Pennywise Lives: 'It' Deleted Scenes, Special Features And More From The Blu-Ray

Andy Muschietti's blockbuster adaptation of Stephen King's It hits Blu-ray this week, with a release that's loaded with extras, including 11 deleted scenes, an interview with King, an alternate ending, and more. Our deep-dive into the It Blu-ray special features examines all the extras any fan of the film should be eager to get their hands on.

Beware of spoilers, of course.

Revisiting Andy Muschietti's It for its Blu-ray release this week, one thing is abundantly clear: the movie holds up. Behind-the-scenes troubles, which resulted in original director Cary Fukunaga – who had been developing the film for years – to walk off raised a red flag or two. There was a very real chance that It would be a dud; a film that missed the point of Stephen King's novel, and opted for quick, cheap scares and very little thought. But that's not what happened. The film was a surprisingly great adaptation that may not have stuck rigidly to King's source material, but captured the very essence of the book. In short, It is a film that understands that the best way to adapt Stephen King is not through the scares, but through the characters. King's greatest gift as a writer is creating realistic people on the page, and It does a fantastic job of bringing King's characters to life. Even better than that, the film strives to make the characters believable. The pitch-perfect casting helps – this is one of the best-cast films in recent memory, with every young actor who comprises the Losers' Club turning in a great performance.

The It Blu-ray is a must-have for any fan of the film, or any fan of Stephen King's work in general. The following isn't a review of the movie (if you're looking for a more in-depth review of the film itself, please jump on over here and read my spoiler review), but rather a break-down of the great special features, beginning with a look at the deleted scenes on the disc.

There are a a whopping 11 total deleted scenes included on the It Blu-ray, but if you're looking for scenes that change the movie as you know it, you might want to temper your expectations. There's been talk of a now-infamous deleted prologue scene that involves the film's big bad Pennywise eating a baby – you won't find that here. Director Andy Muschietti recently revealed a director's cut of It would be released later this year, so there's a good chance that scene will appear there, along with possibly much more. For now, the deleted scenes on the It Blu-ray are quiet moments that really flesh-out the film's characters even more, but were likely cut to trim the film's already-long runtime.

Georgie Catches the BoatThe first deleted scene is going to catch you completely off-guard, because I'm not even sure what this is. In all likelihood, this first scene, titled "Georgie Catches the Boat", is director Andy Muschietti and company having a bit of fun. Rather than an actual deleted scene, this is a blooper, or a joke, or...something? The scene is from the beginning of the film, when young Georgie Denbrough (Jackson Robert Scott) is out sailing his paper boat in the storm. As everyone who has seen the movie knows, this activity will result in Georgie's brutal death: Georgie's boat sails into a storm drain, and when Georgie tries to retrieve it, he encounters Pennywise the Clown (Bill Skarsgård), an evil being who promptly devours the boy.Here, the scene plays out mostly as we know it, with the boat sailing into the drain, and Georgie trying to retrieve it. Pennywise pops up, and offers the boat to the hesitant boy. The music builds ominously, but then something incredibly strange happens: Georgie grabs the boat, then cheerfully says, "See you later!" and strolls away, unharmed.Pennywise, looking disappointed, mutters, "Ahhhh, shit," to himself, and the scene ends.

I was, to put it mildly, flabbergasted. I had to double-check to make sure I hadn't accidentally accessed a secret "bloopers" section. Again, I'm not entirely sure just what the hell this is, but my guess is it was included just to get a laugh from the audience, and was not an original deleted scene.

Stanley's Dad Corrects Him

King's novel, like the film, is primarily focused on kids (at least, until they grow up), but there's also a lot more moments involving parents in the novel that didn't make it into the film. The film cuts down every scene involving adults to the bare minimum, which works fine, narratively. Here, we get a quick glimpse of a little more time spent with an adult: Stanley's (Wyatt Oleff) father, a rabbi helping Stan study for his Bar Mitzvah.

Some of this scene is in the finished film: Stan can barely recite the appropriate passages from the Torah, much to his father's chagrin. Here, the scene goes on a bit longer: Stanley's father corrects him and asks him if he wants to "bring shame" to the family and the synagogue and so on, with Stan growing more and more visibly upset. It's a very quick scene, but it does add a bit more to Stan's character: he's clearly ashamed at having disappointed his father. 

