Get With IT, Part 3: The Return of the Ghost of Mr. Hanscom
“Come here, son, you’ll like it down there! You’ll never have to grow up.”
Steve Makaj as Mr. Hanscom, left; Brandon Crane as Ben Hanscom, right
Related Story: Get With IT Archive
Ben Hanscom could barely remember his father—a man who died young, shot down during the Korean War while fighting in the United States Air Force. But Ben’s interest in his father’s legacy (he confessed to his comrades that, when he was old enough, he wanted to be a fighter pilot) along with his fragmented memories of him, created the perfect scenario for Pennywise to exploit and subsequently torture Ben with.
As a young viewer I remember being haunted by those scenes with Mr. Hanscom: the unsettling image of him standing on top of the water and the way his voice and appearance quickly began to dissolve into the voice and appearance of Pennywise. It’s a bizarre moment in the film and one that clearly strove to maximize the emotional manipulation both the characters and viewers were experiencing. So, as I began my quest to write about the people and places from this film, I knew I had to summon the ghost of Mr Hanscom once again to find out more about who he is and how he landed the role.
“That’s my home now, son.”
When I first jumped on a call with Steve Makaj, the Canadian actor who portrayed the Pennywise-created illusion of Mr. Hanscom, one of the first things he asked was, “How old of a fella are you, anyway?” To which I responded, “Well, I’m about to turn 31 in a couple of weeks.”
“You know something,” he said, “That’s the age I was when I shot my scenes in IT.”
It was at that moment that I knew this interview was going to be a fun one.
Martin Landau, left; Steve Ihnat, right, in the Mission Impossible episode “The Mind of Stefan Miklos” (1969)
He also began to move into feature work and even write and direct a bit. He was in The Chase (1966) that starred Marlon Brando, Jane Fonda, and Robert Redford. Unfortunately, he passed away of a heart attack in Cannes, France, while he was there promoting a film he wrote, directed, and starred in (alongside his friend, Ed Asner) called, Do Not Throw Cushions Into the Ring. So, obviously growing up his impact on me was very strong because here I had this uncle who was a movie star. He’d come home from Hollywood on Christmas, Easter, and other holidays—come back to the farm—and he had this fan club and they’d often be there. They were mostly just ladies who were in love with the guy. And, so, there he was: bigger-than-life Uncle Steve. Those imprints he left on my childhood were really powerful and I just remember thinking, “Wow…If I could just be like him…”
JC: I’ve always found your scenes to be quite effective—spooky, sure, but also emotionally charged given that you were portraying the ghostly image of a father who had been killed in the Korean War and who is now haunting his adolescent son. Pretty dark stuff! Were you excited about landing the role?
SM: Getting the part in IT was actually a great role for me because I had just arrived in Vancouver from Toronto, where I started my acting career. I knew it was a high profile job with the caliber of actors they had involved—from John Ritter to Annette O’Tool and Richard Thomas. My scene was shot in Stanley Park which is a world renowned park here in Vancouver. And being in the Pacific Northwest we’re essentially rainforest country, so we have lots of parks, and Stanley Park is a massive park between all the trails and the big cedars and the huge pines. It borders English Bay which is essentially the Pacific Ocean that comes into a bay. We shot the scene in a place called Lost Lagoon (which actually sounds pretty appropriate given the film…) and I remember looking really sharp—thanks to the hair and makeup folks—with that crisp Air Force suit and haircut.
“You want a balloon, Ben?”
Steve Makaj as “Josiah Hudson” in the TV show ‘Arrow’
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