, KatzSmith Productions, Lin Pictures, and Vertigo Entertainment, and distributed by Warner Bros., it is intended to be the first installment in a planned duology. The novel was previously adapted into a 1990 miniseries. The film tells the story of seven children in Derry, Maine, who are terrorized by the eponymous being, only to face their own personal demons in the process. The film is also known as It: Part 1 – The Losers' Club.

The film is directed by Andrés Muschietti and written by Chase Palmer, Cary Fukunaga and Gary Dauberman. Bill Skarsgård stars as Pennywise The Dancing Clown, with Jaeden Lieberher starring as Bill Denbrough. Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer, Nicholas Hamilton, and Jackson Robert Scott are all featured in supporting roles. Principal photography began in Toronto on June 27, 2016, and ended on September 21, 2016. The locations being used for It are in the municipality of Port Hope, Oshawa, Ontario, and Riverdale, Toronto.

It is scheduled to be released on September 8, 2017 in the United States.

Premise

In Derry, Maine in the summer of 1989, a group of outcast kids discovers a shape-shifting entity who may be linked to the recent cases of missing children in the town, but also face their own personal demons in the process.

Cast

• Bill Skarsgård as It / Pennywise The Dancing Clown / Bob Gray

An ancient, trans-dimensional evil that awakens every three decades. Will Poulter was previously cast in the role but was forced to drop out due to scheduling conflicts, with Poulter stating, "I was when Mr. Fukunaga was directing, but the circumstances at New Line are such that a new director's attached now." Poulter continued, "I think, with all due respect to him of course, I was selected by Cary and subscribed to Cary's vision for the movie, and so I haven't had a chance to connect with that [new] director." Mark Rylance, Ben Mendelsohn, Kirk Acevedo, Richard Armitage, Hugo Weaving and Tilda Swinton were considered for the role, with Mendelsohn passing on the project, as New Line wanted him to take a sizable pay cut. On June 3, 2016, The Independent officially reported, after final negotiations took place, that Muschietti had chosen actor Bill Skarsgård to portray the character. On portraying Pennywise, Skarsgård stated, "It's such an extreme character. Inhumane, It's beyond even a sociopath, because he's not even human. He's not even a clown. I'm playing just one of the beings It creates." Skarsgård described the character further, saying, "It truly enjoys the shape of the clown Pennywise, and enjoys the game and the hunt." He also commented, "What's funny to this evil entity might not be funny to everyone else. But he thinks it's funny." On Pennywise's design, Skarsgård stated, "It's important that we do something fresh and original for this one. It's purposely not going toward that weird, greasy look." He also commented on being compared to Tim Curry, stating that, "[Curry]'s performance was truly great, but it's important for me to do something different because of that. I'll never be able to make a Tim Curry performance as good as Tim Curry." Skarsgård also elaborated on his age, stating, "There's a childishness to the character, because he's so closely linked to the kids. The clown is the manifestation of children's imaginations, so there's something child-like about that." Producer Dan Lin spoke of Skarsgård's physical attributes: "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." Lin concluded by contrasting the character with that of Heath Ledger's Joker, "You've had [Ledger] doing almost a clown joker, you've seen obviously Tim Curry as a clown. We wanted someone who created a Pennywise character that would stand on its own and Bill came in and created this character that frankly freaked us out." Muschietti spoke of Skarsgård's Pennywise as one not to lurk in the shadows, to which he remarked, "Pennywise shows up, he's front and center, and he does his show. He has an act [...] So it's weird all the time, and every little thing implies a further threat." Muschietti also spoke of wanting to make the sense of dread that grows in Derry part of the dread of Pennywise, to which he stated, "He's not just a character that can shape-shift, his influence is all around. The anticipation of him is almost scarier than the actual Pennywise scares." On selecting Skarsgård to portray Pennywise, Muschietti wanted to stay true to the essence of the character, and Skarsgard caught his attention, "The character has a childish and sweet demeanor, but there’s something very off about him. Bill has that balance in him. He can be sweet and cute, but he can be pretty disturbing."

• Jaeden Lieberher as Bill Denbrough

The leader of the Losers' Club, who vows to get revenge on the monster with the help of his friends. Denbrough losing his brother makes the battle against It a more personal crusade for him than any of the others. That and his stutter is what binds him to the group and transforms him into Big Bill, the leader. On the character of Denbrough, Muschietti spoke of him knowing a situation of despair, on top of the terror of It and the fear of heights, to which he stated, "Bill is like a ghost in his own home: nobody sees him because his parents can’t get over Georgie’s death." Ty Simpkins was considered for the role in Cary Fukunaga's production.

• Jeremy Ray Taylor as Ben Hanscom

Hanscom being overweight earns his place in the Losers' Club, but like all of the Losers, there are underlying facets that define him far more than his weight. On the character of Hanscom, Muschietti spoke of him knowing a situation of despair, on top of the terror of It and the fear of heights, to which he stated, "[...] Ben is bullied at school."

