It (2017)
New Line Cinema's horror thriller "IT," directed by Andy Muschietti ("Mama"), is based on the hugely popular Stephen King novel of the same name, which has been terrifying readers for decades. When children begin to disappear in the town of Derry, Maine, a group of young kids are faced with their biggest fears when they square off against an evil clown named Pennywise, whose history of murder and violence dates back for centuries.
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Warner Bros. Pictures
In October 1988, Bill Denbrough gives his seven-year-old brother, Georgie, a sailboat made from paper. Georgie takes the boat out onto the street and is unable to stop it from sailing down the storm drain. In the storm drain, he finds a figure dressed as a clown who introduces himself as "Pennywise the Dancing Clown." The clown severs Georgie's arm when Georgie reaches into the drain for his boat, then drags him into the sewer.Eight months later, in June 1989, Bill and his friends Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak and Stanley Uris run afoul of bully Henry Bowers and his gang. Bill, still haunted by Georgie's disappearance and the resulting neglect from his grief-stricken parents, discovers that his brother's body may have washed up in a marshy wasteland called the Barrens. He recruits his friends to check it out, believing his brother may still be alive.Ben Hanscom, who has recently moved to Derry, learns that the town has been plagued by unexplained tragedies and child disappearances for centuries. He encounters a burned, headless boy in the library and runs into Bowers' violent gang. He flees into the Barrens, meeting Bill's group. They find the sneaker of a missing girl and Bowers' friend, Patrick Hockstetter, is killed by Pennywise.The next day, they each have a nightmarish encounter with Pennywise. Later, Bill and his friends discover Bowers' gang beating up Mike Hanlon. They chase the bullies off and befriend Mike.A few weeks later, the group, who now refer to themselves as "The Losers Club," realize that they are each being terrorized by the same entity. They determine that "It" assumes the appearance of what they fear, awakens every 27 years to feed on the children of Derry before returning to hibernation, and moves about by using the sewers around Derry's well, upon which 29 Neibolt Street—a run-down, abandoned house near the train yard—is built. Pennywise appears and the Losers fight It off before going to the Neibolt house. Eddie breaks his arm inside by falling before Pennywise emerges, and when Bill and the others come Pennywise admits that this was "real enough for Georgie" revealing that he was the one who killed him. Beverly Marsh impales It through the head, forcing the clown to retreat. The group begins to splinter, with Richie, Stan and Mike abandoning the others when Bill insists that they continue to hunt It.One day in August, Beverly manages to incapacitate her father when he attempts to rape her. She is abducted by Pennywise and Bill reassembles the Losers to mount a rescue. It compels Bowers to murder his abusive father before sending him to kill the Losers. At the Neibolt house, Mike is attacked by Bowers. He pushes Bowers down the well, where Bowers seemingly falls to his death. The Losers find It's lair in an underground cooling tower containing a mountain of decaying circus props, children's belongings, and the floating bodies of the missing children of Derry. They find Beverly in a catatonic state after Pennywise exposed her to It's true form. Ben kisses Beverly, restoring her consciousness. It, as Georgie, attempts to trick Bill but fails when Bill shoots It. It then attacks the group before taking Bill hostage, offering to spare the others if they allow It to eat their friend. They break Bill free and brutally fight Pennywise. Despite It's attempts to use their fears against them, Pennywise is mortally wounded and cornered by the Losers. Bill tells Pennywise that they know It needs their fear to survive and that they are now starving the creature by making It afraid of them. Knowing it has no more power over them, Pennywise escapes into a deep pit. Upon discovering Georgie's yellow raincoat, Bill accepts his brother's death and emotionally breaks down.One month later, Beverly informs the group of a vision she had while catatonic, where she saw them fighting the creature as adults. The Losers swear a blood oath that they will return to Derry in 27 years if It returns and destroy the creature once and for all. Beverly tells Bill that she is moving to live with her aunt in Portland. Before she leaves, Bill reveals his feelings and they kiss.Cast
- Jaeden Lieberher as William "Bill" Denbrough:The leader of the Losers' Club, who, with the help of his friends, vows to get revenge on the monster for the death of his young brother, Georgie. 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.
- Bill Skarsgård as It / Pennywise the Dancing ClownAn ancient, trans-dimensional evil that awakens every twenty-seven years 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.[37] 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 Linspoke 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 Skarsgård 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.
- Wyatt Oleff as Stanley "Stan" Uris:A Jewish mysophobe who is the son of a rabbi. He is studying for his bar mitzvah but isn't interested in religion, which is upsetting to his father. On the character of Uris, Muschietti spoke of him knowing a situation of despair, "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 them about subjects that are normally very touchy.
- Jeremy Ray Taylor as Benjamin "Ben" Hanscom:Hanscom is the new kid at school and consequently does not have any friends. He likes reading and researching so he spends a lot of time in the library. He is also very overweight, which earns his place in the Losers' Club, but like all of the Losers, there are underlying facets that define him far more than superficial appearances. On the character of Hanscom, Muschietti spoke of him knowing a situation of despair, "... Ben is bullied at school.
- Sophia Lillis as Beverly "Bev" Marsh:The only female member of the Losers' Club, she is bullied at school, particularly concerning false rumors that she is promiscuous. Her home life is also dismal, as her violent father is sexually abusive to her. Beverly's Losership was not 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, "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 her 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 to 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 Richard "Richie" Tozier:The bespectacled best friend of Bill Denbrough, also known as 'Trashmouth Tozier' due to his foul language and loud mouth, that often get him into trouble.Wolfhard, famous as Mike Wheeler in Stranger Things, 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 would play the protagonists. Wolfhard was the only actor cast in both this and Fukunaga's version.On the character of Tozier, Muschietti spoke of him knowing a situation of despair, "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.
- Jack Dylan Grazer as Edward "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. His overbearing mother is the true source of his hypochondria, however; she has convinced him that he is seriously ill and must stay close to her because only she can protect him. 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.
- Chosen Jacobs as Michael "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. He was orphaned in a fire, and is being raised on his grandfather Leroy's farm, where he works and is homeschooled. On the experience of shooting Muschietti's piece, Jacobs spoke of the experience as "... my favorite summer of my 16 long years on earth .
- Nicholas Hamilton as Henry Bowers:A young sociopath who leads the Bowers Gang, a gang of high school thugs, 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 "Georgie" Denbrough :The innocent, energetic 7-year-old brother of Bill Denbrough. His killing at the hands of Pennywise sets the stage for 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 stern 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, an officer of the Derry Police Department who is the father of Henry Bowers; Megan Charpentier appears as Greta Keene, 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 part of Derry.
- Jaeden Lieberher as William "Bill" Denbrough:
