Interview: Producers David Katzenberg and Seth Grahame-Smith on the Journey of Getting IT (2017) to the Big Screen

The time is finally upon us! Andy Muschietti’s adaptation of Stephen King’s novel IT debuts in theaters everywhere today, and before Pennywise unleashes his horrifying wrath of terror on the residents of Derry, Maine, we’ve got one last interview from the recent IT press day, where Daily Dead spoke to two of the film’s producers, David Katzenberg and Seth Grahame-Smith.

During the interview, the duo discussed the long road to bringing IT to the big screen, working with Muschietti, their thoughts on Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise, and much more. Look for IT everywhere, beginning tonight, courtesy of Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema.

This has been a long journey for you two, so congratulations on everything. Can you guys discuss the process of bringing such an iconic property like IT to the big screen?

Seth Grahame-Smith: We don’t take anything for granted. We’re the two most superstitious people in the entertainment industry. I am happy that the reactions are favorable so far, so I’m encouraged. I know we are proud of the movie, I know we worked hard on the movie. Of course, the number one thing for us is that we want this film to be well-received. It’ the number one thing. We want to be part of an enduring, well-received Stephen King adaptation, that’s the whole point of this.

We started on this journey with this movie over six years ago, and we’ve put a lot of sweat and tears into making it. We grew up reading Stephen King books. I can remember being thirteen when I read this book in the summer of 1989—which is weirdly when our movie takes place—and so the idea of not disappointing Stephen King, and not disappointing Stephen King fans, was the motivation through the entire process.

When we screened this movie for him and we got his reaction, at this point no matter what else happens, we’re good. As long as I didn’t disappoint the maestro, the creator, then I could live with almost anything else that happens.

What was it that you initially saw in Andy [Muschietti] that made you realize he was going to be the perfect filmmaker to take on this project?

David Katzenberg: Andy was one of the very few directors that came in that really solely focused on the kids, on the children. We already knew at that point we were going to break the movie into two parts essentially, because we could not jam everything into one feature. But Andy came in right away, and rather than talk about Pennywise, the clown, the scares, and all the stuff that a lot of other directors came in talking about, he focused on the kids, and for us that was always the seminal part of the movie that we needed to get right.

Seth Grahame-Smith: We knew Andy was going to be able to deliver on the scares. We’d seen his movie Mama, so we knew conceptually he was very strong. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen him illustrate, but he could be a fine artist—he’s a really incredible illustrator on top of everything else. There was no question he was going to deliver on the visuals, on the scares, but what impressed us was, he came in talking about being a thirteen-year-old in Argentina, and reading a translation of the book, and how it affected him.

He came in and locked into the relationships of these kids, and how important it was to get the kids right, and that was music to our ears because to us, the movie we referenced most in the last six years-plus was Stand By Me, because we wanted to recapture that feeling that we felt while watching that movie, of the camaraderie, of that sense of time and place.

And if that didn’t work, no matter how cool the clown was, and how scary the other stuff was, this story was never really going to resonate the way we wanted it to resonate emotionally without those relationships. That really is what won Andy the job, because he came in focused on that first and foremost, and then everything came into place to support that.

In reference to the R rating, how was it working with a younger cast who had to contend with some really heavy material at times in this film?

David Katzenberg: It was tough. It was uncomfortable at times, for sure, but that’s why we’re an R-rated film. We don’t screw around by any means.

Seth Grahame-Smith: It got really intense sometimes. The Georgie scene was less intense because there were so many technical considerations, and also it’s broken up over different locations. The most intense it ever got was when they were in the cistern and in the sewers, when Stanley gets attacked, and he comes out of his trance and they’re all surrounding him. We were filming that scene and after it was done, Wyatt [Oleff] bursts into tears, and every kid bursts into tears, and we’re all sitting off camera and so I burst into tears, too [laughs]. I remember there was a take where we had to raise the door of the stage, walk Wyatt outside in the fresh air, and everybody had to just take a minute.

David Katzenberg: There was a ton of—even Beverly and her father—there was a ton of very difficult material for this cast.

Seth Grahame-Smith: But that gets back to the casting. You have to find these kids that are beyond their years—mature and strong and charismatic, and able to hold their own in these incredibly tense situations with adult actors. And that honestly is a testament to Andy and also a testament to our kids, that they all held their own. We chose the right Losers' Club. These kids were thick as thieves from the beginning of the shoot. They fell in love with each other—I know you guys have heard this before and you’ll hear it again—but it’s the truth. They were best friends instantly, and you feel that in the movie. They spent any time they could together, on or off camera.

David Katzenberg: It took over the set, too. The dialogue, there’s tons of improv and ad-libs, and really they bonded in such a way that it really shows on screen and stuff that was not in the script.

Can you guys talk about Bill as Pennywise, and your initial thoughts of what this character should be like coming into the project, and how they maybe shifted once he came on board?

David Katzenberg: We were never trying to outdo Tim Curry. We knew that we needed to bring something fresh and new and kind of reimagine what our Pennywise was going to be. We have to give a ton of credit to Andy, because I remember him coming in with these little sketches of horseshoes, essentially, and we didn't know quite what they were, but they eventually turned into the mouth, they went through the eyes. Early on, Andy was sketching and he had these visions in terms of what Pennywise's voice would sound like. He worked with Bill for hours and hours really getting the mannerisms and the facial features down. With Bill, it's incredible what that guy can do with his face.

Seth Grahame-Smith: It's so weird what he can do with his face [laughs].

David Katzenberg: It was no easy task, though. I will say that we definitely were not trying to touch the Tim Curry version.

Seth Grahame-Smith: I would give this credit to Bill and Andy, too. We all agreed, Tim Curry's performance is iconic, and we were going to do something different. We're going to try to put our own stamp on it.

In the casting process, Andy sort of singled out Bill pretty early on, as I remember, and started having him come back and doing more reads and working with him, already refining the character and refining the facial expressions and refining the physicality and refining the voice. By the way, that continued through production. The way that the schedule worked out, we were with just the kids for the first month. Bill was in Toronto, but not really shooting, and he and Andy would meet and Bill would sit there and look in his mirror and practice voices.

David Katzenberg: One of the greatest things, too, is that the kids had been shooting for a month before they had even seen Pennywise. I'll never forget the first day that Pennywise walked on set. It was terrifying for all of us. That was a decision Andy made early on. He wanted to keep Pennywise away from those guys as long as possible so that they could really be scared of him.

Seth Grahame-Smith: If you're curious, it's the interior of the Neiboldt kitchen where he's hovering over Jack about to bite his face off, that's the first scene we shot. You're seeing the Losers' Club experience Pennywise for the first time there, and that’s why that scene ended up being so intense. They were really scared [laughs].

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To catch up on our previous coverage of the new IT movie, including our review, visit here.