Those familiar with Stephen King’s “It” know the red balloon is a symbol of fright. But for the Legault family, it’s a sign of stardom.
The new HBO series “It: Welcome to Derry” tells the backstory of Pennywise the clown. It stars Quebec siblings Jack and Matilda Legault as brother and sister Phil and Susie Malkin.
“It’s an honour to be part of this universe,” Jack told CTV News.
He began acting at age four, starting as an extra. He then went on to voice Slippy in the animated series “Interstellar Ella,” and appeared as the young Thomas Morrow in “Three Pines” on Amazon Prime.
Matilda followed in her brother’s footsteps, booking roles like young Maxine in the Netflix hit “Ginny & Georgia.”
The two were eventually called by HBO.
“I thought it was just going to be a little spooky thing. Maybe some jump scares, because I’ve never heard of ‘It.’ I was really young. I was only about eight,” Matilda said.
Since the show is set in 1962 Maine, Jack says a lot of preparation went into playing his character.
“Every morning, Dad would wake us up to ‘60s music like Soldier Boy [...] And I looked at some of the movies he might have watched, learned about airplanes. And it really was not that hard to act like a total geek and sarcastic, funny guy,” he said.
It’s a testament to how grounded the budding stars are. When the cameras aren’t rolling, the siblings are in Ormstown, Que., at their family farm or in school.
It was thanks to on-set tutors that they were able to be in Toronto for nearly two months of filming.
The family says, however, that they’re grateful to be able to pursue acting while maintaining a sense of peace.
“Nowadays we do self tapes, so in our basement we have a whole set up. We’ve painted the wall white, which is a really nice neutral colour. And we just we film it, and we got one of the parents or one of the siblings reading behind the camera,” said Jack.
Whether at home or on set, the Legaults say it’s a family affair.
As for what’s next, Matilda is eyeing a lead role, and Jack hopes the next call will come from the DC Universe.
