Hide your kids, hide your wife: The Circus is in town. Jaeden Lieberher, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis and Jack Dylan Grazer co-star in the truly terrifying ‘IT’, an update of the classic horror mini-series based on the Stephen King novel.
The kids are haunted by killer clown Pennywise, played this time around by the wonderfully wicked Bill Skargard. Each brings warmth and quick wit to these beloved characters. Their rapport was apparent the moment I walked in – possibly due to their characters being part of a very cute love triangle. Despite the genuine creepiness of the film, we had a ball talking about filming gory, sometimes grueling scenes.
So obviously a big appeal of this movie is the way you all bond. Did you all do anything to build that camaraderie? Trust falls?
All: Yeah, we did actually.
JL: Our acting coach on set, Benjamin Perkins, he had us do these exercises like looking each other into the eyes. And we did this one thing where we had to be one creature. And we did a lot of improving to help us with our acting, but also to help us get closer to each other.
What was it like working with Andy (Muschietti, Director), did he help with that, too?
JL: Andy is the best because he’s just so open with us about everything.
SL: He not only tells us what the scene is but then asks us, ‘What do you want? What do you want to do with this?’ He asked us for our ideas, options. It was almost like we are the character. I think the freedom that we had was unlike any other.
There’s obviously some iconic scenes in this movie. I’m thinking of a particularly bloody one. What was one of the most challenging scenes for you?
JDG: Nothing was really challenging but things were like…creepy to film. Like some of the stuff with the hobo with me was kind of creepy.
JL: The fighting scene towards the end with us against Pennywise. It was challenging because there was so much technicality that goes into it. We have to do everything step-by-step perfectly for the camera to work. For everything to look right. That was one of the hardest scenes for us and it took us like a week to shoot.
SL: I think a lot of the scenes with my dad were hard to relate to. It was technically hard, too. Because there’s a lot of stuff and a lot of actions with my father. So it was hard to get into, but it was definitely an important scene.
JRT: I would probably agree with Jaeden on this one – the fight scene in the end. Everything is planned. And you have to get everything right for it to work out. So I think that was probably the most challenging.
The film hits theaters this Friday, September 8.