Pennywise didn’t go easy on Beverly as a child, so it’s only to be expected that he’d go just as hard on her as an adult. When Beverly (Jessica Chastain) returns to Derry as an adult, she is treated to yet another bloody nightmare. This time, she’s in the bathroom, just about the most vulnerable place you can be in public, when blood begins to pump into her stall without warning.
This set piece was another opportunity for the crew to showcase their formidable practical effects team. Although the set appears to be just a regular bathroom stall, it’s actually a small pool, allowing the filmmakers to fill it full of fake blood while still keeping their horrific mess relatively self-contained. Chastain is basically resigned to float in the goopy concoction as the pool fills up, although she does have a grab bar that she can hold onto, as we see in the picture, to help her tread water.
Credit where credit’s due, Chastain was incredibly game for this scene, as she discussed in “The Summer of It Chapter Two.” “When I first got the script, and it had Beverly in that bathroom stall, and the stall was filling with blood, I was like, ‘That’s super cool.'” Because first of all, it’s terrifying and visually shocking, but then also, I like the symbolism of it, this idea of what does it mean for her to become a woman, especially in her house, where she’s being abused by her father. I loved the idea of Beverly being swallowed up by blood.”