Denbrough Family DinnerOne of the excised plotlines from King's book involves the coldness Bill Denbrough feels from his parents after his brother Georgie dies. There's a little of this in the film, with Bill (Jaeden Lieberher) struggling to talk to his father (Geoffrey Pounsett). This deleted scene expands on that even more. It's raining. The Denbrough family sit around the table, miserable. Bill attempts to converse with his family, but his dad and mom (Pip Dwyer) – still reeling from Georgie's death – are unreceptive. Bill tries to get his family excited about their yearly family vacation to Arcadia, but his mom and dad want nothing to do with it.

Bill really wants his family to come together in the face of their grief, but his parents just can't bring themselves do it.

"Your brother just looked forward to this trip so much. That park was his favorite place in the world," Bill's dad says as he leaves the room. Bill waits a bit, then softly says, "Mine too."Bill's Dad Looks In The Basement, Et AllThis deleted scene is set immediately after the scary sequence in the theatrical cut involving Bill encountering Georgie and Pennywise in the flooded basement of the Denbrough home. Here, after Bill runs upstairs, he crashes into his father. His father asks, "What's all this noise?", to which Bill, terrified, replies: "Georgie's there, and there's this clown, and it's all flooded!"Bill's dad goes into the basement, and we hear his footsteps sloshing around in the basement water. His dad stomps up the stairs and says, "Dry as a bone." Like the scene in the theatrical cut involving Bev (Sophia Lillis) and blood-drenched bathroom that her father is oblivious to, this is another moment that highlights that adults are completely ignorant to the damage Pennywise can create.This moment oddly cuts to bully Henry Bowers (Nicholas Hamilton), at home, applying ointment to belt marks on his back from his abusive father (Stuart Hughes). Henry's father is half-passed out in an armchair, smoking and drinking. Henry attempts to leave the house, but before he can, his father asks where he's going, then coldly orders his son to get him another beer. After Henry does so, he goes outside to meet his two friends, Belch (Jake Sim) and Victor (Logan Thompson), who have just pulled-up in their Trans Am. They ask Henry if his father was mad at him for losing his knife (from an earlier scene where the bullies attack Ben (Jeremy Ray Taylor). "That fat fuck touches me he knows I'll rip his head off," Henry says. The bullies start the car, then see Mike (Chosen Jacobs) riding by on his bike. They give chase.Outside the Neibolt HouseThis is the first deleted scene that I really wish had been kept in the film. It's quick, mostly dialogue-free, and serves to establish the dynamic of the Losers' Club so well. I get why it was cut, but still, it would've been nice had it made it into the theatrical cut.While Bill, Richie (Finn Wolfhard) and Eddie (Jack Dylan Grazer) are inside the spooky House on Neibolt Street looking for Pennywise, Ben, Bev, Mike and Stan wait outside. Stan is visibly upset, saying he's too afraid to go in the house. Mike comforts him. Bev looks on, silently, and Ben gently puts his hand on her shoulder. She reaches up and touches his hand. It's a great moment because it once again highlights Ben's crush on Bev, and actually reveals that Bev is clearly aware of that crush. It also gives Mike a great extra moment that shows how compassionate he can be – he barely knows Stan, yet he's still kind enough to offer some sort of comfort. Evacuating the Neibolt House (Extended Scene)

Another quick character moment that shows what a good kid Mike is: after the kids battle Pennywise in the Neibolt house, they come running out the front door, cursing and yelling. Mike puts the injured Eddie in the basket of his bike to ride him to safety.

Stanley's Bar Mitzvah Speech

Here's more great character work that should've made it into the film. This is an alternate take on a montage in the theatrical cut, set to the XTC song "Dear God." While the montage in the final film works fine, this alternate version is much stronger, and gives Wyatt Oleff a spotlight.

It's August. Stan, having just completed his Bar Mitzvah, begins talking about indifference. "When you're a kid, you think the universe revolves around you," he says. "That you'll always be protected and cared for. That you'll always have the same friends as when you were twelve. Then, one day, something bad happens, and you realize that's not true. You wake up suddenly not caring about lives outside your own. Nothing going on outside your own front door matters anymore. You separate yourself from anything that might matter to you. Neighbors, family, your friends. But when you're alone as a kid, the monsters see you as weaker, and they start to come for you, and you don't even know until it's too late, so they attack you before you find the truth about what's happening. If any of you opened your eyes, if you really cared, you'd see what we're going through. I guess, indifference is a part of growing up. Becoming an adult is about being able to vote, or being able to drink, or drive. Becoming an adult, according to the holy scripture of Derry, is learning to not give a shit."

