James McAvoy shares Stephen King's brutally honest take on the meaning of his horror classics

Kevin Polowy
Updated

Warning: It Chapter Two spoiler ahead!

James McAvoy was geeked to meet iconic author Stephen King when coming on board for It Chapter Two, a continuation of the two-part movie adaption of King's 1986 novel that launched with 2017's It. But it doesn’t sound like the Scottish-born actor and King aficionado was able to glean much insight into his writing process.

"It was pretty awesome, as a fan of his, and a fan of many of his books. And a lot of his books actually cross-pollinate as well, with characters and themes showing up, and realms, worlds, realties kind of blending into different series," McAvoy told Yahoo Entertainment (watch above).

"It was really fun to kind of quiz him about some of that. But his answer was generally, 'Well, you know, James, the thing you have to remember is that I was high as a kite when I wrote that and I don't remember.'"

(Editor’s note: Stop reading if you're sensitive to any details from Chapter Two being spoiled.)

Though the It movies are true ensembles, with seven key characters forming the "Loser's Club" that battles the maniacal clown Pennywise, McAvoy had the distinction of being the only actor who shares a scene with the 71-year-old writer. King makes an amusing cameo as an antique store shopkeeper who sells McAvoy's Bill Denbrough an old bicycle for an exorbitant price tag after recognizing him to be a successful author.

"He was awesome in his scene," McAvoy said. "He wrote a great character in that curmudgeonly old storekeeper because he saw the horror of that. So there was no better man to play that."

It: Chapter Two is now playing. Watch McAvoy and castmates talk about the letters and photos they received from their younger costars:

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