Horror Stephen King's "IT" Part I and Part II

[Arachnerd]

Oh dear.

Spoiler

Poor Stan.

Spoiler

It's funny because they included a shot of Stan's suicide in the trailer and the general audience doesn't have a clue lol

 

[Daywalker89]

Oh dear.

Spoiler

Poor Stan.

To the interviewer

 

[Iceman]

I liked that trailer. The cast for this film is definitely getting me excited.

 

[redishere]

The part of the trailer where I seriously had goosebumps was the Henry Bowers bit in Juniper Hill. That giddy face and smile = chills.

 

[Sawyer]

I've been looking back on some of the first movie, and I guess I'm just used to Jack Dylan Grazer in Shazam mode, because he honestly looks about six in this movie.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Spoiler

It's funny because they included a shot of Stan's suicide in the trailer and the general audience doesn't have a clue lol

I mean, about as big a mystery in any old book adaptation, though this already had a pretty popular television version, so yeah.

 

[James.B]

 

[Micromind]

Andy Bean will always remind me of Alec Holland in Swamp Thing.

 

[Art Vandelay]

New book cover

 

[Pennywise]

'It 2' Filmmakers on How Jason Fuchs Helped Bring the Sequel Script to the Finish Line

You guys have been pretty open about how the writing process was on the first film, in that you were working from a pre-existing script and bringing your own touch to it. How different was the writing and scripting process this time around? Were you still working from a pre-existing layout, or was it all you this time?

ANDY MUSCHIETTI: No. The only existing maze was the challenge of making a second part, in terms of script, was basically keeping the tension all the time, condensing all the events that happened in this timeline into almost like a real-time journey. So, we had to interlace some of the events, or connect some events — in the book, they’re a little looser — and staying true to the emotion of that section, and also turn the screws of tension here and there, and also create events that make things more difficult. Create obstacles and diversion and forces that are not necessarily in the book.

The other reason is to get and to make a great experience of the movie. So yeah, there was a lot of that. And also the other reason for doing that is like, you know, [keep] the audience surprised and for people who’ve read the book. So even though we stay true to the spirit of the original story, there’s some changes and detours and departures that are very interesting.

Cool! I’m excited to find out what they are. When we visited the set for the first film, you guys already kind of referenced some of your ideas that you had for part two. How early did you start working with Gary on getting that script going?

BARBARA MUSCHIETTI: August. I think it was before we came out with Chapter One. We were already working on ideas and then Gary started putting it together with Andy. You know Andy’s very much the mastermind of the story and he knows very well what movie he wants to make. So we had a great journey with Gary. And then when Gary left for Annabelle, we started working with Jason Fuchs who did an amazing job taking us to the finish line. It was great. Yeah. I’m very happy.

ANDY MUSCHIETTI: Yeah. And having Jason on also during the shoot.

BARBARA MUSCHIETTI: Yes.

ANDY MUSCHIETTI: It was a weird thing because there were things changing every time. The great thing about staying open in on set [is] new things appear and new questions are asked, so it’s not an iron script anymore. So okay, “We still didn’t shoot Scene 74, so we are going to translate this question into that.” That was what was great about having a writer during production. So, Jason did a great job.

BARBARA MUSCHIETTI: You know that stereotype of getting new pages every day? We were getting new pages every day [laughs]. But it’s good, you make it better. It’s about making the movie better.

'IT 2' Filmmakers on Deepening Pennywise's "Manipulation and Perversion" in the Sequel

From the pages of Stephen King‘s 1986 novel to Tim Curry‘s iconic performance in the 1990s mini-series, and most recently, Bill Skarsgård‘s nightmare-fuel reinvention in 2017’s smash hit IT Chapter One, Pennywise is a horror staple that has terrified generations. With IT Chapter Two arriving in theaters on September 6, the child-eating dancing clown is about to strike again, and in the hands of director Andy Muschietti and producer Barbara Muschietti, the otherworldly menace is poised to be at his most devious.

After New Line Cinema’s all-out IT Chapter Two takeover at their annual SDCC ScareDiego event, I had the opportunity to sit down with the Muschiettis to talk about the film and what fans can expect from the sequel. In particular, what we should expect from Pennywise, aka Bob Gray, aka It, and why the creature’s smarter, more manipulative, and more perverse this time around. We talked about if they were able to include all their dream sequences this time around, getting the nuances of adult fear right, how It changed since the first film, and how Skarsgård’s performance process freaks people out on set.