Stan's father keeps quietly trying to stop him through the speech, eventually trying to take the mic away from him. Stan drops the mic and storms off. Everyone looks on shocked; Richie, in the crowd, stands up and attempts to clap, but his mom quickly makes him sit down.Half-way through this speech, the montage starts, with Mike using the bolt gun to kill a sheep at his family farm; Bev playing a Casio keyboard; Bill sitting alone at his kitchen table – this is a shot obviously recycled from the earlier deleted scene where his parents blow off his suggestion about a trip to Arcadia; Bev lounging in the bathtub when she spots blood on the bathroom floor; Ben in the library, looking up at a painting of a woman holding a baby in front of a well (which is clearly a reference to the still-unseen deleted scene where Pennywise eats a baby);  a photo of missing girl Betty Ripson taped to the bridge, with the message WHO THE FUCK IS BETTY RIPSON chalked next to it. 

Again, the theatrical version is fine, but Stan's speech calling out the indifferent adults of Derry is powerful.

Eddie at Keene's Pharmacy (Extended Scene)This plays out more or less exactly like it does in the theatrical cut, with just a few more moments that actually sabotage the scene. In other words, it was wise to cut this down.Eddie, his arm broken, goes to pick up his refills at the pharmacy. Director Andy Muschietti is glimpsed quickly in the background perusing the pharmacy shelves. Gretta (Megan Charpentier), the daughter of pharmacist Mr. Keene (Joe Bostick), comments that Eddie's cast has no signatures, and then tells him that his medication is actually made up of placeboes. Mr. Keene pops back into frame to give Eddie the meds, then walks away. Gretta offers to sign Eddie's cast; while she signs, Eddie's face goes from happy to miserable as he sees what Gretta is writing. Gretta she sticks her gum on the cast, and the scene cuts to a wide shot to reveal she scrawled LOSER on the cast. This doesn't have nearly as much impact as the theatrical cut, which wisely cuts away before we see what Gretta has written, only to later see Eddie scrawling a V over the S in LOSER to make it say LOVER. Henry and Bullies Wait Outside (Extended Scene)Did you wonder what happened to Henry's two bully buddies, Belch and Victor? In King's book, they accompany Henry into the sewers to chase the Losers, but then Pennywise kills Belch and Victor and leaves Henry wandering around, out of his mind.The theatrical cut changes this; Henry doesn't make it to the sewers, and is instead knocked down into the well, presumably to his death. Even then, we don't learn what happened to his two buddies in this cut.Here, we learn the truth: as the Losers gather to to into the Neibolt house to save Bev and fight Pennywise, we see Henry waiting in his car. In the theatrical cut, there's just a quick shot of the Trans Am; in this extended cut, we see Henry in the driver's seat, covered in blood. We can see his other friends in the car with him, but they're slightly out of focus. "Like lambs to a slaughter!" Henry says. "Wouldn't you say, fellas?" At this point, the angle changes to reveal that Henry's two friends are both dead in the car, their throats cut – they've been killed by Henry. I have a bad feeling about this Henry fellow! The Losers Find Georgie's WalkieRight after the Losers (except Mike) lower themselves down into the well inside the House on Neibolt Street, they find Georgie's walkie talkie. Bill holds it, looking stunned. That's it! Very quick.Denbrough Family VacationThis deleted scene would've been placed at the end of the movie, after the Losers cut their palms and make a blood oath, then say goodbye to each other (and Bev and Bill kiss). Here, Bill and his family are packed and leaving for a vacation. Bill's mom finally gets a line of dialogue! She kisses Bill's head, and says, "I know it's not Acadia, but maybe we can make some new memories, just us." Bill looks down at the slash in his hand, and then the Denbrough family jump into their station wagon and speed off. As they speed away, they drive by the sewer drain where Georgie died. The camera lingers on the drain, and the music gets ominous. Raindrops begin to fall and then the film cuts to black – it's the film's way of saying that the evil isn't gone for good.This is similar to one of the endings in the earlier drafts of the script, where after the Denbrough family peels out, a balloon is seen in the sky. See below (note: Bill's name was changed to Will in this script, for some weird reason).While this scene provides some nice closure fo the lingering subplot of Bill's fractured family, and the "maybe we can make some new memories" line is sweet, the theatrical ending – with Bill looking pleasantly surprised after Bev kisses him before the movie cuts to black – is much better.

