'IT' Stars Reveal Who They'd Like to Play the Adult Versions of Their Characters
Coming to theaters in September is the first part of a two-film adaptation of Stephen King's novel [...]
Jeremy Ray Taylor - Chris Pratt
Taylor plays Ben in the film, who joins the Losers' Club due to being overweight, which results in extreme bullying. Not really fitting in with any other kids in school, he finds companionship in the rest of the club who have all also been ostracized.
Thanks to Pratt becoming Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy, the actor has fully embraced an action star's physique. However, in Ben's transition into adulthood, he did lose weight, being played by John Ritter in the original 1990 mini-series. Additionally, one of Pratt's breakout roles was in the sitcom Parks and Recreation in which he was slightly overweight and leaned into his comedic abilities to play the loveable oaf.
Finn Wolfhard - Bill Hader
Playing Richie, a.k.a. "Trashmouth Tozier," Wolfhard uses his mouth to fight back against those that mock him, with his big glasses and diminutive physique making him the target of mockery.
Bill Hader made a name for himself with his variety of hilarious characters on Saturday Night Live before transitioning into film with roles in Superbad, The Skeleton Twins, and Trainwreck. The actor often disappears into the role, playing a diverse array of ridiculous characters, which would make Hader a great choice as the adult loudmouth, originally played by Harry Anderson.
Jack Dylan Grazer - Jake Gyllenhaal
If there's one thing Grazer's Eddie relies on more than his friends, it's his inhaler. Eddie was raised to believe he had a slew of different illnesses, but through various different experiences with the Losers' Club, he learned he didn't have to be a hypochondriac and was much stronger than he had ever realized.
For more reasons than just having played the titular character in Bubble Boy, Gyllenhaal has played characters who were both strong and empowered but also characters who were frail and insecure. The actor has had to embrace a superhuman physique for his role in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, but has also undergone weight-loss to play a gaunt and exploitative character in Nightcrawler.
Chosen Jacobs - Chadwick Boseman/David Oyelowo
In the original story, Jacobs' Mike Hanlon was picked on, bullied, and beaten merely for the color of his skin, as the story was set in the more racially intolerant '50s. In the latest film, the timeline has been shifted so that the kids grow up in the '80s, and although race isn't ignored completely for reasons he's bullied, it has much more to do with his penchant for history and how much time he spends researching the past than living in the present.
Whether it be Boseman's portrayals of Jackie Robinson or James Brown in 42 and Get On Up, or Oyelowo's depiction of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma, neither actor is any stranger to embracing powerful figures who have had to overcome adversity to triumph in their respective fields.
Wyatt Oleff - Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Much like Mike being picked on for being African American, Oleff's Stanley is picked on for being Jewish, aided by his affinity for birds and the amount of time he spends bird-watching. Additionally, Stanley has a fear of heights, which Pennywise aims to exploit at all costs.
Interestingly, Oleff chose Gordon-Levitt to play his character as an adult, with the actor having recently starred in a film in which a fear of heights would have proven deadly in The Walk. Gordon-Levitt often portrays characters where there is clearly much going on behind the surface and are quite self-reflective, which would help for a character like Stanley, who often loses himself while daydreaming about birds and overcoming his fear of heights.
Sophia Lillis - Jessica Chastain
The only female member of the Losers' Club and the one who possibly faces the most amount of regular abuse, Lillis' Beverly isn't mocked and bullied for the fact that she is regularly abused by her father, but for the fact that she and her father live in poverty. Throughout the story, as both kids and adults, Beverly develops feelings for Ben, despite the two never quite following through on their desires.
Arguably one of the greatest actresses of her generation, Chastain has regularly portrayed pensive characters who are driven to accomplish their mission, no matter how difficult it may seem. Whether playing a character hunting Osama Bin Laden in Zero Dark Thirty or trying to bring an abandoned astronaut home in The Martian, Chastain would make a great Beverly, not letting anyone stand in the way of her dreams and desires.
