Bill Hader was quite happy to land the role of Richie Tozier in IT: Chapter Two, but there was one scene on the page he requested be written out. Thanks to his years as one of the most popular members of the Saturday Night Live cast, Hader is primarily known for his comedic abilities, and uncanny impressions. However, thanks to both his Emmy-winning performance as the lead in HBO's pitch black dramedy Barry and his work as Richie in IT: Chapter Two, it's becoming fully apparent that Hader has a lot more acting range than some might think.
This shouldn't really be too surprising, as there's a long list of primarily comedic actors that sometimes shone even brighter in dramatic roles, including Robin Williams, Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, Adam Sandler, and Eddie Murphy. Hader isn't quite on that level yet, but if he keeps taking more dramatic parts, it's quite likely he'll reach their level of cinematic esteem in time.
Based on both his dramatic and comedic roles, Hader seems like the type of performer willing to do just about anything to make a scene work. In the case of IT: Chapter Two though, he objected to one particular scripted sequence, and surprisingly, it wasn't any of the ones involving blood and guts.
The IT: Chapter Two Scene Bill Hader Refused to Perform
Since Bill Hader is such a gifted comedian, and Richie Tozier the character is also a comic, IT: Chapter Two writer Gary Dauberman tried his best to take advantage of that. He would pepper jokes into the script to give Hader a launching pad, knowing that Hader would then have the comedic instincts to decide which to say during scenes, which he should alter to make them funnier, or otherwise drop entirely because they wouldn't work in the moment. To that end, Dauberman wrote in a scene where Hader unleashes his hilarious impression of Al Pacino, which he had busted out many times, on talk shows, during stand-up sets, and as part of Saturday Night Live sketches.
Dauberman likely thought he had a winning idea by allowing Hader to bust out one of his most famous impressions as Richie, but Hader disagreed. While there's no indication Hader did so in a mean or unpleasant way, Dauberman says Hader asked for the Pacino bit to be removed from the script, as he saw it as old material that he had no desire to perform again. Considering how many times he's done it, it's easy to understand why Hader is tired of impersonating Pacino at this point. It's probably for the best that he said no anyway, as watching Richie Tozier impersonate Pacino could risk taking viewers out of IT: Chapter Two's story, and reminding them that they're watching Bill Hader's trademark comedy stylings, not Richie's.