FILM · 2017 · USA
It
- Directed by
- Andy Muschietti
- Runtime
- 135 min
- Studio
- New Line Cinema, Vertigo Entertainment, Lin Pictures
275 archived facts 8 topics 1 source Last reviewed Sep 2026
In a small town in Maine, seven children known as The Losers Club come face to face with life problems, bullies and a monster that takes the shape of a clown called Pennywise.
Summary: TMDB
It: 22 Facts About the Characters and Cast
- #008
Sophia Lillis says that because she is only one and a half meters tall and the shortest in the cast, she had to stand on a box in some scenes.
- #012
Bill Skarsgård had auditioned in Hollywood for the role of Pennywise. This required him to do the audition in clown makeup. He says: "There was something humiliating and absurd about the whole thing. I'm an actor auditioning in Hollywood and I'm driving a car with a clown face. It's a kind of metaphor for what the acting profession feels like."
- #018
While driving to the audition in clown makeup, Bill Skarsgård, on director Andy Muschietti's suggestion, tried different kinds of maniacal laughs. He ended up drawing bewildered looks from pedestrians outside. He says: "Andy [Muschietti] had also wanted to explore the clown laugh, so I'm sitting in the car and I feel ridiculous, but I thought I could absorb it and use it. So I started laughing like a madman in the car as I drove toward pedestrians."
- #030
Contains a major spoiler — show
Although director Andy Muschietti loved her audition, Sophia Lillis nearly didn't get the role of Beverly Marsh. The producers told her she "wasn't girly enough" because of her pixie cut and short stature. She flew to Toronto, Canada, and auditioned again, this time with hair extensions and wearing a dress. She got the role on the condition that she hide the extensions. However, when filming began, Muschietti had the extensions cut off in the first bathroom scene.
- #031
Contains a major spoiler — show
According to Bill Skarsgård, there was a disturbing deleted scene in which Pennywise terrorized a young mother in the 17th century. He says: "There was a scene from the 1600s, a flashback before Pennywise. That scene was really very disturbing. And I'm not a clown. I look more like myself." He goes on to say, "It's very disturbing and it's a sort of background story to what It is or where Pennywise came from." Timothy Simons, who auditioned for the role of Pennywise, confirmed this a few weeks after Skarsgård's account in an interview on a podcast called Throwing Shade. Simons states that he read in the script that the scene required the character to threaten to kill a young woman and her entire family if she did not give her baby to him as a feast. He says: "Pennywise was convincing a woman at the very beginning of Derry to feed her baby to him. It was scary. The scariest part was how direct it was. It was, 'If you don't do this, these are the things I'll do.' And it was all terrible." Interestingly, one of the podcast's hosts, Bryan Safi, had also auditioned for the role of Pennywise and stated that he still had a copy of the script containing a similar scene. This scene is one of several that were shot but ultimately not used in the film. It is not yet known whether the scene will appear in home video, a Director's Cut or the sequel.
- #042
The cast of the "Losers Club" was asked who they wanted to play their adult roles: Finn Wolfhard (Richie Tozier) said Bill Hader, Sophia Lillis (Beverly Marsh) said Jessica Chastain, Chosen Jacobs (Mike Hanlon) said Chadwick Boseman, Jack Dylan Grazer (Eddie Kaspbrak) said Jake Gyllenhaal, Wyatt Oleff (Stanley Uris) said Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jeremy Ray Taylor (Ben Hanscom) said Chris Pratt and Jaeden Martell (Bill Denbrough) said Christian Bale. Wolfhard and Lillis were the only members of the young cast whose wishes were ultimately granted, as Hader and Chastain appeared in the sequel It: Chapter Two (2019) as the older versions of Richie and Beverly respectively.
- #053
Both Wyatt Oleff and Jack Dylan Grazer originally auditioned for the role of Bill Denbrough. In the end, however, they took on the roles of Stanley Uris and Eddie Kaspbrak, respectively. And Jaeden Martell originally auditioned for the role of Eddie Kaspbrak but ultimately got the role of Bill Denbrough.
