ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - November 18th
"IT" premiered in 1990 on ABC
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In Derry, Maine, 1960, a young boy named George "Georgie" Denbrough is lured to a storm drain by a strange, yet seemingly kind, man dressed in a clown costume named Pennywise. After a brief conversation, Pennywise reveals his malevolent nature and murders Georgie. Georgie's older brother Bill is taunted by Pennywise as well. He and six other outcast children, who form a group called the Losers Club, discover they are all being tormented by the ambiguous clown. The rest of the group consists of the overweight but smart Ben Hanscom, asthmatic Eddie Kaspbrak who lives with his overprotective mother, Beverly Marsh who lives with her alcoholic father, comical Richie Tozier, Jewish boy scout Stan Uris, and African-American student Mike Hanlon. In turn, all of them are bullied by the psychotic Henry Bowers and his gang.
The Losers soon theorize that Pennywise is not a human being, he is instead an otherworldly creature that surfaces every thirty years in Derry to murder children and therefore they dub him "It". To avenge Georgie and others killed by It, the Losers venture into the sewers where the clown lurks. They are followed by Henry and his friends Victor Criss and Belch Huggins, who threaten Stan, only for It to kill Victor and Belch, but spares the terrified Henry, whose hair turns white. It, as Pennywise, catches up to the Losers and grabs Stan, bragging that he is immortal and eats children. Guessing It's powers are based around imagination, the Losers fight back using the same power, melting Pennywise's face with imaginary battery acid and Beverly smashes a hole in his head using a silver projectile. Pennywise escapes wounded, and the seven make a promise to return and kill him should It resurface. Henry is arrested and institutionalized when he confesses to murdering his friends and the children It killed.
The Losers soon theorize that Pennywise is not a human being, he is instead an otherworldly creature that surfaces every thirty years in Derry to murder children and therefore they dub him "It". To avenge Georgie and others killed by It, the Losers venture into the sewers where the clown lurks. They are followed by Henry and his friends Victor Criss and Belch Huggins, who threaten Stan, only for It to kill Victor and Belch, but spares the terrified Henry, whose hair turns white. It, as Pennywise, catches up to the Losers and grabs Stan, bragging that he is immortal and eats children. Guessing It's powers are based around imagination, the Losers fight back using the same power, melting Pennywise's face with imaginary battery acid and Beverly smashes a hole in his head using a silver projectile. Pennywise escapes wounded, and the seven make a promise to return and kill him should It resurface. Henry is arrested and institutionalized when he confesses to murdering his friends and the children It killed.
Above: Tim Curry stars as the evil Pennywise the Dancing Clown!
Thirty years later, in 1990, Pennywise returns and begins murdering children in Derry. Mike, a librarian still living in Derry, summons his six friends back to Derry to fulfil their vow. Bill has become a horror novelist married to actress Audra Phillips, Ben is an architect, Beverly is a fashion designer but in an unhappy relationship, Richie is a late night TV comedian, Eddie runs a limousine service but still lives with his mother, and Stan is a real estate broker. While five of them agree to come, Stan commits suicide in his bath tub and writes "It" on the wall in blood. The remaining six are individually scared by Pennywise, before reuniting for dinner, though Pennywise frightens them there too. They soon learn of Stan's suicide shortly after.
Elsewhere, an older Henry is visited and befriended by Pennywise who sends him to Derry to kill the Losers. Audra also arrives in town following Bill but falls victim to It's paralyzing "deadlights" and falls into a catatonic state. Henry wounds Mike, but is killed by his own knife during a scuffle with the other Losers. With Mike hospitalised, the five remaining Losers decide to destroy It for good. They confront It, who now appears as a monstrous spider. Eddie is killed by It, but Beverly mortally wounds It with her slingshot, and the Losers tear the spider apart. They remove the comatose Audra and Eddie's body from the sewers, burying him in Derry's cemetery.
The Losers go their separate ways, free from It's torment forever. Richie is cast in a film, Beverly and Ben get married and are expecting their first child, and Mike recovers. Bill manages to coax Audra out of her catatonia by going on a ride on his childhood bicycle, which had once freed a young Stan from his fear. With It gone, the Losers can move on with their lives and leave Derry behind.