Check out what they had to say below, and in case you missed it, be sure to check out the first half of the interview, during which we dove into the scripting process.

When I visited the set for the first film, you guys talked about a couple of scenes that you weren’t able to get in the first one. Like the black spot sequence and a sort of history of Pennywise sequence. With this one, were there scenes that you wanted to put into that you weren’t able to make happen? Or was it a situation where the success of the first one opened those doors?

ANDY MUSCHIETTI: It’s the same, yeah. It’s two things. Yeah, having made a successful first movie gave us more resources to make a second one, and the budget or limitations of the first one didn’t allow me to create some certain environments and scenes, we wouldn’t have enough money or time or whatever. I could successfully insert in the second part. I’m not going to tell you what it is because I want to keep it secret. But, there’s an event that it was very meaningful to me that belongs to the kids’ part of the story. It is a memory that everyone recovers, and the reason why…

BARBARA MUSCHIETTI: [Shushes him.]

ANDY MUSCHIETTI: [Laughs] Yeah, basically the reason that there’s events from 1989 that we didn’t tell in the first one is because there are events that they forgot, or repressed, or pushed down. And, this is a story about trauma, basically.

Right, well that’s something that I liked in the footage and trailer last night, the scene in the carnival, talking about repressed trauma with Bill, I was excited to see the manifestation of adult fears, which are more complex and a bit darker compared to the visceral, primal fears of children. How did you guys approach striking that balance and not over-intellectualizing your fears or something like that?



ANDY MUSCHIETTI: It’s not over-intellectualizing, it’s very relatable fears I think. All the losers have something that… basically made them complex and broken characters. I’m not going to tell you what it is, but they’re adult fears that anyone can understand or relate in the flesh, yeah. But there’s a balance of, of course, more visceral, graphic, horror, and incarnations and those deeper more complex feelings of fear in the movie.

In the book, we kind of find out that Its encounter with the Losers genuinely fractures its sense of identity and its belief that essentially he’s an almighty creature. How did you guys work with Bill to sort of manifest that change and evolved mentality after that encounter?

ANDY MUSCHIETTI: The return, We talked for hours, Bill and I talked for hours to discuss the character. One, in a larger, bigger plan for Pennywise on this one. Make sure that he came with a very specific and focused feeling of revenge against the losers and he just comes — there’s a bigger plan, there’s a step ahead that he didn’t have in the first movie and there’s also a deepened sense of manipulation and perversion, as well as smarts and intelligence this time.

BARBARA MUSCHIETTI: This is something that I remember from the first time a read the book, and it always stuck with me and then, of course, re-reading the book fifteen times now while working in production.

ANDY MUSCHIETTI: Wow, fifteen?

BARBARA MUSCHIETTI: Between listening and reading it, I would say fifteen.

Impressive!

BARBARA MUSCHIETTI: It’s because I read it more than he did, so that’s why he’s like “no” [Laughs] But there’s, I think, it’s a page in which you hear the voice of Pennywise in the book, and what you hear is that he is just annoyed because all he wants to do is eat and sleep, and now these guys have come back to **** that up for him, right? But then there’s no more explanation or elaboration of that in the book, and that’s something that Andy and Bill have to work with, a smarter Pennywise, somebody that knew that she… he… she [laughs].

ANDY MUSCHIETTI: It’s’ a female.

BARBARA MUSCHIETTI: Yeah.

Right.

ANDY MUSCHIETTI: You know that?

Yeah, It’s pretty explicitly female in the book.

BARBARA MUSCHIETTI: Yeah.

ANDY MUSCHIETTI: It’s a female, yeah.

BARBARA MUSCHIETTI: That she had to defeat these guys that had almost defeated him, and he knew the stakes. So it was quite a Titanic enterprise that they, these 2 guys [Andy and Bill], embarked on and I think they nailed it. And so does Stephen King.

How much farther were you able to push that intensity with Pennywise now that you’re working with an adult cast?

ANDY MUSCHIETTI: Bill goes to extremes all the time. he did it on the first one and he does it with this one. Dealing with adult actors, the method, the directing is different, but this one, I separated the kids from Pennywise to try to capture that first impression that first reaction. This time was different because they’re adults and even though they were creeped out, I didn’t give an intent to that, mostly relying on their performance and these are incredible actors. But they were still creeped out by Bill.

