Welcome back to Behind The Scenes Saturday!! This week, I pay tribute to one of my favorite horror films, IT: Chapter 2! Due to its combination of scares, humor, and tragedy, this film has cemented itself as one of my favorite stories of all time. So, gather up all the tokens, avoid the fortune cookies, and enjoy these fun BTS pictures and bits of trivia!

(Trivia provided by IMDb.com)

(Pictures provided by google.com and IMDb.com)

(SPOILER ALERT!!!)

• Bill Hader (Richie Tozier) didn’t know that Bill Skarsgård (Pennywise) was actually capable of making his eyes go in different directions. He originally thought the filmmakers edited his eyes to do that in the first film. When he asked Skarsgård about it, Skarsgård said, “Oh, you mean this?” And moved his eyes, freaking Hader out. Skarsgård was in full makeup and costume at the time which made it all even better.
• In the novel, Eddie (James Ransone) wondered if he married his wife because she reminded him of his mother. In this movie, his wife Myra was played by the same actress who played his mom in Chapter 1, Molly Atkinson, showing us that he did indeed marry his mother.

• Bill Hader was offered the role of Richie because when Finn Wolfhard (Young Richie) was asked who he’d like to play adult Richie, he picked Hader. Hader never met Wolfhard before filming but he was very flattered that Wolfhard picked him.
• For fully prepare for his role of Mike Hanlon, Isaiah Mustafa went through the novel eight times to really understand his character. On the other hand, Bill Hader read the book when he was a kid and he said it was too long to reread.

• Bill Skarsgård had many nightmares where he had to fight Pennywise, even after filming was done.
• Because the cast who played the young losers had grown since the first movie, they had to have their body hair shaved and raise the pitch of their voices when they returned for Chapter 2.

• One of Richie Tozier’s talents was the ability to do voices and impressions. There was initially a scene where he impersonated Al Pacino. However, Bill Hader asked for the scene to be removed because he felt the Pacino impersonation was old material and he didn’t want to do it again.
• Xavier Dolan absolutely loved the first film and when he met the director, Andy Muschietti by chance, he expressed how baldy he wanted to be in the sequel. He told Muschietti, “I’ll do anything you want, be the door handle, the door knob, the curtain, whatever I can do in this film.” He ended up being cast as Adrian Mellon, Pennywise’s first victim in this film.

• Andy Bean (Stanley Uris) was actually good friends with Bill Skarsgård and he accompanied him to the first film’s premiere, where me met Andy Muschietti for the first time.
• Ironically, Jay Ryan (Ben Hanscom) was a professional clown before he got into acting.

• Seth Green played young Richie in the 1990 mini-series. He actually expressed interest in playing adult Richie in this film.
• There was over 4 hours of footage shot for the film, but it had to be cut down to 2 hours and 49 minutes. We may get to see the unused footage someday as Andy Muschietti still has it and plans on using it.

• While filming the fight scenes with Pennywise, James McAvoy (Bill Denbrough) injured himself with a double thigh strain.
• For the first film, the Pennywise makeup took 5 hours to apply. For this film, in only took 2 and a half hours.

• Idris Elba was interested in playing Mike Hanlon.
• Filming Adrian Mellon’s death scene took place during salmon season. Because of this, tons of dead fish had to be removed during filming due to the horrible stench.

• James Ransone had a lot of tattoos and because he didn’t want to cover them all with makeup, his character just wore a jacket throughout the whole film.
• The child and adult Losers Club all greatly bonded during filming, especially Jessica Chastain (Beverly Marsh) and Sophia Lillis (Young Beverly Marsh).

• Isaiah Mustafa auditioned for the role of Mike several times. He ended up engaged at the time and he was called back for a final audition just 5 hours before he had to leave town for his wedding. His fiancée (now wife) was surprisingly very understanding of the situation and he was able to stay and get the role and they left for their wedding the next day.
• While filming one of the running scenes, Bill Hader pulled a muscle in his groin and he had to get an MRI as his stunt double had to take over for the day.

• Jess Weixler (Audra Phillips) was pregnant while filming.
• Stephen King was more involved in this film than in the first film. He served as a consultant for the filmmakers and even appeared in the film as the shopkeeper who sold Bill his old bike.

• Fans of the 1990 mini-series wanted the actors to have cameos in this film. They got their wish as Brandon Crane, who played young Ben Hanscom in the mini-series, has a bit-part in this film.
• Andy Muschietti wanted legendary horror director Guillermo del Toro to have a cameo in the film. He wanted del Toro to play the janitor who young Ben Hanscom (Jeremy Ray Taylor) runs into at the school. Unfortunately, scheduling conflicts prevented this from happening.

• Bill Hader’s 3 children wanted to see this movie. However, they were too young for a film this scary, so Hader thought he could trick them. He threw on The Sandlot and said it was this film, but they obviously didn’t fall for it.
• Jessica Chastain and Jess Weixler don’t share any scenes together, but they are best friends in real life.

• Wyatt Oleff (Young Stanley Uris) celebrated his 15th birthday on the set of this film.
• Don Cheadle, Craig Robinson, Will Smith, Michael B. Jordan, Taye Diggs, Donald Glover, Anthony Mackie, and Chadwick Boseman were all considered for the role of Mike Hanlon. Will Forte, Jason Lee, Justin Long, Bill Hader, Patton Oswalt, and Jack Black were considered to play Stanley Uris. Sam Rockwell, Josh Gad, and Ed Helms were considered for Richie Tozier. Amanda Seyfried, Jenny Slate, Bryce Dallas Howard, Karen Gillan, and Anna Kendrick were considered for Beverly Marsh.

• James Ransone and Jeremy Ray Taylor share the same birthday – June 2nd, which funny enough, is also my birthday.
• The room Bill is standing in while talking to Mike at the end of the film is the same room used in another Stephen King classic, Stand By Me.

• Stanley’s spider-head and Richie’s line, “you’ve gotta be f***ing kidding” are both nods to John Carpenter’s movie, The Thing.
• For the bathroom stall scene, 4,500 gallons of fake blood was used.

• Although the final battle with Pennywise was done with CGI, Bill Skarsgård was still on set providing his lines for the other actors to react to.
• In the film, Richie calls Pennwise a sloppy b***h. Bill Hader used to call his friend that whenever they played Goldeneye and Hader would lose.

• In the novel, Mike’s parents didn’t die in a fire.
• The last scene that was shot was the scene where Ben is getting buried alive and Pennywise is taunting him and shutting the clubhouse door on him.

• Jason Fuchs, the film’s co-producer, plays a small part in the film as Richie’s manager.
• When Eddie was picking up his prescription at the pharmacy, you can see Andy Muschietti standing in an aisle behind him.