• Sophia Lillis as Beverly Marsh

The only female member of the Losers' Club, who forms a strong bond with Ben Hanscom. Beverly's Losership wasn't defined by the fact she was abused but by her poverty. On the character of Marsh, Muschietti spoke of her knowing a situation of despair, on top of the terror of It and the fear of heights, to which he stated, "Beverly's case is of course the worst, because it’s about sexual abuse on a minor." In an interview with Rolling Stone, Lillis spoke of Muschietti not wanting herself and her co-stars to spend too much time with Skarsgård: "We actually weren't allowed to see him until our scenes, because we wanted the horror to be real." On Skarsgård's appearance as Pennywise, she recalled, "Everyone had different reactions, but all of us were like, 'Wow, what did we get ourselves into?' One look at him, and ... you know, he's a really scary clown that wants to kill us. I was a little bit shocked." On her connection with her fellow co-stars she noted that the closeness of the friendships formed allowed Lillis connect with her own character: "I relate to Beverly – the way she deals with her emotions, and the way she was around the Losers. I felt that way around the actual actors."

• Finn Wolfhard as Richie Tozier

The bespectacled best friend of Bill Denbrough, also known as 'Trashmouth Tozier' due to his foul language and loud mouth that often got him into trouble. Wolfhard shared the first image of the Losers Club on his Instagram account, with the photo captioned as "The Losers Club take Toronto", showing the cast of actors who will be playing the protagonists of the piece. Wolfhard was the only actor cast in both this and Fukanaga's version. On the character of Tozier, Muschietti spoke of him knowing a situation of despair, on top of the terror of It and the fear of heights, to which he stated, "We don't know much about Richie's personality, because he's the big mouth of the group. But we suppose he's also neglected at home, and he's the clown of the band because he needs attention."

• Wyatt Oleff as Stanley Uris

A Jewish germaphobe with a stronger belief in the pragmatic whose bird book and his calling of the birds is the only magic he really allows himself to believe in. On the character of Uris, Muschietti spoke of him knowing a situation of despair, on top of the terror of It and the fear of heights, to which he also stated, "Long story short, there’s all sorts of difficult situations, and we had the chance to tell them in a movie that faces directly those conflicts [...] the families of the young actors were very open-minded, so we could tell the about subjects that are normally very touchy."

• Chosen Jacobs as Mike Hanlon

An African American autodidact of history, who relays the incidents of Derry's past to his friends – The fire at the Black Spot, the Bradley Gang shoot-out, and the mass-murder at the Silver Dollar. Living with his grandfather Leroy, Mike was orphaned at a young age, due to his parents' death in a fire. On the character of Hanlon, Muschietti spoke of him knowing a situation of despair, on top of the terror of It and the fear of heights, to which he also stated, "Long story short, there’s all sorts of difficult situations, and we had the chance to tell them in a movie that faces directly those conflicts [...] the families of the young actors were very open-minded, so we could tell the about subjects that are normally very touchy." On the experience of shooting Muschietti's piece, Jacobs spoke of the experience as "[...] my favorite summer of my 16 long years on earth [...]"

• Jack Dylan Grazer as Eddie Kaspbrak

Kaspbrak is the epitome of the hypochondriac, overly exaggerated by the immense amount of objects in his medicine cabinet; a sickly boy who only feels truly well when he is with his friends.On the character of Kaspbrak, Muschietti spoke of him knowing a situation of despair, on top of the terror of It and the fear of heights, to which he also stated, "Long story short, there’s all sorts of difficult situations, and we had the chance to tell them in a movie that faces directly those conflicts [...] the families of the young actors were very open-minded, so we could tell the about subjects that are normally very touchy." Grazer spoke of his appreciation of films such as Lethal Weapon 2 (1989) and Batman (1989) that gave him "[...] insight on how [he] could [improvise] or reuse those things as references to the time period."

• Nicholas Hamilton as Henry Bowers

A young sociopath who leads the Bowers Gang, a gang of high school bullies, and terrorizes the Losers' Club. Hamilton prepared for the role by studying Jarred Blancard's portrayal of the character in It (1990), and in Hamilton's words, "watched all the bits of my original character" for research. Hamilton added, through the character of Bowers, that "There's stuff that I have to do that is really creepy and the opportunity to help share my psychotic side has been really fun." Additionally Hamilton stated, "I recently did a scene where I was working with Jeremy Ray Taylor. I had to terrorize the hell out of him and get right in his face."

• Jackson Robert Scott as George Denbrough

The innocent, energetic 7-year-old brother of Bill Denbrough. His disappearance at the hands of Pennywise results in the next summer's events.

