What I Learned Reading IT (2017) Screenplay
There is more than one screenplay around for Andy Muschietti’s IT (2017). There are early drafts by Cary Fukunaga and Chase Palmer. One from 2014 and the other is undated but I think it’s from 2015. And the last screenplay revised by Gary Dauberman dated November 3, 2016.
I have read the last one — though it’s still a lot different than the finished movie.
- Changes.
The first half of the screenplay is mostly the same as the movie. After the cold open with Georgie by the sewer, the script takes its time to establish the town, the characters and the monster, Pennywise. It feels like everyone in the Losers Club are the protagonists — which they are partly — because the script establishes their desires and their worst fears. Pennywise tries to lure them one by one using their fears while the script is still establishing things. So, the setup doesn’t bore us. Because establishing characters motives and their worst fears are interconnected with the main antagonistic source. Things start to happen real fast.
The actual protagonist is Bill, his world turns upside down at the beginning where he loses his brother. He tries to get him back for the rest of the movie. His desire moves the plot forward all the time. He leads the group.
After they find Pennywise’s home. Things start to deviate, half of the action is different at the first Neibolt House scene. Only things that remain the same are breaking of Eddie’s arm and Pennywise coming out of the refrigerator to get him. They somehow manage to run away from the house and the scene outside is the same. The conflict between them starts, Bill and Richie get into a fight and the group separates. Beverly tells them that they need to stick together to stay alive which is the theme throughout the screenplay and for the movie as well.
The last fight with Pennywise is mostly different and feels shorter. And it’s basically the Losers Club fearlessly attacking at the poor Pennywise. In the movie, the stakes at the last sequence feel more real. And Pennywise is strong right up until the end where Bill kills fake Georgie. In the script, Pennywise uses fake Georgie to lure Bill out and tries to attack him out of the blue but Bill shoots him with Mike’s gun. Without Bill killing the fake Georgie scene, the script doesn’t have a closure. In the movie, Bill accepts his brother’s fate and overcomes his demons. And that’s what makes Pennywise back up.
- Genre
Horror film, motion picture calculated to cause intense repugnance, fear, or dread.
When you think about the horror genre, you think don’t of a plot point or things to happen one after another like the detective genre. The first thing that comes to mind is the antagonist or an antagonistic source. It’s all about the scare, the emotion. If you created that emotion with your characters, scenes, and your movie’s mood, then you’re good. The rest is irrelevant. That’s why I think it’s the most experimental of the genres. And you can tell if it’s working or not, like ‘jokes’. You can’t assume a joke, a good one if you see people are clearly not laughing. Same goes with horror.
There are tons of genre tropes, conventions, traits, sub-genres, etc. of course. They all come after another, influencing each other. And amongst all these, there is It. Which is a mix of lots of sub-genres and at the same time, it’s a sub-genre on its own.
Without going into the further sub-genres, there are four main areas of horror: Killers, Monsters, Paranormal, and Psychological. And when you think about it, Pennywise covers all the areas. He’s clearly a killer and a monster using his paranormal powers to affect his victim’s psychologies.
The story of Derry and Pennywise uses all the things in the horror genre, what came before them to set up a new timeline. And don’t forget that between the book and It (2017), there is another adaptation, It (TV Series) in 1990.
It’s based on itself while being influenced by the other things in the genre.
My comparison between the screenplay and the movie starts with this. The screenplay portrays Pennywise a completely crazy antagonist and uses it to create intense moments like him pedaling a tricycle in front of the boys and saying BoyMeat, BoyMeat, BoyMeat…
In the movie, Pennywise is more clever, and it has a code. He follows his code, lures them in and sucks their souls or something, I don’t know what he does exactly but you get the idea. And that code allows us to engage more with the story and plot. We quickly learn the rules of this world and start anticipating, and then they play with our anticipations which makes it more effective.
Otherwise, the movie could’ve been fall flat. The end results in the movie is a transition towards the more cleverly structured and self-aware plot. The movie is aware of its own rules and plays with them.
In his autobiography of So, Anyways, John Cleese says:
“No matter how wacky the premise of a sketch was, once it had been established, its rules had to be followed, or else the sketch would lose coherence and, thus, “believability.” It may seem bizarre to use the word “believability” about a Python sketch but in some mysterious way the audience will accept any premise, no matter how weird, and then allow it to set the rules for what is, and what is not, believable in that piece.”
(Wait, what? Why is John Cleese here? — Bare with me, it’ll connect at the end.)
Once the premise is established, it had to be followed. Comedy uses this to create laughter among audiences. If you don’t follow the premise, the setting would lose its believability.
Same goes with horror as well, the slasher masked man, the monsters, and all that crazy things in the horror stories would lose its believability instantly if the premise wouldn’t be followed. Once you set those boundaries, you grab the audience by the throat and you never let them go — as Billy Wilder says.
So, in the process of making the movie, somewhere along those lines they noticed this and made the story more clear and true to its premise, I think.
It’s an interesting read, I recommend reading it and comparing how the differences between the script and the movie made you feel. And if you haven’t watched it, why are you here? Go watch it! It was one of the most fun movies I’ve seen recently.
IT (2017) Screenplay [PDF] by Cary Fukunaga and Chase Palmer, last revisions by Gary Dauberman, based on the novel by Stephen King — for educational and research purposes only.
