‘It: Welcome to Derry’ Finds Its Losers Club: The Young Cast on Landing Their Roles and Their Fears of Pennywise
SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from Season 1, Episode 5 of “It: Welcome to Derry,” now streaming on HBO Max.
Pennywise the Clown feeds on fear, and children are his entree of choice.
When the first episode of HBO’s “It: Welcome to Derry” introduced an ensemble of young protagonists, audiences might’ve reasonably expected that they would become the series’ main characters, the show’s answer to the Losers Club of early-adolescent heroes from Stephen King’s novel and the “It” films.
However, the Episode 1’s shocking conclusion saw more than half of the kids meet a gristly fate, leaving a clear message that no one is safe in the eponymous town.
Therefore, as new kids were introduced across Episodes 2, 3 and 4, one could be understandably skeptical about their permanence in the show, especially as they enter the story via disparate avenues. However, in Episode 5, they finally team up to go into the sewers underneath Derry, where they come face-to-face with Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård).
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The kids are Will Hanlon (Blake Cameron James), Lilly Bainbridge (Clara Stack), Veronica “Ronnie” Grogan (Amanda Christine), Rich Santos (Arian S. Cartaya) and Marge Truman (Matilda Lawler). Variety spoke with the young cast to talk about how they landed their parts on the show, and how they built up the courage to steal some of the series’ most terrifying scenes.
How did you all learn that you would be playing your characters in “Welcome to Derry”?
Clara Stack: I didn’t find out until months after the audition, so it definitely came as a shock to me. My mom found out through my agent first, so then my family sat me down on my couch in my living room and told me. I was honestly super shocked and super excited. Getting to go to Toronto to film was such an incredible experience. I was honestly honored to get to explore the Stephen King “It” universe.
Matilda Lawler: When I found out that I booked Marge, I was so thrilled. I am obsessed with Marge. She really spoke to me when I did the audition, and it was many months later when I found out that I would be playing her. I think I was doing a dance recital for the weekend. Right before I was about to do this dance show, I found out that I would be able to play Marge, and my heart grew three sizes. I definitely danced better than I usually dance because I was so excited.
Amanda Christine: When I got my audition, I only sent in one take. I didn’t even know what the show was, because it was very top secret and they named it something like “Fairview” when I got the audition. It was very intense. It was the scene from Episode 2, towards the end, when my dad gets taken to Shawshank. So it was a very intense scene to send in for me. It was very fun to film. And then when I got the scripts, I was like, “Oh my gosh, I’m Ronnie Grogan.” Then I was learning about the “It” universe and watching the movies with my castmates and really just diving in, taking notes with Andy [Muschietti] and Barbara [Muschietti] and having meetings with our acting coach, Mr. Ben [Perkins].
Arian S. Cartaya: If I remember correctly, I was at my grandma’s house when my mom opened the email and got the news. I just started bouncing off the walls with excitement.
Blake Cameron James: I think that I was downstairs in my basement. Well actually, I don’t know where I was. I can’t remember. Somewhere in my house.
Brooke Palmer/HBO
Had any of you seen the “It” movies or read the book by Stephen King?
Blake Cameron James: Not at all. I hadn’t read the book. I hadn’t seen any of the movies because I was so terrified of Pennywise. He’s always been my biggest fear, like my No. 1 biggest fear. So I never even indulged in any of that.
Arian S. Cartaya: I watched the first “It” movie once we got to Canada. We all watched it in the movie theater. So yeah, that was a really fun experience. But I still haven’t read the book.
Amanda Christine: I watched the movie a couple months before I knew that I had booked the role of Ronnie. When I had watched it, I was actually in acting class. It was during Halloween time in October and our assignment was to watch Halloween movies. So I watched “It,” and it was scary. I was like, “Oh my God. I’ve never seen a scarier clown in my life!” I’ve since started reading the book. It is huge, but I’m halfway through, and I’m still trying to really dive deep into it and take notes about the “It” universe. Because it is so big, and there’s so much happening — and so much that we dive into in this prequel series with the myths, the nuclear things, the tension of racial traumas and the bullying of the kids and all of us coming together as friends to fight it off.
Matilda Lawler: I’m in the same boat as Amanda. I’m trying to make my way through the book. It’s truly unlike anything else. I’m such a fan of Stephen King as an author, I think he’s so powerful. Some of my favorite horror movies are “The Shining” and “Carrie.” I just love his work. So I was a huge fan, and I tried to watch the movie for my sister’s birthday, because that was her birthday wish. And I was so terrified that I forced us to shut it off. I literally couldn’t handle it, and I had a meltdown. And then my sister tried to torment me by showing me pictures of Pennywise, like she would just randomly show a picture of Pennywise to me, because she knew I was so scared. That’s what siblings do. But anyways, when I got the audition, I revisited the movie and was able to make it through without having a meltdown. I was in love with it. I was terrified, but also I love the weird humor that Andy incorporates. I was obsessed.
Clara Stack: I’m actually a big fan of horror movies. I have been since I was little. I watched the first “It” movie when I was about 9, so I was kind of already a little familiar with the “It” universe. I hadn’t read the book prior to the audition, but I think Stephen King is so talented, and I’m a big fan of his work. Getting to step into the universe with this prequel series was honestly just such an honor.
Brooke Palmer/HBO
Did it ever feel scary working on the show, or has working on it made horror movies feel less scary?
Matilda Lawler: I would say it is scary on set, even though sometimes it feels a little bit ridiculous because you don’t actually have anything to react to. Half the time you’re just reacting to air or a piece of tape or Andy screaming weird sounds into the microphone. It’s a bizarre experience, but our acting coach, Mr. Ben, did a really good job of helping us try to create a sense of fear, even when it wasn’t in front of our eyes. We kind of created a safe space to get vulnerable and to get in touch with our own personal fears and our characters’ fears. Sometimes he’d play music, sometimes he’d show us imagery that was scary to us or sometimes we’d touch on personal experiences. Having those acting tools to help us in those moments was really helpful.
Amanda Stack: I think some scenes were definitely really scary. There were a lot of intense scenes, but I think having Andy and Barbara on set, as well as our acting coach, Mr. Ben, made everything feel more comfortable. They made set feel like such a welcoming place and they made it feel like such a family, which I’m so grateful for, because I think that made filming all the more fun and easier to get through. Filming was super fun. There were definitely some intense, horrific scenes, but I also think it’s really cool to see the contrast of when we’re filming it versus when it’s on screen, with all the CGI and all the effects added.
Amanda Christine: It’s definitely different in-person versus seeing it on the screen with the CGI and the VFX and everything added into it. It’s so amazing to see how everything came together and just how terrifying it is. In person, we had to connect to some deep stuff. Music is a big part of my life, so I would use that to get into character, but to have the tools to build off of our characters and arcs and everything that we need is just amazing to me. So it was really fun. Andy and Barbara made that environment very welcoming for us and so did Mr. Ben and it was just an amazing experience.
Blake Cameron James: Honestly, I got a little bit more interested in horror after this, but I still don’t ever watch anything too scary. It’s a very thin line, but I feel like this show helped me a bit because you get kind of desensitized to it after you work with Pennywise and dead bodies and a bunch of blood. You get to see it from a different light once you’ve been on the set. So you’re like, “Oh, that’s a prosthetic. Oh, that’s fake.”
Arian S. Cartaya: I feel like this experience has helped me conquer my fears a little, but I’m still horrified of other scary movies or shows, so I won’t be watching the other ones. Those are too scary.
These interviews have been edited and condensed.