Additionally, Owen Teague is introduced as Patrick Hockstetter, a psychopath who keeps a refrigerator full of animals that he has killed; Logan Thompson appears as Victor "Vic" Criss, the inseparable friend of Henry Bowers; Jake Sim appears as Reginald "Belch" Huggins, the biggest, strongest and clumsiest member of the Bowers Gang; Javier Botet appears as The Leper, a rotting homeless man that encounters Eddie Kaspbrak under the porch of the house on 29 Neibolt Street; Tatum Lee appears as Judith, one of It's horrifying creations; Steven Williams appears as Leroy Hanlon, the supportive grandfather of Mike Hanlon who runs a nearby abattoir; Stephen Bogaert appears as Alvin Marsh, the abusive father of Beverly Marsh; Geoffrey Pounsett appears as Zack Denbrough, the father of Bill and George Denbrough; Pip Dwyer appears as Sharon Denbrough, the caring and loving mother of Bill and George Denbrough; Ari Cohen appears as Rabbi Uris, Stanley Uris' father and mentor in the Jewish religion; Stuart Hughes appears as Oscar "Butch" Bowers, a racist and abusive officer of the Derry Police Department who is the father of Henry Bowers. Butch has a strong dislike towards the Hanlon family, especially Leroy; Megan Charpentier appears as Greta Bowie, a snobby and stuck-up student in Mrs. Douglas' class and a classmate of the Losers Club at Derry Middle School, who lives in the richer parts of Derry.

Production

The project has been in ongoing development since 2009. To date, the proposed film adaptation has gone through two major phases of planning: initially with Cary Fukunaga from 2009 to 2015, with the early contributions of screenwriter David Kajganich, and currently with Andrés Muschietti, with Fukunaga remaining in some capacity due to prior screenplay contributions.

Cary Fukunaga (2009–2015)

"I am in the midst of rewriting the first script now. We're not working on the second part yet. The first script is just about the kids. It's more like The Goonies (1985) meets a horror film [...] We're definitely honoring the spirit of Stephen King, but the horror has to be modernized to make it relevant. That's my job, right now, on this pass. I'm working on making the horror more about suspense than visualization of any creatures. I just don't think that's scary. What could be there, and the sounds and how it interacts with things, is scarier than actual monsters. "

– Cary Fukunaga, on the development of It

On March 12, 2009, Variety reported that Warner Bros. would be bringing Stephen King's novel to the big screen, with David Kajganich to adapt King's novel, while Dan Lin, Roy Lee and Doug Davison would be producing the piece. When Kajganich learnt of Warner Bros.' plans to adapt King's novel, he went after the job. Knowing that Warner Bros. was committed to adapting It as a single feature film, Kajganich began to reread the novel in an attempt to try to find a structure that would accommodate such a large number of characters in two different time periods, around 120 pages, which was one of Warner Bros.' stipulations. Kajganich worked with Lin, Lee, and Davison on The Invasion (2007), and he knew they would champion good storytelling, and allow him the time to work out a solid first draft of the screenplay. Kajganich spoke of the remake being set in the, "mid-1980s and in the present [...] mirroring the twenty-odd-year gap King uses in the book [...] and with a great deal of care and attention paid to the backstories of all the characters."

Kajganich also mentioned that Warner Bros. wished for the adaptation to be rated R which he furthered by saying, "[...] we can really honor the book and engage with the traumas (both the paranormal ones and those they deal with at home and school) that these characters endure.", while Kajganich acknowledged that Warner Bros. wanted the adaptation as a single film. He said that his dream choice for Pennywise would be Buster Keaton if he were still alive, and the Pennywise that Kajganich scripted being "a less self-conscious of his own irony and surreality." On June 29, 2010, the screenplay was being re-written by Kajganich.

On June 7, 2012, The Hollywood Reporter had revealed that Cary Fukunaga was boarding the project as director and will co-write the script with Chase Palmer, while Roy Lee and Dan Lin are producing, as with Seth Grahame-Smith and David Katzenberg of KatzSmith Productions. On May 21, 2014, Warner Bros. was announced to have moved the film to its New Line Cinema division, with overseer duties conducting by New Line's Walter Hamada and Dave Neustadter, along with Vice President of Production at Warner Bros., Niija Kuykendall. On December 5, 2014, in an interview with Vulture, Dan Lin announced that the first film will be a coming-of-age story about the children tormented by It and the second will skip ahead in time as those same characters band together to continue the fight as adults. Lin also stated that Fukunaga was only committed to directing the first film, though was currently closing a deal to co-write the second. Lin concluded by mentioning King, to which he remarked, "The most important thing is that [King] gave us his blessing. We didn't want to make this unless he felt it was the right way to go, and when we sent him the script, the response that Cary got back was, 'Go with God, please! This is the version the studio should make.' So that was really gratifying." Lin confirmed that Fukunaga would begin principal photography in Summer 2016.

On February 3, 2015, Fukunaga was interviewed by Slate wherein he spoke about It, while mentioning he has someone in mind for the role of Pennywise. On March 3, 2015, Fukunaga spoke of the film, particularly noting his goal to find the "perfect guy to play Pennywise". Fukunaga also revealed that he, Kajganich and Palmer had changed the names and dates in the script, adding, "[...] the spirit is similar to what he'd like to see in cinemas." On May 4, 2015, it was officially announced that Will Poulter had been cast to play Pennywise, after Fukunaga was "blown away" by his audition. Ty Simpkins was considered to play one of The Losers' Club members.

