The Losers Club might have defeated Pennywise the Dancing Clown in 2019’s IT: Chapter Two, but the immortal cosmic force of evil has haunted the quiet town of Derry, Maine for decades, as seen in the new hit HBO Max prequel series IT – Welcome to Derry. Set in 1962, Welcome to Derry centers on a new collection of Derry residents both young and old who begin experiencing bizarre, supernatural hauntings that eventually bring them into contact with the ruthless supernatural clown and embodiment of evil and fear, Pennywise, with Bill Skarsgård reprising his role from Andy Muschietti’s IT movies. One such Derry-based youngster who experiences the malevolence of Pennywise up close is Matty Clements, portrayed by newcomer Miles Eckhardt.
We speak to Miles on the making of Welcome to Derry, working with director Andy Muschietti, Bill Skarsgård, and the show’s cast, and some of the fun and challenges of following up the highly popular IT movies with the new chapter of Pennywise’s story.
How did you come aboard Welcome to Derry?
Well, my audition process wasn’t all too flashy. My agent or my manager sent me the car scene from the first episode and the flashback scene with Lilly. I just read my best take of them, and recorded them and sent them in. Six months later, I was on a Zoom call with Andy Muschietti, and it all happened from there. The audition I think was in December of 2022, and the callback was pretty early into 2023.
Had you seen the IT movies before you boarded the show?
I actually saw the IT movies after I was cast, and I liked them a good bit, and those kids have a shocking amount of bravery!
So, what was the experience like working on Welcome to Derry as your first big show?
Well, I was somewhat intimidated by it, because it was very easy to feel like everyone else knows what they’re doing a lot more than I did. The whole has so many years of experience and the actors have all been on so many shows, but I was able to get into the group of it, especially working with people like the acting coach, Ben Perkins, and working with Andy and all the directors there. I felt like I was able to get into the rhythm of it and into the character.
So, what can you share about meeting and working with Pennywise himself, Bill Skarsgård?
He was generally pretty separate from the child cast, he was doing his own thing. I worked with him before we filmed the transformation scene in episode five, and there was a lot of coordinating the logistics of that and how those performances would work into each other, and it was fun. He was very deeply into what his character was and really invested in that.
What would you say was the scariest or most fun moment from the making of Welcome to Derry for you?
I’d say the most fun was in episode five when I’m back in the standpipe, and mainly just because I’d been hanging out and living with all of these different actors, but never actually having a scene with them until then.
In terms of the scariest scene, it’s a strange experience where you’re kind of scared but also kind of separate from that character, but I definitely think of the car scene where I really had to commit to that fear with that character.
Welcome to Derry also entered production during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Did that have a big impact on how your work on the show began?
Well, the strike happened in 2023, and I was not brought on until right before the strike. That was when they called me back for the role, and I think it was actually the day of before I could get signed onto the show. So, there was a pause of however many months, and then once that ended, I really thought I had aged out of the character, but I still got signed. Then, January of 2024 was when I actually finally got up to Canada and started acting with the rest of them. I think for some of the people who were there on both sides of the strike, it was a little more of a process to get back into it, but I didn’t have such limitations.
What was the experience like of doing the sewer scenes on Welcome to Derry, with the sewer setting being so centralized to the IT movies and Pennywise?
Yeah, the sewers were a set built on a sound stage, and it’s actually not that big. It’s kind of a horseshoe with one little spot in the middle where the drop-down scene happened, so they just kept re-using those hallways a lot. But I really enjoyed doing the sewer scenes. You’re actually in the water, and once you’re in there, the only thing you’re seeing is more of the sewer set, so it’s a good way to get immersed into it and really feel being there.
So, what was your overall favorite episode of Welcome to Derry, both to film and to see?
Well, I may have some slight bias in picking episode five! Both to film and to see, and getting to see Bill Skarsgårdcome back in it. That was a very fun one not just to see, but to film. On the acting side, I like subtle scenes, but I also liked doing the monologue about what it was like in the sewers and doing this very complex character dynamic now. Then, at the end, the show just playing more with this evil clown character, I loved both filming and watching that.
RELATED: Welcome to Derry Review – Pennywise Returns And He’s Not Clowning Around
All eight episodes of IT – Welcome to Derry are now available to stream on HBO Max.
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