The World Of IT by Alyse Wax (book review).
I’m glad I watched the first IT (2016) film before reading this book, ‘The World Of IT’. Considering the current lack of availability, I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a boxset coming out any time soon. Alyse Wax, in her introduction, points out the first film made $123 million in its first weekend and a total of $700 million world-wide.
Be careful when buying this book before watching the films as there’s plenty of spoilers, as well as a lot of storyboards, art and photos. Having watched the first film a couple days ago, I found it filled in a lot of gaps that I commented about in the review.
The town of Derry, Maine was based on Bangor, Maine, which Canadian town Port Hope masqueraded as. The Well House is also renamed as the Neibolt House here, being rebuilt on the original place. Looking at the photos and discovering that it was especially built for the films, it still reminds me of the Adams Family home sans the sides. Then again, when you have a round window in the attic, its just following a similar pattern. Oh, you get the map of the sewer system although I doubt if you want to go hunting down there.
When it comes to the cast, we see both the young and adult actors together from both films. I always think the biggest puzzle is how male Americans drastically change their hair styles when turning adult, which is kept up here. It’s a shame that as an adult, Ben Hanscom, has lost weight. The contrast in body shapes shows everyone is acceptable and this tends to lose that. I do wonder why no comparison of Spider Stan to the creature of a similar shape from the 1982 film ‘The Thing’ wasn’t pointed out.
Of course, there is a lot of focus on Pennywise and there are some photos showing how the make-up was built up and a look at his dentures. Seeing how the young actors and even the director was kept from seeing the clown before filming ensured they all jumped when he first appeared. There’s a nice photo of Bill Skarsgȃrd chatting to Jackson Robert Scott between takes that is just as priceless as any scary moment. Indeed, don’t stop turning the pages after the text, as there’s a stack of behind the scenes photos there as well.
This is a great movie book and if you liked the films, you’re going to want to have this one in your collection as it ticks all the boxes in showing what and how it (sic) was all filmed. Oooh look. Another pretty red balloon floating there, waiting for me to pick up.
GF Willmetts
September 2019
(pub: Abrams Books. 324 page illustrated large hardback. Price: £30.00 (UK), $40.00 (US), $50.00 (CAN). ISBN: 978-1-4197-4047-3)
check out website: www.abramsbooks.com