On May 25, 2015, it was reported that Fukunaga had dropped out as the director of It. According to TheWrap, Fukunaga clashed with the studio and didn't want to compromise his artistic vision in the wake of budget cuts by New Line, which greenlit the first film at $30 million. However, Fukunaga maintained that wasn't the case, with him stating he had bigger disagreements with New Line over the direction of the story: "I was trying to make an unconventional horror film. It didn't fit into the algorithm of what they knew they could spend and make money back on based on not offending their standard genre audience." He made mention that the budget was perfectly fine, as well as his desire to make Pennywise more than just the clown. Fukunaga concluded by stating, "We invested years and so much anecdotal storytelling in it. Chase and I both put our childhood in that story. So our biggest fear was they were going to take our script and bastardize it [...] So I'm actually thankful that they are going to rewrite the script. I wouldn't want them to stealing our childhood memories and using that [...] I was honoring King's spirit of it, but I needed to update it. King saw an earlier draft and liked it." On Fukunaga's departure, King wrote, "The remake of IT may be dead—or undead—but we'll always have Tim Curry. He's still floating down in the sewers of Derry."

Andrés Muschietti (2015–2017)

"The way Cary intended to execute the script is something that only he can talk about. I can say my version of It highly emphasizes Pennywise's most terrifying virtue, which is it's ability to materialise into your worse fear; I want to take people in a journey into Pennywise's world through a disturbing, surrealistic and intoxicating experience that will leave nobody at ease."

– Andrés Muschietti, on his version of It

On July 16, 2015, it was announced that Andrés Muschietti was in negotiations to direct It, with New Line beginning a search for a new writer to tailor a script to Muschietti's vision, with the announcement also confirming the possible participation of Muschietti's sister, Barbara Muschietti, as a producer, and Richard Brener joining Hamada, Neustadter and Kuykendall to oversee the project. On April 22, 2016, it was indicated that Will Poulter, who was originally tapped to portray Pennywise in Fukunaga's version, had dropped out of the film due to a scheduling conflict and that executives were meeting with actors to portray the antagonist. On April 22, 2016, New Line Cinema set the film for a release of September 8, 2017.

On October 30, 2015, Muschietti was interviewed by Variety wherein he spoke about his vision of It, while mentioning Poulter was still in the mix for the role of Pennywise: "[Poulter] would be a great option. For me he is at the top of my list [...]." He confirmed that next summer is the time for them to start shooting. It was decided to shoot It during the summer months to give them the time to work with the children who have the main roles in the first part of the film. Muschietti went on to say that "King described 50s' terror iconography," adding that he feels there is a whole world now to "rediscover, to update." He said there won't be any mummies or werewolves and that the "terrors are going to be a lot more surprising." On February 19, 2016, at the D.I.C.E. Summit 2016 producer Roy Lee confirmed that Fukunaga and Chase Palmer's original script had been rewritten, with Lee remarking, "It will hopefully be shooting later this year. We just got the California tax credit ... [Dauberman] wrote the most recent draft working with [Muscetti], so it's being envisioned as two movies."

On May 5, 2016, in an interview with Collider.com, David Kajganich expressed uncertainty as to whether drafts of his original screenplay would be used by Dauberman and Muschietti, with the writer stating, "We know there's a new director, I don't know myself whether he's going back to any of the previous drafts or writing from scratch. I may not know until the film comes out. I don't know how it works! If you find out let me know."

On June 2, 2016, Jaeden Lieberher was confirmed to be portraying lead protagonist, Bill Denbrough. On June 2, 2016, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Bill Skarsgård was in final negotiations to star as Pennywise, whose cast will also include Finn Wolfhard, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs and Jeremy Ray Taylor. On June 2, 2016, there was a call for 100 background performers, with the background actor call going from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. and by 4 p.m. more than 300 people had gone through; the casting call also asked for a marching band and period cars between 1970 and 1989. On February 18, 2016, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Owen Teague was set to portray Patrick Hocksetter. On June 21, 2016, it was officially announced that Nicholas Hamilton had been cast to play Henry Bowers. On June 21, 2016, Bloody Disgusting reported that Javier Botet was added to the cast shortly before filming commenced. On June 22, 2016, Deadline.com reported that Muschietti had chosen actress Sophia Lillis to portray Beverly Marsh. On June 24, 2016, Moviepilot reported that Stephen Bogaert was added to the cast shortly before filming commenced, with Bogaert portraying Al Marsh, the abusive father of Beverly Marsh.

