It (also known as Stephen King’s IT) is a 1990 ABC two-part psychological horror drama miniseries directed by Tommy Lee Wallace and adapted by Lawrence D. Cohen from Stephen King’s 1986 novel of the same name.
“I was at first a bit intimidated by my all-star cast, but my fears were unfounded – they all turned out to be generous and supportive team players. The child actors were much more of a challenge [...] I’m especially proud of the adult/child pairings, as I think we made really astute choices and got really lucky making it believable that that group of seven kids grew up to be that group of seven adults, which is no easy feat.” — Tommy Lee Wallace, 2015
It’s main ensemble features actors not very well known in horror, such as John Ritter, Tim Reid, Harry Anderson, and Tim Curry. Thomas’ only previous horror venture was Tales from the Crypt; and Anderson’s experience in the genre included an episode in the series and his magician shows, where he would eat live animals, put a nail up in his nose, and catch a gun bullet with his teeth. This casting was unusual for a horror production at the time, but producer Jim Green reasoned that it was in order to increase eyeballs from more easily frightened casual viewers. The majority of the adult actors in the film, including Ritter, Dennis Christopher, Reid and Anderson, were hand-chosen by Wallace and Cohen for their roles. Emily Perkins and Marlon Taylor, who played the young Beverly Marsh and Mike Hanlon, were cast out of Vancouver, while Seth Green and Jonathan Brandis were cast out of Los Angeles for the parts of young Richie and Bill.
The story revolves around a predatory monster that can transform itself into its prey’s worst fears to devour them, allowing it to exploit the phobias of its victims. It mostly takes the humanoid form of Pennywise, a demonic clown. The protagonists are The Lucky Seven, or The Losers Club, a group of outcast kids who discover Pennywise and vow to kill him by any means necessary. The series takes place over two different time periods, the first when the Losers first confront Pennywise as children in 1960, and the second when they return as adults in 1990 to defeat him a second time after he resurfaces.
It was filmed over a period of three months in New Westminster, British Columbia, in mid-1990 with a budget of $12 million, double the usual television budget. The miniseries was first broadcast during the November sweeps month. Despite the risk factors, mixed pre-airing critical reviews, and coverage of President George H. W. Bush’s foreign trips cutting into the program, It was ABC’s biggest success of 1990; the miniseries pulled through with a total of 30 million viewers for its two parts.
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