<P> On July 19, 2017, in an interview with Variety's Brent Lang, director Muschietti commented of the monstrous forms that It will be taking, as well as noting the fact that they are very different from the incarnations present in King's story, "The story is the same, but there are changes in the things the kids are scared of . In the book they're children in the' 50s, so the incarnations of the monsters are mainly from movies, so it's Wolf Man, the Mummy, Frankenstein, (and) Dracula . I had a different approach . I wanted to bring out deeper fears, based not only on movie monsters but on childhood traumas ." While on the topic of the key to a successful horror film, Muschietti concluded by remarking that "Stay true to what scares you . If you don't respect that, you can't scare anyone ." Muschietti explained how Skarsgård caught his attention to embody Pennywise, while pointing out that he did not want the young cast to spend too much time with the actor when not shooting, and encouraged them to "maintain distance", wherein Muschietti detailed: "We wanted to carry the impact of the encounters to when the cameras were rolling . The first scene where Bill interacted with the children, it was fun to see how the plan worked . The kids were really, really creeped out by Bill . He's pretty intimidating because he's six - four and has all this makeup ." </P> <P> Production designer Mara LePere - Schloop went to Bangor, Maine, to scope out locations, including the Thomas Hill Standpipe, the land running alongside the Kenduskeag Stream that in It is called The Barrens, and the Waterworks on the Penobscot River . LePere - Schloop said that they were hoping to shoot some scenes in the city, and possibly take some aerial shots . On May 31, 2016, Third Act Productions was confirmed to have applied to film interior and exterior scenes for It in the municipality of Port Hope, with filming slated for various locations around the municipality from July 11, 2016 to July 18, 2016 . Principal photography begun in Toronto, with an original shooting schedule from June 27 to September 6, 2016 . </P> <P> By July 8, 2016, Port Hope had undergone changes to transform it into Derry; Port Hope Municipal hall was the Derry Public Library, The Port Hope Tourism Centre became the City of Derry office, Ganaraska Financial was remade as Montgomery Financial, Gould's Shoes store front on Walton Street changed to a butcher shop, The Avanti Hair Design store front changed to Tony's Barber Shop, an empty storefront at 36 Walton Street changed to Reliance Cleaners, Queen Street Tattoo store front changed to Derry Scoop, a statue of Paul Bunyan was erected in Memorial Park, US flags hung in place of Canadian flags downtown, and Port Hope Capitol Theatre had appeared to be showing Batman (1989) and Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), thus confirming the film's 1989 setting . </P> <P> On July 11, 2016, preliminary shooting took place in Port Hope Town Hall, Memorial Park cenotaph, Queen Street, between Walton and Robertson streets and the Capitol Theatre . On July 12, 2016, filming occurred between the intersection of Mill and Walton street, Walton Street bridge, and in front and behind 16--22 Walton Street and Port Hope Town Hall . Other shooting locations included Queen Street between Walton and Roberston street, and Memorial Park, on July 13 . It was also reported, on July 14, that filming had been set up on the alley between Gould's Shoe's and Avanti Hair Design, and John and Hayward streets . Filming moved to Cavan Street, between Highland Drive and Ravine Drive, and Victoria Street South, between Trafalgar Street and Sullivan Street, on July 15 . Filming in Port Hope ended on July 18, at Watson's Guardian Drugs . </P>

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