On July 22, 2016, Barbara Muschietti was interviewed by Northumberland News' Karen Longwell, wherein she spoke about the filming locations on It, while mentioning the beauty of Port Hope being one of the reasons as to why it was chosen, while Muschietti added, "We were looking for an idyllic town, one that would be a strong contrast to the story. Port Hope is the kind of place we all wish we had grown up in: long summers riding bicycles, walks by the lake, a lovely main street, charming homes with green lawns, warm people." Muschietti also mentioned that 360 extras from the area, from adults to tiny kids, had been involved.

On August 11, 2016, at The CW TCA presentation for the upcoming series Frequency, producer Dan Lin spoke of the piece's comparison to Netflix's Stranger Things, with Lee describing It being a "homage to 80s movies", while remarking: "I think a great analogy is actually Stranger Things, and we're seeing it on Netflix right now. It's very much an homage to '80s movies, whether it's classic Stephen King or even Spielberg. Think about Stand by Me (1986) as far as the bonding amongst the kids. But there is a really scary element in Pennywise." Lin continued, speaking of how well the young cast has bonded in these first weeks of shooting. Lin stated, "We clearly had a great dynamic amongst the kids. Really great chemistry is always a challenging thing with a movie like It because you're casting kids who don't have a ton of experience, but it ended up being really natural. Each kid, like a The Goonies (1985) or Stand by Me (1986), has a very specific personality and they're forming the loser's club obviously [...] We've spent a few months getting the kids to bond and now they're going to fight this evil, scary clown."

On February 9, 2017, at the press day for The Lego Batman Movie (2017), Lin confirmed that It is going to be rated R by the MPAA, to which he stated to Collider.com's Steve Weintraub, "If you're going to make a "Rated-R movie", you have to fully embrace what it is, and you have to embrace the source material. It is a scary clown that's trying to kill kids. [...] They do have a scary clown that’s taken over the town of Derry, so it’s going to be rated R." On March 11, 2017, Muschietti, at the SXSW festival, spoke of an element of the pre-production phase in his attempt to keep Skarsgård separated from the film's child actors, wherein the actor wasn't introduced to the young cast until Pennywise's first encounter with the children: "It was something that we agreed on, and that's how it happened [...] The day that he showed up on the stage, they fucking freaked out. Bill is like, seven-foot high, and I can't describe how scary he looks in person. He's a wiry man, crouching, making sounds, snotting, drooling, speaking in Swedish sometimes. Terrifying." Muschietti stated that the story had been moved forward, with the scenes with the young Losers Club shifting from the 1950s to the 1980s, while also describing their plot as "getting much wider," with new material not in the novel or the 1990 miniseries. However, Muschietti said he hoped it would still strike the same emotional resonance that the book did for him when he first read it: "It's all about trying to hit the core and the heart."

On July 12, 2017, Muschietti, in an interview with French magazine Mad Movies, spoke of when developing the R rated film, in which allowed him to go into very adult themes, which was championed from the people at New Line Cinema. He also stated that, "[...] if you aimed for a PG-13 movie, you had nothing at the end. So we were very lucky that the producers didn't try to stop us. In fact it's more our own moral compass that sometimes showed us that some things lead us in places where we didn't want to go." In the same interview, on July 12, 2017, producer Barbara Muschietti added that there was only one scene that was deemed to be too horrific to feature in the new adaptation, in which she stated, "[...] you won't find the scene where a kid has his back broken and is thrown in the toilets. We thought that the visual translation of that scene had something that was really too much." Muschietti concluded by emphasizing that nothing was removed from the original vision, nor was the violence of any event watered down.

On July 19, 2017, in an interview with Variety's Brent Lang, director Muschietti commented of the monstrous forms that It shall be taking, as well as noting the fact that they'll be very different from the incarnations present in King's story, in which he stated, "The story is the same, but there are changes in the things the kids are scared of. In the book they're children in the '50s, so the incarnations of the monsters are mainly from movies, so it's Wolf Man, the Mummy, Frankenstein, [and] Dracula. I had a different approach. I wanted to bring out deeper fears, based not only on movie monsters but on childhood traumas." While on the topic of what being the key to a successful horror film, Muschietti concluded by remarking that "Stay true to what scares you. If you don't respect that, you can't scare anyone." Muschietti explained how Skarsgård caught his attention to embody Pennywise, while pointing out that he didn't want the young cast to spend too much time with the actor when not shooting, and encouraged the cast to "maintain distance" between them, wherein Muschietti detailed: "We wanted to carry the impact of the encounters to when the cameras were rolling. The first scene where Bill interacted with the children, it was fun to see how the plan worked. The kids were really, really creeped out by Bill. He's pretty intimidating because he's six-four and has all this makeup."

Filming

Port Hope had undergone a number of changes to transform it into the town of Derry.

