Warner Bros. had an exciting opening to Comic-Con with their Scare Diego presentation of IT: Chapter 2. Hosted by Conan O’Brien, select fans and press were invited to preview the trailer and several scenes from the upcoming sequel. The director, Andrés Muschietti, and cast were on hand to answer some questions surrounding what was presented, including Jessica Chastain as Beverly, James McAvoy as Bill, Isaiah Mustafa as Mike, Jay Ryan as Ben, Bill Hader as Richie, James Ransone as Eddie, and Andy Bean as Stanley.
The film’s trailer, which broke the record for most liters of “blood” in a film with 4,500 gallons, was met with great reception. Conan said he had seen a lot of great trailers and scenes, but that IT was a “really great fucking trailer… I soiled myself.”
The cast credited Muschietti for how their characters were on the screen. Hader told the audience, “He really talked to us about the character. There is a lot of emotion. It really is about childhood trauma in the movie and all of us coming out together. It wasn’t just this awesome scary movie, which it is, but it also had this really beautiful story to it and he always kept us in line with every scene.”
Chastain, who worked with the director previously on Mama, adored working with Muschietti and would work with him again on any film. Chastain described him as an “idiot savant” because “I think he’s one of those strange people who are good at everything.” There was a point during filming, where Chastain wasn’t sure what Muschietti wanted for the scene after many takes. Muschietti then told her in frustration, “I want everything!”
The cast also praised Pennywise himself, Bill Skarsgård, for his portrayal of the nightmare clown.
“He’s so good as Pennywise,” said Ransone.
Hader called working with Skarsgård as one of the besting acting experiences he’s ever had working with him, “He [Skarsgård] is a super nice guy,, but the minute they say action it’s kind of like working with some other being. He’s one of those where you don’t know where he’s going to go. There would be a camera right on me and he’s like touching and grabbing at you. It’s like ‘Dude! Stop!”
“Even when he’s not doing anything physically demanding or scary, or just doing the lines, he puts so much into it,” said McAvoy about Skarsgård. “It’s kind of disturbing like you’re hurting yourself to do this off-camera and you’re not scary, you’re just worried for him as well.”
Skarsgard was so good as the character that he didn’t need any CGI for the weird eye movements Pennywise does in the film. Skarsgård could just move one eye as the other stared straight. Hader joked, “It was like he was born to play Pennywise.”
IT: Chapter 2 Footage
First scene
The first scene shown were of the Losers Club reuniting as adults at a Chinese restaurant in Derry. Bill and Mike embrace each other as they were the first to arrive to the restaurant. Eddie arrives as he tells the waitress a list of his allergies and sees Bill and Mike. Meanwhile, Beverly and Ben run into each other outside the restaurant and embrace. As they separate from the hug, they see Richie who tells them, “Wow, you two look amazing. What happened to me?” Hader is hilarious as Richie and definitely earns the name “Trashmouth.”
We then cut to the group eating all together – Beverly, Bill, Mike, Ben, Richie and Eddie. They do small talk about what went on in their lives. They all notice Stanley never showed up. They then began talking about IT. Mike, who remained in Derry, remembered IT all clearly. The others had blurbs of IT, but starts feeling fear as they began to remember IT. Mike tells them more kids are going missing and reminds them of their oath to kill IT if it were to return.
There is more to this scene, which was incredibly well written and creepy, but we want you to remain surprised, but it does involve fortune cookies.
Second scene
This scene is set in a carnival in Derry. Bill is looking for a kid, who is targeted by Pennywise. The kid goes into a Fun House and is lost in the Hall of Mirrors. Bill folows him and tries to find the kid, but Pennywise shows up. Let’s just say, McAvoy described working on the scene as “horrific.” After viewing the footage, we have to agree.
“It’s like being in a nightmare,” McAvoy admitted. “Being in a hall of mirrors is like being in a nightmare anyway. Let’s just fucking admit it.”
This scene did not happen in the books or the original film. It was created to showcase the trauma and guilt Bill still had over Georgie. The scene came about when Muschietti was with a scout visit and came up with this whole sequence over a hour-long conversation drinking tequila with McAvoy.
Third scene
The Losers Club return to the Neibolt house to confront Pennywise. It is here we hear Richie repeat what he said in the last film: Let’s kill this fucking clown. The scene reflects the scary scene that was shown in Chapter One, including the infamous refrigerator scene. This scene freaked Hader out. “The first time the refrigerator started going crazy and the door opened,” said Hader. “Andres is very smart where he doesn’t show us – he shoots our coverage first. Then the thing goes and opens and you’re like ‘Oh my God.'”
IT: Chapter 2 opens in theaters on September 6.