We all know Stephen King is the Godfather of horror, and he has written some of the most successful and iconic books ever. Such is his popularity that most of King’s works have been adapted for the big and small screens. Among the best-known works the prolific author has produced, we have IT, the novel that pretty much put clowns out of business for, like, ever! The novel, following a bunch of kids in the town of Derry, Maine, and their fight against a murderous, demonic clown, captured the imaginations of horror fans everywhere.
IT became hugely successful and was first adapted by in 1990 into a TV miniseries starring John Ritter, and Tim Curry as Pennywise the Clown. And now, as is the want in Hollywood these days, we have a remake that’s recently been released. This is a new take on the story and features a very different Pennywise. The movie has set numerous box office records, in addition to receiving critical acclaim – here are some things you never knew about the movie!
The original Pennywise can be seen
Did you know, the original Pennywise can actually be seen in the movie. There’s a scene in which Richie Tozier, played impeccably by Finn Wolfhard (great name), is in a room full of clowns. One of the clown heads in the background is actually the Tim Curry Pennywise from the original IT miniseries. This is a blink-and-you’ll-miss it nod to the original movie, and only those more attentive of us will likely have spotted it. We love the reference to the original, after all, Curry is so iconic in that role.
The kids had to be taught how to ride bikes!
Okay, so this might come as a shock to anyone out there over the age of about 21, but, the kids in the movie had to be shown how to ride bikes. For real. The actors playing the kids in The Losers Club didn’t know how to ride bicycles, so the crew actually set up their own bike riding school on set for the children to practice and learn! If you’re above a certain age, you probably can’t get your head around this, and we can’t say we blame you! It’s a good job the crew set a riding school up, as bike riding is an integral part of the movie.
Others in contention for Pennywise
The IT remake has been in the pipeline for some time, and, as we now know, Bill Skarsgard got the role of Pennywise. However, there were other actors in contention for the role over the years. Some of the big names considered for the part of antagonist Pennywise include Jim Carrey, Tom Hiddleston, Johnny Depp, and Willem Dafoe. It’s unclear whether any of them sought the role, or even signed on, but it seems the producers decided to go a different route and cast a younger actor, which we feel worked really well.
The Duffer Brothers
Acclaimed writer-director team the Duffer Brothers originally wanted to direct the remake. However, at the time they were not considered to be bankable enough to helm the project. They would enjoy later success with Netflix smash-hit Stranger Things. The show starred Finn Wolfhard, who, ironically, stars as Richie in the remake of IT. We’re curious to see how the Duffer Brothers would have done with the remake, but we’ll never know now!
These are just a few of the cool facts we bet you never knew about the IT remake. There is so much about this film that’s pretty cool, and the movie went through several different processes. If you’ve not yet seen it you should definitely get yourself to the theater right now, it’s ace!