Production designer Mara LePere-Schloop went to Bangor, Maine, to scope out locations including the Thomas Hill Standpipe, the land running alongside the Kenduskeag Stream that in It is called The Barrens, it was confirmed on March 31, 2015, and the Waterworks on the Penobscot River. LePere-Schloop said during her tour that they were hoping to shoot some scenes in the city and possibly get some aerial shots, although currently the leading locations for the majority of filming for the movie are in Yonkers, New York, and in Upstate New York. On May 31, 2016, Third Act Productions was confirmed to have applied to film interior and exterior scenes for It in the municipality of Port Hope, with filming slated for various locations around the municipality from July 11, 2016, up until July 18, 2016. Principal photography was confirmed to have begun in Toronto, with an original shooting schedule occurring from June 27 to September 6, 2016.

On July 8, 2016, Port Hope had undergone a number of changes to transform it into Derry; Port Hope Municipal hall is now Derry Public Library, The Port Hope Tourism Centre is now a City of Derry office, Ganaraska Financial is now Montgomery Financial, Gould's Shoes store front on Walton Street changed to a butcher shop, The Avanti Hair Design store front changed to Tony's Barber Shop, an empty storefront at 36 Walton Street changed to Reliance Cleaners, Queen Street Tattoo store front changed to Derry Scoop, a statue of Paul Bunyan was erected in Memorial Park, US flags now hang in place of Canadian flags downtown, and Port Hope Capitol Theatre had appeared to be showing Batman (1989) and Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), thus confirming the film's setting of 1989.

On July 11, 2016, preliminary shooting took place in Port Hope Town Hall, Memorial Park cenotaph, Queen Street between Walton and Robertson streets and the Capitol Theatre. On July 12, 2016, filming occurred between the intersection of Mill and Walton street, Walton Street bridge, and in front and behind 16–22 Walton Street and Port Hope Town Hall. Other shooting locations included Queen Street between Walton and Roberston street, and Memorial Park, on July 13. It was also reported, on July 14, that filming had been set up on the alley between Gould's Shoe's and Avanti Hair Design, and John and Hayward streets. On July 15, 2016, Cavan Street between Highland Drive and Ravine Drive, and Victoria Street South between Trafalgar Street and Sullivan Street. Filming moved to Cavan Street between Highland Drive and Ravine Drive, and Victoria Street South between Trafalgar Street and Sullivan Street on July 15. Filming in Port Hope ended on July 18, at Watson's Guardian Drugs.

Oshawa had been chosen by producers of It as the next filming location, and on July 20, 2016, filming notices were sent out to homes in the area of Eulalie Avenue and James Street, near downtown Oshawa, advising residents that filming of a new adaptation will commence shooting in the area from August 5 up until August 8, 2016. On July 29, 2016, it was announced the crew had been busy on the formerly vacant lot at the dead end of James Street constructing the set, in the form of a dilapidated old house. It was also remarked that the structure is a facade built around scaffolding that will be used for exterior shots. The set is composed of pre-fabricated modules that are being trucked in and put into place by IATSE carpenters.

On July 18, 2016, production crews had arrived in Riverdale, Toronto, with filming beginning at 450 Pape Ave, which is home to a circa 1902 heritage-designated building called Cranfield House, up until August 19, 2016. It was reported, on September 4, that filming had wrapped it's shooting in Oshawa, which included the haunted house location, as well as on Court and Fisher streets. Principal photography was confirmed to have ended in Toronto on September 21, 2016, with an altered shooting schedule occurring from June 27 to September 21, 2016, and ultimately with post-production initially beginning on September 14, 2016.

Design

Costume design

Pennywise's gray costume was partly inspired by the clothing style of the Renaissance.

On August 16, 2016, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, costume designer Janie Bryant spoke of crafting Pennywise's form-fitting suit and the inspirations to which it drew upon – involving a number of bygone times – among them the Medieval, Renaissance, Elizabethan, and Victorian eras. Bryant explained that the costume incorporates all these otherworldly past lives, while highlighting the point that Pennywise is a clown from a different time. In designing Pennywise's costume, Bryant included a Fortuny pleating, which gives the costume an almost a crepe-like effect, to which Bryant remarked, "It's a different technique than what the Elizabethans would do. It's more organic, it's more sheer. It has a whimsical, floppy quality to it. It's not a direct translation of a ruff or a whisk, which were two of the collars popular during the Elizabethan period."

Bryant played with multiple eras as a way of reflecting Pennywise's immortality and added a "doll-like quality to the costume." She furthered this by stating "The pants being short, the high waistline of the jacket, and the fit of the costume is a very important element. It gives the character a child-like quality." Bryant spoke of the two puffs off the shoulder, sleeves and again on the bloomers, with her desire to create an "organic, gourd or pumpkin kind of effect", which includes the peplum at the waist, the flared, skirt-like fabric blossoming from below his doublet. She explains, "It helps exaggerate certain parts of the body. The costume is very nipped in the waist and with the peplum and bloomers it has an expansive silhouette." The main color of his costume is a dusky gray, but with a few splashes of colour. She concludes the interview by stating, "The pompoms are orange, and then with the trim around the cuffs and the ankles, it's basically a ball fringe that's a combination of orange, red, and cinnamon. It's almost like Pennywise fades into his environment. But there are accents to pull out the definition of the gray silk."