This feature is all about Bill Skarsgård's Pennywise performance. If anything, this feature will make you appreciate how utterly normal Skarsgård is, which makes his weird, otherworldly Pennywise work all the more impressive. As the feature starts, we see footage from the set, and watch as the child actors of the film talk about how they've been filming for almost two months and have yet to share a scene with Skarsgård, therefore they have no idea what his Pennywise will be like. From here, the feature interviews cast and crew, including Skarsgård, talking about the performance.

"There's something off about clowns," says producer Barbara Muschietti. There's a lot of concept art here, much of it drawn by director Andy Muschietti. Why Warner Brothers and New Line didn't decide to release one of those wonderful coffee table art books all about the making of this film, I'll never know. The concept art is right there, ready to go! Alas, it didn't happen.

Skarsgård says even just auditioning for the part was fun, and it's revealed that Skarsgård was the only actor who auditioned with makeup on, and that impressed producers. (Note to auditioning actors: go the extra mile.) 

Andy Muschietti talks about how Skarsgård has an amazing control of his body and face: for example, Skarsgård talks about how he's always made the very weird Pennywise smile in real life, and had always wanted to use it in a character. Pennywise has a lazy eye in the film, and that's actually all Skarsgård. Muschietti had included the lazy eye in his character designs, and planned to create it digitally – until Skarsgård revealed he could just naturally make his eye go lazy when needed.

Overall, this is a strong behind-the-scenes feature that reveals how much thought Skarsgård put into the role. I'll freely admit that I had my reservations when Skarsgård was cast, but the actor completely nails the part, and clearly spent a lot of time building up his character and making his performance as memorable as possible.

This incredibly up-beat feature focuses on the dynamite young cast who play the Losers' Club. "This movie is [really] a movie about friendship," says Jeremy Ray Taylor, who plays Ben. And he's right. What makes It work so well isn't the jump-scares, but rather the endearing, realistic friendship that forms between the outcast members of the Losers' Club. 

"There's a lot of character development in that book," says Finn Wolfhard. "And we tried to fit as much of that into the movie." The strongest takeaway from this feature: all of these kids seem so incredibly nice, and professional, and intelligent. They truly get what the story is about. and it's clear they have a very firm grasp on their characters. The most amusing member of the bunch is Sophia Lillis, who drolly recounts what it was like to work on a set with a bunch of 12-year-old boys all day, every day. 

Beyond the behind-the-scenes on-set footage, and the interviews, there's a ton of footage here of the kids just acting like kids: running around, joking, talking non-stop. The friendship that developed between the cast really seems genuine, so much so that it's almost a shame that It: Chapter 2 will focus on their characters as adults. Hopefully that sequel will find a way to bring this young cast together again for flashbacks; they're too good together to use in only one film.

This feature, at least in my humble opinion, is the best of the bunch. If, like me, you're a big Stephen King nerd, this feature has an interview with King at his most open and most honest. It's a lovely little in-depth chat with the prolific horror novelist in which he primarily talks about writing It, but also discusses his approach to writing as a whole.

Here, King reveals he was 30-years-old when he wrote It. "I thought I could eat the whole world, in a literary sense," the writer says says. He reveals how he wanted to write a story about an entire city that's haunted, and how Bangor served as the inspiration for Derry.  

King talks about drawing on stories from his own childhood, including Ben's crush and writing the poem, in writing It. He says he was trying to articulate the things that made him afraid when he was a kid, and also he took inspiration from how his own children reacted to the world. One of the best soundbites from this feature comes when King talks about how he thinks children are more receptive, and see more of the world, than adults. "For adults, [life is] a TV screen," the novelist says. "For kids, it's IMAX."

Best of all, this feature has King expounding on his surprisingly positive philosophy. "You have to have faith in your friends," he says. "You have to believe that good is going to triumph over evil...Good doesn't get its fair desserts...and I like to see the balance; I like to see good is strong." It's a charming, up-beat message from a man who has made his living writing about people dying horrible, grisly deaths at the hands of monsters. As the feature ends, King says that what he strove to do with It, and what he strives to do with all his books, is to "create characters who were fundamentally decent, by and large; you want them to live, and you want them to win."

As I said, if you're a King fan, this feature is the bee's knees. But even if you're only marginally acquainted with King's work, this is a feature that gets to the heart of what makes his fiction so powerful. It's my favorite part of this Blu-ray release. Long live the King.