- #070
James Ransone auditioned for a role in this film and later played the adult version of Eddie Kaspbrak in It: Chapter Two (2019).
- #071
At around 1 hour 22 minutes, while Richie Tozier (Finn Wolfhard) is in the "clown room," a mannequin dressed like Tim Curry's Pennywise the Clown from the 1990 miniseries sits on the floor (on the left side of the screen). A portrait of Tim Curry as Pennywise also hangs on the wall.
- #093
Bill Skarsgård trained with an acrobat for his role in the film.
- #107
John Oliver was such a fan of the novel that he was cast for a background role in this film. Oliver can be seen in the town's diner.
- #112
Bill Skarsgård starred in another Stephen King adaptation, Castle Rock (2018), an original Hulu TV series. Skarsgård's co-star in this film, Chosen Jacobs, would later join that series.
- #151
Bill Skarsgård was the fourth actor offered the role of Pennywise. Tim Curry was offered the chance to reprise the role in the early stages of development but turned it down. Ben Mendelsohn was also offered the role and was interested, but he turned it down when he could not agree with the studio on his salary. The role was then offered to Will Poulter, who accepted, but scheduling conflicts forced him to drop out when delays in production pushed filming back a year. The role was then given to Skarsgård. However, Skarsgård was not necessarily the fourth choice, since he did not audition until Poulter left the project. Skarsgård was in fact the only actor to whom Andy Muschietti offered the role.
- #166
(At about 1 hour 11 minutes) Despite starring in this film, actor Finn Wolfhard admits he is afraid of clowns. Richie is the only character in the film who explicitly states his fear of "clowns".
- #184
Marlon Taylor, Jarred Blancard and Brandon Crane, who played Mike, Henry and Ben in IT (1990), reached out to the new actors in this film (Chosen Jacobs for Taylor, Nicholas Hamilton for Blancard and Jeremy Ray Taylor for Crane) and spoke with them. All of them said they were very pleased with the cast and excited to see the film.
- #201
(At about 42 minutes) This marks the second time a character played by Finn Wolfhard stands at the edge of a quarry and jumps down. The first was in Stranger Things (2016), where his character was threatened by school bullies with jumping down to save a friend.
- #212
The film marks the second time a European actor has portrayed Pennywise. In the 90s miniseries the character was played by the English Tim Curry, and in this film by the Swedish Bill Skarsgård. Will Poulter, the first choice for Pennywise, was also English.
- #232
Before taking on her role in this film, Sophia Lillis had studied Andy Muschietti's work at acting school.
- #241
(At about 38 minutes) When Beverly puts on the pharmacist's glasses, he tells her, "You look like a young Lois Lane." Amy Adams plays Lois Lane in the DCEU, and Sophia Lillis (Beverly) plays a journalist in the Sharp Objects (2018) miniseries, in which she plays a younger version of Adams's character.
- #253
Cary Joji Fukunaga's script changed the names of several main characters: Bill Denbrough became Willy Denbrough, Henry Bowers became Travis Bowers, 'Belch' Huggins became 'Snatch' Huggins, Patrick Hockstetter became Patrick Hockstettler, Will Hanlon became Leroy Hanlon, and Greta Bowie became Gretta Bowie. Although most were changed back by Andy Muschietti, the alterations to 'Leroy' and 'Gretta' remain.
- #268
In the scene in Ben's room, Richie jokingly tells the others they should call Unsolved Mysteries (1987) to Derry to investigate the town's disappearances and tragic events. Robert Stack hosted the series from 1987 to 2002. Interestingly, eight years later actress Clara Stack (no relation to Mr. Stack) was cast as Lilly Bainbridge, one of the main characters of It: Welcome to Derry (2025).
- #273
Stephen R. Hart auditioned to play Pennywise.
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