Visual effects

Nicholas Brooks was the overall visual effects supervisor and visual effects company Rodeo FX worked on most of the visual effects on It. Amalgamated Dynamics worked on the special makeup effects on It.

Themes

The film has been described as a loss of innocence film, with fear, mortality and survivalist themes. Muschietti remarked of the film's elements of coming of age and issues of mortality, wherein he states such themes are prevalent in King's book, though that in reality these occur in a more progressive way, "There's a passage [in It] that reads, 'Being a kid is learning how to live and being an adult is learning how to die.' There's a bit of a metaphor of that and it just happens in a very brutal way, of course."

He also mentioned the characterization of Pennywise's survivalist attitude, and a passage in the novel which inspired Muschietti, was when Bill wonders if Pennywise is eating children simply because that's what we're told monsters do, in stating, "It's a tiny bit of information, but that sticks with you so much. Maybe it is real as long as children believe in it. And in a way, Pennywise's character is motivated by survival. In order to be alive in the imagination of children, he has to keep killing." While Muschietti acknowledges it to being a horror film, he too felt that its not simply just that: "It's a story of love and friendship and a lot of other beautiful emotions."

Music

On March 23, 2017, Benjamin Wallfisch was announced as the composer of It's score.

Release

It is scheduled to be released in North America on September 8, 2017. On March 7, 2017, the title of the film was announced by Stephen King as Part 1 – The Losers’ Club.

Marketing

On January 31, 2016, Muschietti, on his Instagram, posted a sketch that is thought to be the precursor to Pennywise's final look, to celebrate the pre-production getting underway. Beginning from July 11, 2016, Muschietti posted a variety of missing person posters of children within the Derry area, including Betty Ripsom, Richie Tozier, Paul Greenberg, Jonathan Chan, and Tania McGowan.

Muschietti shared a photo of a missing person poster featuring Richie Tozier. The poster lists all of the character's information, as part of It's marketing campaign.

The first official image for It debuted on July 13, 2016 to promote It, introducing the first look at Skarsgård's Pennywise The Dancing Clown, as well as an interview with Skarsgård, conducted by Anthony Breznican. Thomas Freeman of Maxim wrote that "[...] Skarsgard in full, terrifying costume, [...] he's clearly got what it takes to fill King's most macabre, nightmare-inducing creation." Chris Eggertsen of HitFix responded positively stating the image to be "[...] an appropriately macabre look that doesn't deviate too radically from the aesthetic of Curry's Pennywise [...] dare I say, a more creepily seductive look to Skarsgard's version that was absent from Curry's interpretation."

On July 30, 2016, Muschietti released three storyboard images, up until the date of August 22, 2016, with the first featuring Bill Denbrough making a paper boat for his younger brother, George. The second storyboard features Bill leading his bike, nicknamed Silver, across a lawn with the included phrase: "He thrusts his fists against the posts but still insists he sees the ghosts". The third and final storyboard, to which was released, features Bill asleep next to a sketch of Beverly Marsh.

On August 16, 2016, Entertainment Weekly released the full costume image of Skarsgård's Pennywise to promote It, including an interview with costume designer Janie Bryant. JoBlo.com's Damion Damaske was fond of the new design, though was understanding others being dismissive of it. Damaske also stated, "One of the chief complaints is that it looked too automatically scary, and that one of the reasons Pennywise chooses his guise is to trick and lure children." Dave Trumbore of Collider.com noted that "This one's going to divide some folks. It's nowhere near as baggy or colorful as the one Tim Curry [...] donned [...], but the new version certainly seems to have a lot more thought and intent behind its creation." Jonathan Barkan of Bloody Disgusting called the image one of "[...] [drawing] attention and curiosity". Barkan then stated "I don't know if it's morbid curiosity or hopeful wishes but the overall response to his face and makeup seemed to be quite positive!"

On March 9, 2017, Neha Aziz of SXSW announced that Muschietti is set to appear at a screening event titled, Face Your Fears, to share footage from It, while discussing his inspirations and influences. On March 11, 2017, New Line Cinema showcased its promotion of It, by releasing a teaser trailer and a scene at the South by Southwest festival. Trace Thurman of Bloody Disgusting heralded the trailer: "It was maybe 90 seconds of footage, but it was a damn impressive 90 seconds of footage [...] As far as teasers go, it's one of the best that I've ever seen." Dread Central's Jonathan Barkan praised the scene, and stated, "The kids are clearly very adept at working off one another. There was a chemistry between the four that was wonderful to see and it’s obvious that Muschietti worked very hard to ensure they were believable." Eric Vespe of Ain't It Cool News remarked that "[...] this one scene shows us the key traits of the bulk of the members of the Losers Club within one sequence. I loved it for that reason."

