We were joined on the Popternative show by Jack Molloy Legault and Matilda Legault to chat about the prequel horror series, IT: Welcome to Derry, set in the world of Stephen King’s IT universe. The series is set in 1962 and expands stories established by Andy Muschietti in the feature films It and It Chapter Two.
Bill Skarsgård reprises his role as the terrifying Pennywise from IT and IT Chapter Two, and the series also stars Taylour Paige (Zola), Jovan Adepo (Fences), Chris Chalk (Perry Mason), James Remar (Dexter), Clara Stack (The Naughty Nine), Amanda Christine (Black Box), Stephen Rider (Daredevil), Madeleine Stow (Revenge), Blake Cameron James (We Grown Now), Rudy Mancuso (Música), Miles Ekhardt (Turtles All the Way Down), Arian S. Cartaya (Juego de mentiras), Mikkal Karim-Fidler (Boy in the Walls), Matilda Lawler (Station Eleven), Joshua Odjick (The Long Walk), Kimberly Guerrero (Reservation Dogs), Maya McNair (Clarice), Maya Misaljevic (Seven Veils), and Hannah Storey (Thanksgiving).
In the series, Jack and Matilda play siblings Phil and Susie, and the actors are real life siblings. On set, not everyone was aware of that piece of information. “Everybody was like, ‘wait you guys are siblings? Oh, that’s why you look alike,'” Matilda says.
In the first episode, things take a terrifying turn when Phil and Susie, along with Lilly, Teddy and Ronnie, head to the movie theater to try and find their missing friend, Matty.
“That was the first scene I shot with my little sister, Matilda, who plays my little sister in the show, Susie, and is also my real little sister. So, from a big brother perspective, I was really nervous because I was like, how bad is this going to be? They mentioned that things pop out of the screen and that was my first scene with Clara Stack as well. But it ended up not being a scary experience. Obviously, once he said ‘action’ we were locked in. We screamed, we were feeling real fear, and the second they yelled ‘cut’ we were just laughing and joking around and playing with that baby [prop] they used,” Jack says.
“I had a lot of fun filming that and it was really fun doing all the screaming. There was a shot where the baby swoops in and it was just a camera going high up in the air and swooping down close to our face. It was fun,” adds Matilda.
Watch the full conversations with Jack Molloy Legault and Matilda Legault below.
A new episode of IT: Welcome to Derry airs on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max through December 14.
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