Elsewhere, an older Henry is visited and befriended by Pennywise who sends him to Derry to kill the Losers. Audra also arrives in town following Bill but falls victim to It's paralyzing "deadlights" and falls into a catatonic state. Henry wounds Mike, but is killed by his own knife during a scuffle with the other Losers. With Mike hospitalised, the five remaining Losers decide to destroy It for good. They confront It, who now appears as a monstrous spider. Eddie is killed by It, but Beverly mortally wounds It with her slingshot, and the Losers tear the spider apart. They remove the comatose Audra and Eddie's body from the sewers, burying him in Derry's cemetery.
The Losers go their separate ways, free from It's torment forever. Richie is cast in a film, Beverly and Ben get married and are expecting their first child, and Mike recovers. Bill manages to coax Audra out of her catatonia by going on a ride on his childhood bicycle, which had once freed a young Stan from his fear. With It gone, the Losers can move on with their lives and leave Derry behind.
Pennywise: Excuse me, sir. Do you have Prince Albert in a can? You DO? Well, you better let the poor guy out! A-ha! A-ha! A-ha!... Excuse me, ma'am. Is your refrigerator running? [gasps] It IS? Well, you better go catch it before it runs away! A-ha! A-ha! A-ha!
Top and Above: The Losers Club from 1960 and 1990 prepare to fight It!
When ABC and Lorimar first announced the film adaptation to Stephen King's novel IT, it was to be a 6 hour miniseries directed by George A. Romero, who had previously collaborated with King on the horror anthology film, Creepshow. Romero did extensive pre-production work and closely collaborated with Lawrence D. Cohen to develop the script, but he had to bow out due to a scheduling conflict with the remake of Night of the Living Dead (1990). This mirrored Romero's experience on another Stephen King property, the previous year's Pet Sematary (1989), which he was also slated to direct, but was instead helmed by Mary Lambert.
King allowed a lot of flexibility when it came to rewriting much of the novel, which heavily omitted many references from the book (new director Tommy Lee Wallace admitted he had never read the novel before making the film, preferring to let the script speak for itself). For instance, the ending of the novel included the appearance of the Turtle, which was It's natural enemy and created the universe, but was deemed too cerebral to tackle on a television budget. When John Ritter - who was a huge King fan - asked about the Turtle's appearance in the film, the studio asked if he was crazy!
King allowed a lot of flexibility when it came to rewriting much of the novel, which heavily omitted many references from the book (new director Tommy Lee Wallace admitted he had never read the novel before making the film, preferring to let the script speak for itself). For instance, the ending of the novel included the appearance of the Turtle, which was It's natural enemy and created the universe, but was deemed too cerebral to tackle on a television budget. When John Ritter - who was a huge King fan - asked about the Turtle's appearance in the film, the studio asked if he was crazy!
Pennywise: [Pennywise's face begins changing from a smile to a frown] Ohh yes... They Float Georgie... They Float... and when your down here, with me... YOU FLOAT TOO!
[Pennywise grabs Georgie's arm and pulls him toward the storm drain]
Top: "It" torments bill with the memory of his dead brother, George;
Above: Pennywise has a special homecoming "gift" for the Losers
Cast as the grown-up counterparts of the Loser's Club (otherwise known in the series as the Lucky Seven) were actors Richard Thomas, Harry Anderson, John Ritter, Annette O'Toole, Tim Reid, Dennis Christopher and Richard Masur as; Bill Denbrough, Richie Tozier, Ben Hanscom, Beverly Marsh, Mike Hanlon, Eddie Kaspbrak and Stanley Uris, respectively. Child actors Jonathan Brandis, Seth Green, Brandon Crane, Emily Perkins, Marlon Taylor, Adam Faraizl and Ben Heller would play the respective characters as children in 1960. Jarred Blancard (cast as the young Henry Bowers) hated having to call Marlon Taylor a "nigger", and would often apologize to him before and after filming for his character's excessive use of the slur. While on the other hand, Michael Cole (adult Henry) got so much into the scene where he's trying to kill Mike that it was difficult for Ritter and Christopher to pull him off of Reid!
