IT CHAPTER TWO Director Wishes Stephen King a Happy Birthday, Shares Set Photo

IT CHAPTER TWO was released in theaters earlier this month and featured a very special cameo. Stephen King, who wrote the book the film was based on, made an appearance in the movie on par with Stan Lee’s cameos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While on a quest to find a personal artifact, adult Bill Denbrough (James McAvoy) spots his old bicycle in the window of an antique shop. The shopkeeper (King) recognizes Bill for his writing and overcharges him for the bike (because “he can afford it”). When Bill sees King’s character is reading his book, he asks if he’d like him to sign it, but King hilariously declines, saying he hated the ending. Today happens to be King’s 72nd birthday, so IT director, Andy Muschietti, decided to post a behind-the-scenes photo from King’s big scene.

“Hero, teacher, friend. Happy birthday, maestro @stephenking,” Muschietti wrote.

It was recently revealed that King took more of an active interest in IT CHAPTER TWO than he normally does with the adaptations of his books. In fact, he even went as far as to request the inclusion of specific scenes. While King was certainly in a position to make demands for the film, Muschietti noted that the author was quite mild-mannered with his requests.

“He gave us a little list of things that he would like to see in the movie,” Muschietti shared with io9. “But he is very gentle. He said like, ‘Please take this. It is what it is. There are no strings attached.’ It was more an affectionate thing with what he remembers of his own work.”

So far, IT CHAPTER TWO has been met with mixed reviews, currently standing at 63% on Rotten Tomatoes (although, the audience score is 79%). Comicbook.com’s Brandon Davis sums it up succinctly in his IT CHAPTER TWO review – which you can read HERE, or watch in the video above.

IT CHAPTER TWO stars Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise, Jessica Chastain as Beverly Marsh, James McAvoy as Bill Denbrough, Isaiah Mustafa as Mike Hanlon, Bill Hader as Richie Tozier, Andy Bean as Stanley Uris, Jay Ryan as Ben Hanscom, and James Ransone as Eddie Kaspbrak. The young versions of the Losers’ Club will also be returning.

IT CHAPTER TWO is now playing in theaters everywhere.