\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBrooke Palmer\/HBO<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tThe kids are Will Hanlon (Blake Cameron James), Lilly Bainbridge (Clara Stack), Veronica \u201cRonnie\u201d Grogan (Amanda Christine), Rich Santos (Arian S. Cartaya) and Marge Truman (Matilda Lawler). Variety<\/em> spoke with the young cast to talk about how they landed their parts on the show, and how they built up the courage to steal some of the series\u2019 most terrifying scenes.<\/p>\n \n\tClara Stack:<\/strong> I didn\u2019t find out until months after the audition, so it definitely came as a shock to me. My mom found out through my agent first, so then my family sat me down on my couch in my living room and told me. I was honestly super shocked and super excited. Getting to go to Toronto to film was such an incredible experience. I was honestly honored to get to explore the Stephen King \u201cIt\u201d universe.<\/p>\n \n\tMatilda Lawler: <\/strong>When I found out that I booked Marge, I was so thrilled. I am obsessed with Marge. She really spoke to me when I did the audition, and it was many months later when I found out that I would be playing her. I think I was doing a dance recital for the weekend. Right before I was about to do this dance show, I found out that I would be able to play Marge, and my heart grew three sizes. I definitely danced better than I usually dance because I was so excited.<\/p>\n \n\tAmanda Christine: <\/strong>When I got my audition, I only sent in one take. I didn\u2019t even know what the show was, because it was very top secret and they named it something like \u201cFairview\u201d when I got the audition. It was very intense. It was the scene from Episode 2, towards the end, when my dad gets taken to Shawshank. So it was a very intense scene to send in for me. It was very fun to film. And then when I got the scripts, I was like, \u201cOh my gosh, I\u2019m Ronnie Grogan.\u201d Then I was learning about the \u201cIt\u201d universe and watching the movies with my castmates and really just diving in, taking notes with Andy [Muschietti] and Barbara [Muschietti] and having meetings with our acting coach, Mr. Ben [Perkins].<\/p>\n \n\tArian S. Cartaya:<\/strong> If I remember correctly, I was at my grandma\u2019s house when my mom opened the email and got the news. I just started bouncing off the walls with excitement.<\/p>\n \n\tBlake Cameron James: <\/strong>I think that I was downstairs in my basement. Well actually, I don\u2019t know where I was. I can\u2019t remember. Somewhere in my house.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBrooke Palmer\/HBO<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tBlake Cameron James: <\/strong>Not at all. I hadn\u2019t read the book. I hadn\u2019t seen any of the movies because I was so terrified of Pennywise. He\u2019s always been my biggest fear, like my No. 1 biggest fear. So I never even indulged in any of that.<\/p>\n \n\tArian S. Cartaya: <\/strong>I watched the first \u201cIt\u201d movie once we got to Canada. We all watched it in the movie theater. So yeah, that was a really fun experience. But I still haven\u2019t read the book.<\/p>\n \n\tAmanda Christine:<\/strong> I watched the movie a couple months before I knew that I had booked the role of Ronnie. When I had watched it, I was actually in acting class. It was during Halloween time in October and our assignment was to watch Halloween movies. So I watched \u201cIt,\u201d and it was scary. I was like, \u201cOh my God. I\u2019ve never seen a scarier clown in my life!\u201d I\u2019ve since started reading the book. It is huge, but I\u2019m halfway through, and I\u2019m still trying to really dive deep into it and take notes about the \u201cIt\u201d universe. Because it is so big, and there\u2019s so much happening \u2014 and so much that we dive into in this prequel series with the myths, the nuclear things, the tension of racial traumas and the bullying of the kids and all of us coming together as friends to fight it off.<\/p>\n \n\tMatilda Lawler:<\/strong> I\u2019m in the same boat as Amanda. I\u2019m trying to make my way through the book. It\u2019s truly unlike anything else. I\u2019m such a fan of Stephen King as an author, I think he\u2019s so powerful. Some of my favorite horror movies are \u201cThe Shining\u201d and \u201cCarrie.\u201d I just love his work. So I was a huge fan, and I tried to watch the movie for my sister\u2019s birthday, because that was her birthday wish. And I was so terrified that I forced us to shut it off. I literally couldn\u2019t handle it, and I had a meltdown. And then my sister tried to torment me by showing me pictures of Pennywise, like she would just randomly show a picture of Pennywise to me, because she knew I was so scared. That\u2019s what siblings do. But anyways, when I got the audition, I revisited the movie and was able to make it through without having a meltdown. I was in love with it. I was terrified, but also I love the weird humor that Andy incorporates. I was obsessed.<\/p>\n \n\tClara Stack<\/strong>: I\u2019m actually a big fan of horror movies. I have been since I was little. I watched the first \u201cIt\u201d movie when I was about 9, so I was kind of already a little familiar with the \u201cIt\u201d universe. I hadn\u2019t read the book prior to the audition, but I think Stephen King is so talented, and I\u2019m a big fan of his work. Getting to step into the universe with this prequel series was honestly just such an honor.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBrooke Palmer\/HBO<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tMatilda Lawler: <\/strong>I would say it is scary on set, even though sometimes it feels a little bit ridiculous because you don\u2019t actually have anything to react to. Half the time you\u2019re just reacting to air or a piece of tape or Andy screaming weird sounds into the microphone. It\u2019s a bizarre experience, but our acting coach, Mr. Ben, did a really good job of helping us try to create a sense of fear, even when it wasn\u2019t in front of our eyes. We kind of created a safe space to get vulnerable and to get in touch with our own personal fears and our characters\u2019 fears. Sometimes he\u2019d play music, sometimes he\u2019d show us imagery that was scary to us or sometimes we\u2019d touch on personal experiences. Having those acting tools to help us in those moments was really helpful.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-variety-2020\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
<\/p><\/div>\n\t\tHow did you all learn that you would be playing your characters in \u201cWelcome to Derry\u201d?<\/strong>\t<\/h5>\n
<\/p><\/div>\n\t\tHad any of you seen the \u201cIt\u201d movies or read the book by Stephen King?\t<\/h5>\n
<\/p><\/div>\n\t\tDid it ever feel scary working on the show, or has working on it made horror movies feel less scary?\t<\/h5>\n