Bill is ever intimidating in all the makeup and costume, and he’s like 6’6″. He warms up. He’s not a method actor, but when he warms up, he generates a silence in the set that’s terrifying. He lives in this little black tent… it’s a big mystery and suddenly you hear from the corner of the set [clown laugh], and that’s him warming up the voice. And that’s where everybody shuts the **** up. He comes in like a long shadow.

BARBARA MUSCHIETTI: He’s got a very intimidating walk too. And he’s Swedish, so you don’t **** with the Swedish.

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Crosswind Ghost]

I don’t think we’ll get a concrete runtime until tickets go on sale but a German site listed a runtime of 165 mins, which I wouldn’t rely on. Amc just today listed a runtime of 170 mins, not much more reliable but possible. Original test screening runtime was 197 mins. Last screening was trimmed to 180. So we’re at least in the ball park of final runtime.

 

[Hollis Mason]

The book's ending (specially the last line) destroyed me. I hope this movie does the same.

 

[Sawyer]

I don’t think we’ll get a concrete runtime until tickets go on sale but a German site listed a runtime of 165 mins, which I wouldn’t rely on. Amc just today listed a runtime of 170 mins, not much more reliable but possible. Original test screening runtime was 197 mins. Last screening was trimmed to 180. So we’re at least in the ball park of final runtime.

If Avengers Endgame is any indication, I'll be almost pissing my pants at the end of this thing.

But it'll be worth it.

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Sawyer]

Spoiler

Isaiah's reaction is the best. He's putting absolutely everything he has into not cracking like the rest of them.

 

[redishere]

Wow this Runtime Mystery is getting weirder and weirder.
Test screenings were reportedly like 3 hours long, so it's clear the theatrical cut will be shorter.
If I'm not mistaken, I remember Chapter One having a long-ass runtime at test screenings as well, correct me if I'm wrong.
As for Chapter Two:
A German movie theater wrote 165 mins.
Someone wrote this on Wikipedia, too, then it got removed.
Then a Spanish movie theater wrote 174 mins.
Evidence of this runtime was nowhere else to be found.
Then the AMC website wrote 170 mins, then this runtime was removed.

I'm on the edge of my seat

 

[Luigi]

I'm just here waiting for the tickets to go on sale. Don't wanna miss out.

 

[Marvolo]

'It 2' Filmmakers on How Jason Fuchs Helped Bring the Sequel Script to the Finish Line



'IT 2' Filmmakers on Deepening Pennywise's "Manipulation and Perversion" in the Sequel

I've been hoping theyd use this film to frame the first film as being memories but with gaps in them to explain why we didnt see some events in the first film. The first film is like one long unreliable flashback.

It makes me wonder if this is how they will explain Henry impossibly surviving that absurd fall down the well. Maybe what we saw in the first film wasnt actually what happened to Henry.

 

[James.B]

Runtime is indeed 165 minutes, with a longer director's cut definitely coming this time with part 2.

It Chapter 2 director confirms epic runtime

 

[MOVIELORD101]

Runtime is indeed 165 minutes, with a longer director's cut definitely coming this time with part 2.

It Chapter 2 director confirms epic runtime

Weren't we supposed to get a director's cut of Part 1, too? And it never came?

 

[James.B]

The producer says Chapter 2 merits a director's cut more. Maybe they put out both directors cut when Chapter 2 is out on Blu/digital.

Producer Barbara Muschietti "We will put out a director's cut because this time it definitely merits it," she added.

 

[DarkKnight88]

Weren't we supposed to get a director's cut of Part 1, too? And it never came?

I wonder if some of those scenes they cut from Part 1, they just ended up using as flashbacks for Part 2 thus why no Director’s Cut.

 

[MattP]

I wonder if some of those scenes they cut from Part 1, they just ended up using as flashbacks for Part 2 thus why no Director’s Cut.

That could well be the case. I would have loved to see the original Georgie death scene from the test screening though. Not that a dc was any indication that we would have gotten that scene but I would have liked to see it. But still, 165 minutes is very welcome

 

[Drizzle]

The fact that it's almost three hours long is fine by me. I just wish the first film could have been about 15-20 minutes longer as well.