Originally, Alice Cooper was being considered for the role of Pennywise, until Tim Curry was cast. Curry was reluctant to take the role of Pennywise initially because he didn't relish the thought of being buried under so much makeup. When he played Darkness in Legend (1985), it was a difficult and demanding role, and the hours in makeup was still fresh in his mind. To compromise, Wallace minimized the amount of makeup on Curry, stating later that a lot of make-up wasn't necessary anyway because Curry's performance was so strong. On the DVD commentary track, the actors note that Tim Curry's characterization of Pennywise was so creepy and realistic that everyone avoided him during the filming!
Originally, Alice Cooper was being considered for the role of Pennywise, until Tim Curry was cast. Curry was reluctant to take the role of Pennywise initially because he didn't relish the thought of being buried under so much makeup. When he played Darkness in Legend (1985), it was a difficult and demanding role, and the hours in makeup was still fresh in his mind. To compromise, Wallace minimized the amount of makeup on Curry, stating later that a lot of make-up wasn't necessary anyway because Curry's performance was so strong. On the DVD commentary track, the actors note that Tim Curry's characterization of Pennywise was so creepy and realistic that everyone avoided him during the filming!
Above: It's true monstrous form!
During production, the adult actors had to be careful what they touched during the sewer scenes because the place was so rusty, there was a very real danger of tetanus infection. Because of that, it was not a fun scene to film. The spider at the climax was a fully operable puppet and was the last scene to be filmed. Ritter admittedly was disappointed that the final battle had to be fought with a puppet and not Curry, because he felt Pennywise was the real villain of the show, and not some fake spider. Wallace also felt disappointment with the movie's ending - the way he imagined it was different to the way it turned out, because they didn't have the money to do it as it was storyboarded. To get the effect of It moving through the pipework, a dolly crane was built and pushed through the piping. It was a difficult shot to get right because it was so cramped. It was also done from It's point-of-view because Tommy Lee Wallace believed that what we imagine is often scarier than what we see, a trick he learned from his old mentor, John Carpenter.
IT originally aired on ABC in 1990 on the nights of November 18 and November 20. Part 1 was the fifth highest rated program on Sunday nights with an 18.5 rating and watched in 17.5 million households, while Part 2 was the second highest rated program on Tuesday nights with a 20.6 rating and watched in 19.2 million households. Stephen King's It received generally positive reviews from critics and television viewers, with Tim Curry's performance as Pennywise receiving most of the high praise for capturing the novel's portrayal of the character.
IT originally aired on ABC in 1990 on the nights of November 18 and November 20. Part 1 was the fifth highest rated program on Sunday nights with an 18.5 rating and watched in 17.5 million households, while Part 2 was the second highest rated program on Tuesday nights with a 20.6 rating and watched in 19.2 million households. Stephen King's It received generally positive reviews from critics and television viewers, with Tim Curry's performance as Pennywise receiving most of the high praise for capturing the novel's portrayal of the character.
A feature-length adaptation for IT has been in development on-and-off for years, going through two 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. On May 25, 2015, it was reported that Fukunaga had dropped out as the director of IT. According to The Wrap, 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." 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 New Line producer's Walter Hamada, Dave Neustadter and Warner Bros' Niija Kuykendall to oversee the project.
Above: Bill Skarsgård stars as Pennywise in the 2017 remake
Exclusively recounting the story from the children's perspective in a more contemporary setting of 1988, the cast announced included; Jaeden Lieberher as Bill Denbrough, Jeremy Ray Taylor as Ben Hanscom, Sophia Lillis as Beverly Marsh, Finn Wolfhard as Richie Tozier, Jack Dylan Grazer as Eddie Kaspbrak, Chosen Jacobs as Mike Hanlon, and Wyatt Oleff as Stanley Uris. Nicholas Hamilton was also cast as sociopath Henry Bowers, with Logan Thompson as Victor "Vic" Criss, Jake Sim as Reginald "Belch" Huggins, and Owen Teague as psychopath Patrick Hockstetter, filling out Henry's gang.
On June 3, 2016, The Independent officially reported, after final negotiations took place, that Muschietti had chosen actor Bill Skarsgård to portray the character Pennywise The Dancing Clown. 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."
Principal photography was confirmed to have begun in Toronto, with an original shooting schedule occurring from June 27 to September 6, 2016. IT is scheduled to be released in cinemas September, 17th, 2017.
Principal photography was confirmed to have begun in Toronto, with an original shooting schedule occurring from June 27 to September 6, 2016. IT is scheduled to be released in cinemas September, 17th, 2017.
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