From Page to Scream: A Closer Look at It Concept Art and Storyboards

In Stephen King’s 'It' the monster reads your thoughts to learn what scares you the most. Here’s a look at the concept art and storyboards that director Andy Muschietti used to figure out how to strike those same nerves.
By Anthony Breznican
September 12, 2017 at 09:30 AM EDT

1 of 6

“YOU’LL FLOAT, TOO”

Credit: Warner Bros/New Line Cinema

It has just given Bill a vision of his missing little brother Georgie — to lure the older boy into the recesses of his flooded basement. There, the clown manifestation of It will strike.

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 6

Credit: Andy Muschietti/Warner Bros.

“Andy draws his own storyboards,” says producer David Katzenberg. “He has precise ideas about nearly every shot. We would start each morning by going through his sketches, and it always struck me how close they ended up being to the final image.”

3 of 6

“THAT'S WHERE IT LIVES”

Credit: Warner Bros/New Line Cinema

There’s a well in the basement of 29 Neibolt Street that leads directly into It’s lair. In this concept art, a vision of an ominous abandoned house. Ahead, the full-scale version that was built on an empty lot in a Toronto suburb.

Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

4 of 6

Credit: Warner Bros.

“Our production designer, Claude Paré, and his team did an amazing job building something that looked as if it had been rotting away for decades,” says producer Seth Grahame-Smith. “We drew big crowds every day we were there. The locals wanted us to leave it in place after we finished shooting so they could use it on Halloween.”

Advertisement

5 of 6

“IT WANTS TO DIVIDE US”

Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

Inside the Neibolt house Bill and his friends in the Losers Club confront It as a group — no longer isolated but still scared as hell. The producers say there are more allusions to It’s past iterations. “If people look hard enough,” says Katzenberg, “they’ll see our tribute to Tim Curry too.”

6 of 6

Credit: Andy Muschietti/Warner Bros.

“I love this image,” says Grahame-Smith, “because it conjures the original It book cover that scared me as a kid — Pennywise’s green clawed hand reaching up through the sewer grate.”

Advertisement
Advertisement
Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Up Next

By Anthony Breznican