Finn Wolfhard will be de-aged for IT: Chapter 2
At the heart of IT is the Losers’ Club, a group of kids and later adults plagued by a mysterious entity known as IT. The first movie focused entirely on the children — the most prominent member of that cast was probably Finn Wolfhard (Richie Tozier), also known for playing Mike in Stranger Things. The second will focus on the adults, but there will be flashbacks to the fateful summer when they battled the killer clown. Unfortunately, when it came time to film IT: Chapter Two, Wolfhard had gone through a bit of a growth spurt.
According to Bloody Disgusting, citing an interview with director Andy Muschietti for Total Film, Wolfhard just didn’t look believable, so he’ll be aged down digitally when we see Chapter Two. After all, the encounter with IT occurs over the course of one summer; Richie can’t look like he’s grown up in the flashback sequences.
Wolfhard isn’t the only actor that had this issue. Muschietti said that “we’re going to de-age all the kids.”
Does this seem like a good idea? Well, the short answer is yes. In a film about an eldritch horror that likes to disguise itself as a clown, there need to be as few issues with suspension of disbelief as possible. If Richie is suddenly several inches taller, but it’s supposed to be the same year, that might be tough on viewers. (Of course, we have to believe that Wolfhard grows up to be Bill Hader, but that’s an entirely different problem.)
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You can briefly see what this should look like in the trailer for Chapter Two. Here’s your reminder that this is scary and probably not safe for work:
Compared to footage from the trailer for the first film, that looks pretty spot-on:
Of course, the real challenge will be Richie talking and the lighting on his face, neither of which are really on display in trailers and stills. We’ll just have to wait and see how well Muschietti and friends pull this off when the movie arrives on September 6.
Next. Richard Madden goes to war, and other new trailers you should watch. dark
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