Is It solely responsible for a generation’s terror over clowns? Maybe not solely, but it certainly didn’t help. Still, one murderous clown has finally been put down — at least, until It is released next year. Producer Barbara Muschietti (sister of director Andres Muschietti) posted to Instagram that the reboot has officially wrapped filming, and just to continue to terrorize us, she includes an image of a terrifying Pennywise pop-up.
This It production has been through a fairly tumultuous filming process, mostly recently with Cary Fukunaga attached to direct with Ben Mendelsohn starring as Pennywise, but when Mendelsohn had a conflict, Will Poulter stepped in. Then Fukunaga dropped out over creative differences with the studio, and Bill Skarsgard landed the nightmare-fueling role. At the TCA Press Tour in August, producer Dan Lin commented on Skarsgard’s take on Pennywise as:
"His build is really interesting. he’s really tall and lanky, and feels a little clown like in his movement. When he came in — we had a lot of different actors read, and when he came in he had a different spin on the character that got us really excited. You’ve had Heath Ledger doing almost a clown joker, you’ve seen obviously Tim Curry as a clown. We wanted someone who created a Pennywise character that would stand on its own and Bill came in and created this character that frankly freaked us out."
Check out the Instagram post below:
And yes, it's a wrap on #itthemovie. Thank you amazing cast and crew for this magical journey. And thank you #stephenking for giving us this tale. A photo posted by Barbie Mus (@barbaramus) on
Whereas the original Stephen King story took place in the 1980s and flashed back to the 1950s, the reboot will be taking place in present day and flashing back to the 80s. Lin also commented back in August that,
“I think a great analogy is actually Stranger Things, and we’re seeing it on Netflix right now. It’s very much an homage to ’80s movies, whether it’s classic Stephen King or even Spielberg . Think about Stand by Me as far as the bonding amongst the kids. But there is a really scary element in Pennywise.”
Get excited! It opens September 8, 2017, and also stars Jaeden Lieberher, Finn Wolfhard, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff,Chosen Jacobs, and Jeremy Ray Taylor.
For those who are unfamiliar with the story, here is the book’s synopsis:
Welcome to Derry, Maine. It’s a small city, a place as hauntingly familiar as your own hometown. Only in Derry the haunting is real.
They were seven teenagers when they first stumbled upon the horror. Now they are grown-up men and women who have gone out into the big world to gain success and happiness. But the promise they made twenty-eight years ago calls them reunite in the same place where, as teenagers, they battled an evil creature that preyed on the city’s children. Now, children are being murdered again and their repressed memories of that terrifying summer return as they prepare to once again battle the monster lurking in Derry’s sewers.
