It was spooky clown business of the creepiest order, and embargoed clown business to boot.
Heres how we got on.
Congratulations on the film.
Thank you very much.
Did you enjoy it?
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I did.
Have you seen it with an audience yet?
I did, I did, and it was one of the most gratifying experiences of all the process.
But youre not fresh, you dont have a fresh look anymore.
I think its the best part of making a movie.
So the filmITdeals a lot with the theme of childhood and monsters and fear.
When you were a kid did you watch a lot of horror films?
Yeah, my parents exposed me to horror movies when I was like 6 or 7.
I mean exposed me in a good way, they didnt mean any harm.
It was a family fun activity to watch, on Saturday night, a horror movie.
Thats how I sawDr.
Phibesfor the first time.
And thats basically how I fell in love with horror.
So it becomes like an addiction, in a way.
And its an addiction that you carry on through the rest of your life.
Did you see the TV adaptation ofITwhen you were younger?
Yes, I did.
Did you like it?
Yeah, I liked it.
In fact I was much older than that and I saw it after reading the book.
So I understand that they couldnt stay faithful to the book.
That seems like the sort of imagery you would conjure as a child when you were afraid.
Oh, youre saying that those attacks are particularly disturbing for children?
As a kid you would really be afraid of a clown chasing you.
Oh yeah yeah, absolutely.
I mean, I didnt make this movie for children.
I mean, I would have loved to see this movie when I was 12.
I would have as well.
[More laughter]
Have your cast of kids, The Losers Club, seen it?
Yeah, they saw it in an early stage.
I showed it to them.
They were all thrilled.
We all had so much fun doing this.
It was a really fun experience.
Very stressing because the restrictions of time, when you shoot with kids, are terrible.
Theyre always taking them away!
They understood their characters perfectly and they had a lot of help in building them.
And also there was a lot of improvisation.
What was the casting process for putting the group of kids together?
I think that was the only way to make it true and make it real.
When I was happy with individual actors, then came the process of chemistry.
Its a chemistry thing.
Finally it was easy to see, because it shines through when they all work well in the room.
And it was glorious because I was sure that it was an amazing group.
I was very lucky.
How did you settle on that?
And thats something that is overlooked in general.
Then it was Bill, who with that concept started building and building and building.
Hes an actor that is not afraid of brining a new thing every time.
So each take he would do something different and it blew my mind.
It was quite terrifying.
Thank you for talking to me today.
Im hoping youre gonna do the sequel as well.
Oh, Im hoping too man!
ITis in UK cinemas from Friday.
