Posted in: HBO, TV | Tagged: it: welcome to derry, welcome to derry

It: Welcome to Derry Editor on Most Challenging Episode, Dick Halloran

Editor Esther Sokolow spoke with us about her most difficult episode of It: Welcome to Derry, Dick Halloran, the future, and much more.

Esther Sokolow is proud to be a frequent collaborator with director/writer/producer sibling duo Andy and Barbara Muschietti, expanding what they built on the Bill Skarsgård-starred It films as it expands into the HBO prequel series It: Welcome to Derry (the two co-created with Jason Fuchs). The editor spoke to Bleeding Cool about the most challenging sequence she had to cut together, the appeal of working in horror, why she likes the Dick Halloran (Chris Chalk) character, and Andy's original plans for the series' future, which she hopes will become a reality.

It: Welcome to Derry Editor Esther Sokolow on Editing Episode 104, Horror, Dick Halloran, and More

What would you say is the most challenging sequence that you've cut this season?

So I cut a sequence in episode four ("The Great Swirling Apparatus of Our Planet's Function") that dealt with the Native American flashback, and that was a labor of love. I'm obviously not Native American, and these were authentic Native American actors. There was a Native American director, a Native American consultant, and there was a lot of earnestness and obligation to ensure that we were accurately depicting these experiences and characters. There are things where sometimes when you're thinking about the pacing of something where you might trim a line and "Oh, the joke still lands," but because I don't understand what I don't understand, you make sure that you're diving into the cultural authenticity of the stories that you're telling to make sure that you're delivering an accurate representation, so we really poured our heart and soul into getting that sequence right.

I enjoyed that episode because it sets itself apart from the rest of the narrative. It was also completely different, and it offered a fresh take, separate from the main narrative, with a change of perspective. When you work in the horror genre, what do you find as far as it being advantageous being in that genre compared to some of the others that you've worked on?

Well, I find horror for me is really about empathy and caring about the characters. Even though the end goal is to scare the audience, we want to thrill people, and we want to have them enjoy the scares. I need to make sure that the characters living those terrors feel believable, and I consider myself a very empathetic person in how I approach my friends and family. When I'm watching footage, I'm looking at what makes the texture of a character feel real and human. Horror is the backdrop of the genre, but to me, what makes It: Welcome to Derry and the It film so resonant is that it is about the heart, humor, and authenticity of the characters. That is what makes the It world have such a legacy that it reflects on yourself these universal truths about ourselves.

What are your biggest influences?

I grew up on (Alfred) Hitchcock. I'm a film noir and old-school cinema lover. I love Vertigo (1958), Rear Window (1954), and North by Northwest (1959), like I am very much drawn to the detective journey, and maybe those characters that have a nuance where they're not wholly good or evil, that we have a little bit of nuance to us. It's why I love the Dick Halloran character so much in It: Welcome to Derry. He feels very much of that cut from that cloth.

I love the updates to the Dick Halloran character in general, because, as much as Scatman Crothers did a great job in the original The Shining (1980), I felt that Mike Flanagan opened the character up even further in Doctor Sleep (2019). Now, Andy and Barbara are also doing that in It: Welcome to Derry, and expanding on the character. I'm enjoying that character in a new light, and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what else they have in store for the expanded narrative for the future. As we see more of this story unfold, do they plan for it to be a one-season series, or has there been talk about expanding it further?

Andy has a vision for a three-season show, and we're eagerly hoping we hear word on (from HBO about a renewal).

The season finale of It: Welcome to Derry, which also stars Taylour Paige, James Remar, Stephen Rider, Matilda Lawler, Amanda Christine, Clara Stack, Blake Camreon James, Arian S. Cartaya, Miles Ekhardt, Mikkal Karim-Fidler, Jack Molloy Legault, Matilda Legault, Chris Chalk, Peter Outerbridge, and Madeleine Stowe, premieres December 14th on HBO.

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