Though he hasn’t quite matched the record set by the late, great Stan Lee, legendary author Stephen King has always been fond of a cameo role in one of his many, many adaptations – regardless of whether they appear on film or television.
From Creepshow to Pet Sematary, The Shining Miniseries to Mr. Mercedes, the literary master of horror has collected an impressive number of screen credits throughout his career. And this year, he added another thanks to It: Chapter Two, in which he played a grouchy shopkeeper who greets the adult Bill Denbrough as he’s searching for his totem – a bike called Silver, in this case, which instantly reminds James McAvoy’s Loser of little Georgie and the nightmarish clown lurking in the sewer.
As for King’s role, it’s naturally pretty brief, and pokes fun at Bill’s stammer (along with his inability to pen a good, coherent ending to one of his novels). You can check it out for yourself up above.
Back when It: Chapter Two arrived in September, director Andy Muschietti addressed the Stephen King cameo and the supposed ‘movie curse’ that follows him from film to film. Essentially, King felt that any movie in which he appeared was destined to fail, but with New Line’s horror sequel, Muschietti saw an opportunity to break the curse once and for all.
He said, ‘Actually, you have to know that I’m a jinx’. Apparently all the movies that he was in with a cameo ultimately bombed. He wanted to warn me. I said, ‘I don’t think we need to worry about that. We can avert it. We can lift the spell.’
The Pennywise saga has officially ended at Warner Bros. and New Line, but there’ve been rumblings of a potential third chapter featuring the Losers Club. So long as it has Andy Muschietti in the driving seat, we’re game.
Meanwhile, It: Chapter Two has been dated for a digital release tomorrow, November 19th, before the horror sequel slithers onto Blu-ray and DVD on December 10th.