Stories from the set

In Stephen King's novel "It," the storyline featuring the main characters as children unfolds in 1958. In the film, all events take place in 1989.

The role of the clown Pennywise was offered to Mark Rylance and Ben Mendelsohn. It was even offered to Tim Curry, who played the clown in the 1990 miniseries. The actor declined, citing health problems.

The creators of the series "Stranger Things" (2016), brothers Matt and Ross Duffer, offered their services to work on the film, but the offer was rejected because they were considered not well-known enough.

Cary Fukunaga was originally set to direct, but he left the project due to disagreements over budget constraints and creative differences. The story Fukunaga intended to work with contained such explicit scenes involving children that the parents of several young actors withdrew their permission for them to appear. Studio executives asked the director to rewrite the script, to which he responded with a categorical refusal. Fukunaga believed those scenes were too important to the film. Fukunaga demanded that he retain the right to decide which rating from the Motion Picture Association of America the film would be shot for. Fukunaga wanted to make the film with an NC-17 rating (persons 17 years of age and younger are not admitted to the film), whereas the producers insisted on an R rating (persons under 17 are admitted only when accompanied by a parent or legal guardian).

For almost the entire shooting period, Bill Skarsgård was present on the set, yet he did not begin filming himself until much later. The actor spent a great deal of time with Andrés Muschietti and the producers, working on the image of the clown Pennywise. Skarsgård wanted to perform the role perfectly and thereby pay tribute to Tim Curry, whose performance of this role in the 1990 miniseries is considered magnificent.

Chosen Jacobs, who played Mike Hanlon, celebrated his 15th birthday on the film's set. Jeremy Ray Taylor, who played Ben Hanscom, as a gift took the birthday boy to see the adventure action film "The Legend of Tarzan" (David Yates, 2016), whose lead role was played by Alexander Skarsgård, the brother of Bill Skarsgård, who had been cast as Pennywise.

Bill Skarsgård celebrated his 26th birthday shortly before filming began. As a friendly jab, director Andrés Muschietti posted on Instagram a photo of himself wearing a Pennywise mask and raising his middle finger. Standing in front of Muschietti in the photo is Skarsgård himself.

Finn Wolfhard is the only actor involved in the film who remained after Andrés Muschietti replaced Cary Fukunaga as director.

In the first weeks of filming, Wyatt Oleff finally bought himself Stephen King's novel "It" in order to better know and understand his character. In the film he played Stanley Uris.

During pre-production, Chloë Grace Moretz was considered for the role of Beverly, but the process dragged on so long that by the time casting began, she had already turned 19. It was decided that she was no longer age-appropriate for the role of Beverly, and Sophia Lillis played Beverly.