Both the 2017 IT movie and the 1990 miniseries version featured great performances from Seth Green and Finn Wolfhard as Richie Tozier - here's how the two versions of the character compare. Stephen King's IT novel was published in 1986 and is famously one of the author's chunkiest stories, coming in at over 1,100 pages in length. The book follows the fight of the self-proclaimed Losers' Club, a group of seven outcast kids who come together to fight an evil creature in their home town that commonly takes the form of a clown called Pennywise.
When this monster re-emerges decades later, the group reunite as adults to kill it for good. George A. Romero (Night Of The Living Dead) was originally set to direct the ABC adaptation of IT which was intended to be a ten-part limited series. Romero eventually left over creative differences and went on to direct King movie The Dark Half instead. Tommy Lee Wallace (Halloween III: Season Of The Witch) took over the project, with the miniseries being reduced to a two-parter instead. Tim Curry won acclaim for his terrifying performance as Pennywise the Dancing Clown, and the show featured some memorably creepy sequences.
Other cast members from the 1990 IT miniseries included John Ritter, Richard Thomas and Seth Green (Austin Powers). IT was an early role for Green, who was cast as young Richie Tozier, the comedian of the group. Just like the book, Green's Richie is hyperactive and always seeking attention, in addition to cracking silly jokes. The miniseries had to tone down his famous use of foul language, however, and while Green's Richie does his best to mask his fear of Pennywise from the others, he feels it just as strongly. The IT miniseries also shows him to be terrified of werewolves.
Finn Wolfhard's take on Richie in the 2017 IT movie leans a little closer to the source material, and he lets loose with the swear words constantly. The movie version of Richie is terrified of clowns, with Pennywise later luring him into a room filled with clown statues. Like the novel, both versions of Richie wear thick glasses but while the book suggests he may have
Tourette's syndrome, the IT miniseries and movie tone down this element of the character.
Both Green and Wolfhard's Richie serve as important comic relief in both versions, and the young performers do very well conveying Tozier's barely suppressed fear. Green would later compliment Wolfhard's performance and the 2017 IT movie itself and while both adaptations have their strengths and weaknesses, Seth Green and Finn Wolfhard both did a great job bringing Richie Tozier to life in their own unique way.
