We've seen plenty of examples of digital de-aging in feature-films over the past few years, such as in AQUAMAN, CAPTAIN MARVEL, AVENGERS: ENDGAME, and more to come in GEMINI MAN and THE IRISHMAN, and it seems that we can add IT: CHAPTER TWO to that list as well. The upcoming sequel takes place nearly thirty years after the events of the first film and stars Jessica Chastain as Beverly, Bill Hader as Richie, James McAvoy as Bill, Isaiah Mustafa as Mike, James Ransone as Eddie, Jay Ryan as Ben, and Andy Bean as Stanley as they set out to take down Pennywise (Bill Skarsgard) once and for all.
In addition to the now adult-members of the Losers' Club, IT: CHAPTER TWO will also feature flashbacks to the younger incarnations featured in the first film, including Sophia Lillis as Beverly, Finn Wolfhard as Richie, Jaeden Martell as Bill, Chosen Jacobs as Mike, Jack Dylan Grazer as Eddie, Jeremy Ray Taylor as Ben, and Wyatt Oleff as Stanley. As two years has passed since the first film, those young actors have noticably grown, but director Andy Muchietti told Total Film (via SyFy) that he has a solution.
From the beginning, we knew that that would be part of the budget, the visual effects to address that. So we're going to de-age the kids.
Visual effects companies have gotten quite skilled at the whole digital de-aging process, so if all goes well, we likely won't notice anything amiss. That said, are we sure audiences wouldn't have been able to suspend their disbelief during these sequences? Either way, I'm incredibly excited to witness the end of this horror epic when IT: CHAPTER TWO hits theaters on September 6, 2019.
