This post contains spoilers for It.
As of this week, It is the highest-grossing horror movie of all-time (not adjusted for inflation). One of the keys to the film’s financial and critical success, besides one sewer-dwelling clown, is a mix of the three H’s: heart, humor, and horror. That’s according to actor Jaeden Lieberher, who played the Losers’ Club unofficial leader Bill Denbrough (and the titular Henry in the best movie of 2017, The Book of Henry), in an interview with Variety.
“With the heart, humor, and horror thing,” the 14-year-old actor said, “not only is it a scary movie but it’s a movie about these seven kids, these losers. It’s about their friendship and how they come together to fight this clown. There’s a lot of comedy aspects, too, and there’s a lot of touching, dramatic ones as well. There’s a little bit of everything.” Lieberher also revealed his favorite scene to shoot (the “quarry scene”) and an alternate ending.
“I did have this scene where I climb up the tower at the end,” he explained. “When I’m chasing after Georgie, I climb the tower and I’m at a one-on-one confrontation with Pennywise and then I say that I’m not afraid of him, that none of the losers are afraid of him, and that’s how we beat him. But they took those lines and put [them] toward the end, right after our big fight. So I had this whole thing where Bill Skarsgard is grabbing me and pushing me off the ledge, and I had to wear this harness. That was a more difficult scene.”
Pennywise gets his comeuppance (at least until Chapter Two) in both versions, but in the theatrical cut, Bill never climbs the mountain of circus paraphernalia and toys. That would be a neat scene, visually, but the Losers’ Club temporarily defeating their shared enemy is probably the “right” ending.
Unless the “more difficult scene” included an extended dance sequence.
There was also a “really disturbing” flashback that ended up getting cut.
(Via Variety)
