SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from Season 1, Episode 7 of “It: Welcome to Derry,” now streaming on HBO Max.
If there was ever any speculation that the horrors explored in HBO’s “It: Welcome to Derry” were purely supernatural, Episode 7 put those questions to rest. After a flashback cold open that shows the origins of Pennywise the Clown (Bill Skarsgård), the episode picks up where the previous one left off, with a gun-wielding, mask-wearing mob of the eponymous town’s white citizens infiltrating the Black Spot: a hangout for the Black soldiers on Derry’s military base, and a hideout for the town’s falsely accused fugitive, Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider).
The white mob breaks into the Black Spot looking for Grogan, and a standoff ensues when the club’s patrons draw their own guns. The tension is briefly broken when the mob lowers their weapons and retreats, but the relief is temporary, as they lock the doors from the outside, throw Molotov cocktails into the building and riddle its walls with bullets.
The shoot-off continues as the Black Spot burns down with dozens of people inside — many of them central characters in the series, including most of the main ensemble of children. It is a raw and violent sequence, expanded upon from a brief chapter in Stephen King’s original “It” novel.
Courtesy of HBO
As it is in the novel, the scene showcases the grounded horrors taking place in Derry, but they are made even more eerie by the ghostly apparitions that soon crowd the massacre. Because Pennywise feeds on the town’s fear, he obviously shows up amid the terrifying event. Meanwhile, because the telekinetic Dick Hallorann (Chris Chalk) is present in the fire, he witnesses hordes of spirits appear as ill-fated souls enter the afterlife all around him.
It’s a fusion of real and metaphorical terrors that come together in a harrowingly powerful scene that elevates “Welcome to Derry” to new heights. Variety caught up with the series’ executive producer and Episode 7 director Andy Muschietti over email to talk about his artistic and thematic approach to the show’s most impactful scene yet.
The massacre at the Black Spot is a small, but memorable part of Stephen King’s “It” novel. Did you always anticipate adapting and expanding upon it as a pivotal part of “Welcome to Derry”?
In the big ocean that is the book, the Black Spot seems small, but it’s actually a very substantial event in the interludes. Since we’re basing the show on the interludes, we really wanted to show the events of the Black Spot and use it as a guideline. Apart from a dramatic low point, it is a guideline that leads our characters towards a catastrophic conclusion, or, if not a conclusion, a big pivotal point in the story.
How did you decide on the suspenseful pacing of the scene, having the stand-off followed by brief relief before the horrors begin?
I wanted to do justice to the book in terms of the horror and the atrocities that are experienced. I wanted to not only create tension and suspense on the build up, but also when the whole thing goes off. We wanted to create the impression that we are locked inside with the rest of the people. That’s why the perspective doesn’t leave the room. There is a bit of a oner that basically follows several characters as the panic spreads with the fire. It’s a really tough scene to watch and was a very tough scene to shoot, but I really wanted to stay true to the intensity of that part of the book.
Courtesy of HBO
How much of the set design was practical and how much was digital? Of course, people weren’t actually getting burned, but did you use any real fire? Did you actually destroy the Black Spot set?
The burning of the Black Spot happened mainly on two big sets. One of them is the set of the Black Spot where we shot several scenes before. The second one is a more open place used for the part where chaos prevails and everything is on fire. I wanted to create confusion. I wanted to put the audience in the driver’s seat of that catastrophe and give the impression that you are lost and you don’t know where the door is.
That second part was shot in a place that didn’t have walls. For all the running, all the confusion, all the mayhem that you see, I wanted to create a place where you couldn’t recognize anything. It’s curious, because set No. 1 and set No. 2 are sort of fused in one of the shots. You can actually see it if you pay attention; you can see how we go from the set to a place that is engulfed in flames. There was practical fire, but we could not put actors in harm’s way, so a lot of it is not practical. Following the safety regulations, we used practical fire for stuff in the foreground and in the distance. The rest is made in post-production. Regarding the general performance, we had our actors perform as if they are struggling in these conditions, but also we had a bunch of background performers that were stunt-trained special performers.
How do you approach directing a kinetic scene like this, where there are lots of people reacting chaotically? Do you allow people to improvise, or are you choreographing every individual?
It was a challenging sequence to film, because you’re trying to convey chaos and panic and a lack of control. But of course, you had to choreograph every single second of it, and that’s what we did. The choreography took us probably two days of designing the whole sequence. The oner was a very challenging shot to achieve, because it basically starts with the first Molotov cocktail that sets the fire. Then people panic. They start running in all directions and the camera has to follow certain characters and then transition towards the action of other characters and then pan out to the ceiling, where it’s on fire before we fall back and someone takes us to another corner. It was an interesting challenge to execute. Everybody had to be on point. We had the camera department, the cast, special effects and stunt teams all working to make this incredibly complex scene. It’s very choreographed, but it had to look real and chaotic. I think the chaos was achieved. And I’m very proud of all of what we did there. Everything that needed to be choreographed was choreographed. Even in the background, people knew what they had to do.
Of course, there are moments of improvisation. Because it’s a scene with heightened emotion, people do things that were not planned. There were things that didn’t happen as expected, but then everything fell back in line. It’s a great thing about making movies: accidents happen. I don’t mean accidents like something bad happens, but something unexpected. There was a lot of that.
How long did the sequence take to film?
It took us like four or five days to shoot. It wasn’t easy.
What do you think audiences will take away from this scene within the broader series?
We shot this in a very visceral way. It’s a very first person experience. We wanted to get the audience to feel what being trapped in this place would be like. Dramatically, that was the intent. Thematically, we wanted to convey the idea that the worst things that happen in this world are often caused by us humans and that we are capable of inflicting pain and hate and horror in each other, just as much or more than the monster is.
This interview has been lightly edited for Variety’s style
