Before It broke box office records, it (It?) was a fondly remembered ABC miniseries that aired on November 18 and 20, 1990, attracting 30 million viewers over the two nights. The cast was led by Tim Curry, who gave children nightmares for years with his indelible performance as Pennywise the Dancing Clown, as well as Richard Thomas, John Ritter, Annette O’Toole, Harry Anderson, Dennis Christopher, and Tim Reid as the adult members of the Losers’ Club and Jonathan Brandis, Brandon Crane, Emily Perkins, Seth Green (that Seth Green), Adam Faraizl, and Marlon Taylor as their younger selves. In a fun nod to the miniseries, one of the Losers has a brief cameo in Chapter Two.
After the trailer for It hit the internet in 2017, Crane, the original young Ben Hanscom, sent a Facebook message to director Andy Muschietti. “He answered back and we would continue to chat about the miniseries until the movie hit theaters,” he told Bloody Disgusting. “After seeing it on opening night and having loved the movie so much I reached out to congratulate him and he said, ‘I seriously think you have to do a cameo in [Chapter Two]. I was in absolute shock.” Crane thought he was being trolled — or clowned, as it were — so he “switched to Instagram and sent him a screenshot of the Facebook conversation and said, ‘Andy – am I getting trolled over on Facebook?’ Nothing. Some time later he replies, ‘Yeah, I am the troll! I think you should do a cameo.’ The universe really works this way? What an awesome time to be alive.”
“Looking back, working with Andy was incredible. He was never afraid to try new things and roll with the organic happenings, even long after we established the master shot. It reminded me a lot of working with [miniseries director] Tommy Lee Wallace. Andy is as creative as they come and he fosters a very open, creative environment. During one setup, we watched some of the playback and he even talked me through the edit he had in his head. Nicholas Hamilton [young Henry Bowers] stopped by to hang with Andy while we were working so it was great to meet him, too.” (Via)
Crane appears early in Chapter Two, which is out Thursday night (our review)
(Via Bloody Disgusting)
