Everybody probably remembers that one horror movie that made them cry when they were little. Maybe they snuck into the theater, or caught the wrong moment while flipping channels on TV.
For the child actors of It, their own movie is the one that made them cry. Monsters and Critics attended the press junket for It in Los Angeles, where producers shared the behind the scenes frights.
Now it’s not supposed to actually be scary on the set, but producer Seth Graeme Smith shared how one scene got to the young cast.
“I remember a day we were on stages,” Smith said. “It’s when Stanley gets almost eaten. He comes out of his trance and they’re all surrounding him.
“When we were filming that, he burst into tears and every kid burst into tears.”
The actors weren’t the only ones affected by the scene.
“Then we’re all sitting off camera and I burst into tears,” Smith continued. “There was a take where we had to raise the door of the stage, the roll-up door, walk outside in the air. Everybody had to take a minute and fan their eyes.”
Based on Stephen King’s epic tale, It is about a terrifying force that pursues a group of children in Derry, Maine, with their worst fears.
The face of It is Pennywise, a terrifying clown played by Bill Skarsgard in the film.
The filmmakers sprung Pennywise on the kids too.
“One of the greatest things is the kids were shooting for a month before they’d even seen Pennywise,” producer David Katzenberg shared. “I’ll never forget the first day Pennywise walked on the set.
“It was terrifying for all of us and that was a decision [director] Andy [Muschietti] made early on. He wanted to keep Pennywise away from those guys as long as possible so they could be scared of him.”
Movies are filmed out of order, so the first Pennywise scene filmed was not his first appearance in the movie. That would be popping up in the sewer.
Smith shared the details of Pennywise’s shocking debut on the set.
“If you’re curious, it’s the interior of the Neibolt kitchen where he’s hovering over Jack [Dylan Grazer] with his broken arm, about to bite his face off,” Smith said. “That’s the first scene we shot when he comes out of the refrigerator and menaces.”
Katzenberg added, “Jack met Pennywise literally five minutes before that.”
The young cast knew what they were getting into. It was intended to be rated R from the screenplay stage, so screenwriter Gary Dauberman was able to capture King’s most graphic horror, and the realistic language kids use.
“We could really go balls to the wall with the scares and the language with the kids, which I think just makes it feel a little more authentic,” Dauberman said.
It opens Friday, September 8.