On March 28, 2017, New Line released a 139-second teaser trailer to promote It, following a 19-second trailer and the official teaser poster the prior day, and for exhibitors at CinemaCon. Tom Philip of GQ heralded the trailer and its tonality by stating: "Dark corners everywhere and a pervading sense of absolute doom, even in the scenes where the creature isn't looming. That projector scene! Christ!" Michael Gold of The New York Times praised the trailer, and stated: "There's always tension in the sustained string chords of the soundtrack, and it imbues everything with suspense and darkness." Wired's Brian Raftery spoke most highly of the trailer, to which he stated, "The teaser's scariest moment features no gore or gotcha-ness; instead, it involves a misfiring slide-projector and a barely discernible clown-grin. Nothing in the It trailer feels like a cheap thrill, which is all the more thrilling." IndieWire's William Earl reacted positively to the "top-notch" production design of Derry, Maine within the trailer. The trailer reached 197 million views in its first 24 hours, setting a new record as the trailer with the most views in one day. In addition to dethroning The Fate of the Furious (2017), the trailer numbers surpass previous records held by Beauty and the Beast (2017), Fifty Shades Darker (2017), and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015).

On May 7, 2017, a second teaser trailer, this one lasting 137 seconds, was shown at the MTV Movie & TV Awards in Los Angeles, California, to promote It, with the new preview showcasing a snippet of the film where the "Losers' Club" search for Pennywise's many victims. Daniel Kreps of Rolling Stone felt snippet of the film "was initially [...] similar to Stand By Me (1986), with the Losers' Club playfully bantering about "gray water" [...] A series of scary images soon follow before the trailer ends on Pennywise doing unimaginable balloon tricks to lure a victim." Matt Goldberg of Collider.com praised the trailer, and stated: "This new trailer really plays up the kids' role and their fears. It's a smart move, because if a sequel does come along, it's going to be looking at the kids as adults, so that aspect will be lost." Digital Spy's Jack Tomlin spoke of the clarity in that director Muschietti's film will carry on down the "creepy as hell" vibe he gave the first trailer. On July 13, 2017, Entertainment Weekly released a collection of new images and concept art such as Pennywise's lair to promote It, including commentary from director Andrés Muschietti. On July 19, 2017, New Line Cinema showcased its promotion of It, by releasing three reels of footage at San Diego Comic-Con, before an advanced screening of Annabelle: Creation (2017).

Controversy

Main article: 2016 clown sightings

"I suspect it's a kind of low-level hysteria, like Slender Man, or the so-called Bunny Man, who purportedly lurked in Fairfax County, Virginia, wearing a white hood with long ears and attacking people with a hatchet or an axe. The clown furor will pass, as these things do, but it will come back, because under the right circumstances, clowns really can be terrifying."

—Writer Stephen King's reaction to the recurring clown scare phenomenon.

The first reported sighting of people dressed as evil clowns was in Greenville, South Carolina, where a small boy spoke to his mother of a pair of clowns that had attempted to lure him away. After such an incident, a number of clowns have since been spotted in various American states including Florida, New York, Wisconsin and Kentucky, and subsequently in other Western countries, from August 2016. By October 2016, in the wake of hundreds of "clown sightings" across the United States and Canada, the phenomenon had spread from North America to Europe, Australasia and Latin America.

Some explanations for the 2016 clown sightings phenomenon hypothesize that at least some of the sightings are part of a viral marketing campaign, possibly for the Rob Zombie film 31 (2016). Greenville police chief Ken Miller claimed to reporters that investigators are unsure as to whether the sightings have any connection with Zombie's 31, whether it was one or more people looking for "kicks", or something more sinister.

A spokesperson for New Line Cinema released a statement claiming that "New Line is absolutely not involved in the rash of clown sightings."

Accolades

It received a 2017 Golden Trailer Awards nomination for Best Horror, to which it subsequently won.

Sequel

On February 16, 2016, producer Roy Lee, in an interview with Collider.com, mentioned the final film of the planned It duology, remarking, "[...] making another movie from the point of view of the adults, that could potentially then be cut together like the novel. But it's gonna be a really fun way of making this movie." Lee also mentions that: "[Dauberman] wrote the most recent draft working with [Muschietti], so it's being envisioned as two movies." On July 19, 2017, Muschietti revealed that the plan is to get production under way for the sequel to It moving properly next spring, in which he stated, "We'll probably have a script for the second part in January [2018]. Ideally, we would start prep in March. Part one is only about the kids. Part two is about these characters 30 years later as adults, with flashbacks to 1989 when they were kids." On July 21, 2017, Muschietti spoke of looking forward to having a dialogue in the second film that doesn't exist within the first film, before stating, "[...] it seems like we're going to do it. It's the second half, it's not a sequel. It's the second half and it's very connected to the first one." Muschietti confirmed that two cut scenes from the film will hopefully be included in the second.

External links

• Official website
• It at IMDb
• It at Box Office Mojo
• It at Rotten Tomatoes
• It at Metacritic