It is a 1990 ABC two-part psychological horror drama miniseries directed by Tommy Lee Wallace and adapted by Lawrence D. Cohen from Stephen King's 1986 novel of the same name. The story revolves around a predatory monster that can transform itself into its prey's worst fears to devour them, allowing it to exploit the phobias of its victims. It mostly takes the humanoid form of Pennywise, a demonic clown. The protagonists are The Lucky Seven, or The Losers Club, a group of outcast kids who discover Pennywise and vow to kill him by any means necessary. The series takes place over two different time periods, the first when the Losers first confront Pennywise as children in 1960, and the second when they return as adults in 1990 to defeat him a second time after he resurfaces.
"What's fun about [Pennywise] is that a clown is traditionally a very cozy, comforting image, and Pennywise is none of those things." —Tim Curry in an interview published during It's production
John Ritter had made several attempts to appear in a King adaptation before he worked on It.
King was strongly dismayed at the limited market for horror on television, and had low expectations once the miniseries was greenlit.
George A. Romero was originally planned to be It's director, but his scheduling conflicts and the miniseries' length decrease influenced him to drop out of the project.
It is a 1986 horror novel by American author Stephen King. It was his 22nd book and the 17th novel written under his own name. The story follows the experiences of seven children as they are terrorized by an evil entity that exploits the fears of its victims to disguise itself while hunting its prey. "It" primarily appears in the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown to attract its preferred prey of young children.
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