It’s June, which means Summer is in full swing, and people across the country are celebrating Pride Month. Nicholas Hamilton, widely known for his antagonistic and terrifying role in the It franchise, recently spoke to MovieWeb, providing a fascinating insight into his experience in Hollywood.
Hamilton, a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community, who came out of the closet between his It and It Chapter Two appearance, has an interesting perspective of what goes on for actors behind the scenes, especially for those who have yet to come out. However, he isn’t just an actor. Hamilton has made a name for himself as a musician, with a new single on the way on June 16. In his song, titled Spins, he shares the story of a former emotional connection in a ballad that acts as something different from his usual style.
Now, Hamilton is looking forward to multiple projects in the pipeline, such as Creepers, his first horror project since It, starring alongside Javier Botet, Adeline Rudolph, Laurence O’Fuarain, and Jake Manley. Another project, The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh, is currently in the works, following an Indian family and the tumultuous yet humorous events of the two years since they arrived in Pittsburgh. Brave the Dark, from director Damian Harris (Gardens of the Night, The Rachel Papers), will star Hamilton alongside Jared Harris and Jamie Harris, with Dale G. Bradley writing the screenplay.
With everything on the horizon for the actor, it’s easy to forget some previous movies and castmates. However, Hamilton says that’s not the case.
Maintaining a Friendship
It featured a stellar cast when it was released in 2017. The horror film, helmed by Andy Muschietti, starred Bill Skarsgård, Jaeden Martell, Finn Wolfhard, Sophia Lillis, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazier, and Jeremy Ray Taylor alongside Hamilton. Six years later, the cast still shares a close relationship, although their individual careers have all gone their separate ways.
Martell is another actor who has found success, starring in Knives Out and, most recently, Barry, while Wolfhard is recognized for his role as Mike Wheeler in the hit Netflix sensation Stranger Things. Though they find themselves quite busy, Hamilton says he still makes time to get together with some of his cast mates.
“To watch those kids grow up into that fame and success, it was incredibly exciting because you see them as people first before that happens. All of them have grown with huge dignity and humility, and respect for each other and everyone around them. To be able to go out with them, they’re really good friends of mine and they have zero big heads. I love all those kids to death, especially to grow up as regular good human beings. That was my biggest worry.”
However, despite playing the ruthless bully Henry Bowers on the set of the first It film, Wolfhard and Martell looked up to Hamilton like no other. Of course, at the time, Hamilton had not yet come out as gay, and he admits the younger actors often came to him for dating advice.
“I was 16 when I shot the first one. I think all the boys would have been around 12 or 13. So yeah, naturally, they all look up to the older person on set, asking, ‘How do we get girls?’ and I would say, ‘They really really love Taylor Swift, so take them to a Taylor Swift concert, and they will love it.’ I was completely making it up as I go along. I had girlfriends at the time, and I don’t even think at that point when I was 16 if I knew if I was gay or not, but I was giving probably the worst advice you can think of.”
However, by the time It Chapter Two rolled around, Hamilton was proud and out of the closet. “When we go on set for Chapter Two, which was in 2018, it was probably only a month or two after I came out to family and friends, and it just kind of started leaking out.”
Luckily, the response was overwhelmingly positive from those Hamilton cared about. “There was a generally good response, especially from the people that I really respected. Those few people that have to kind of wrap their heads around that were the people that I didn’t really care about anyway. That was a very, very lucky, easy experience.”
Learning From the Best
While It featured a superb young cast, It Chapter Two brought out the big guns for its adult actors. James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, and Bill Hader headline the adult versions of the Losers Club, which gave Hamilton plenty of access to some of Hollywood’s biggest names.
“On the days I wasn’t working, I was able to watch people like Bill Hader just riff and every now and again have a good conversation as we walk through the set, or riding in the car with McAvoy. You always try to have a connection of some sort… just so you can have an in and learn as much as you can from these people that you’ve seen on screen for years. Especially Hader. Just to have a chat with him and have him be as natural and hilarious. It’s wild to have a conversation with him and him not be on, but he is on because that’s who he really is. It’s incredible.”
Of course, that’s not the only big name, as Andy Muschietti is the director behind both installments in the horror franchise. The director is on the biggest tear of his career after his breakthrough feature, Mama, in 2013. He’s set to release a major blockbuster later this week as DC’s The Flash hits theaters after years in the making. “To see how excited he is about it and see how excited people are getting about it is great. To watch that growth, from the director of Mama to one of the biggest DC movies of all time is incredible. I mean, I’m a huge fan.”
The Way Forward
Despite Hamilton’s many projects moving forward, he didn’t find it challenging to make time for his music career, especially during the height of the pandemic. While the world watched and waited for the COVID-19 virus to finally end from the safety of their homes, Hamilton spent much of his time connecting with a different side of himself.
“It’s really only recently that I’ve had to balance [music and film],” he explains. “I was able to take a big break from acting, really all of 2021, which spurred me to finally put out the stuff I’ve been writing for three years. I was able to put that out but then stopped releasing stuff as soon as I got back into film and TV. This last batch of songs is the first experience I’ve had to balance not only the film or TV and music stuff, but TikTok and using that as a promo tool.”
Welcome to Derry, the official It prequel series is also on the horizon. Muschietti is back in the director’s chair for the series, with Madeleine Stowe, James Remar, Chris Chalk, and Chad Rook confirmed to star. The show follows the events leading up to the first film. However, Hamilton says he’s unsure if he or any of his former castmates will make an appearance.
“I’ll give you a mystery thing. Me and Andy [Muschietti] talked a bit. He’s giving me tidbits on Flash, and we’ve talked about some key movies, but really, and you’d have to ask the other boys, I don’t think any of us have heard much about the prequel. I think it’s filming or about to be filming. I haven’t talked to Andy about it at all, but I’m really, really excited about it. I mean, he’s becoming one of the biggest directors in the world.”
Luckily, several projects lined up for Hamilton are finally about to see the light of day. “It feels like even with the music, all this stuff has been building up to everything coming out around now. All these projects that I’ve been filming, like Brave the Dark I shot two years ago, are finally gathering some steam.” Of course, the indie world is complex, and Hamilton understands the struggle of seeing a project fully realized. “In the indie world it’s such a cutthroat thing where you have to wait for someone to want to put it out, and then hopefully they put it out, and hopefully it does well.”
Hamilton returns to the world of Horror with Creepers, which has everything from an abandoned hotel to supernatural beings and even a hidden treasure. “With Creepers, it was really cool to get back into the horror world. I haven’t done anything horror since It Two, and to play a character that’s arguably crazier and even more evil than Henry Bowers. I was in Bulgaria for four weeks just doing straight night shoots with people I adored, just cackling and screaming and doing bloody things. It was a treat.”
Fans can find more of Nicholas Hamilton with the upcoming release of Creepers, Brave the Dark, and The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh. In addition, his new song, “Spins,” releases today, June 16, with his second EP, Fate, scheduled for a fall release. If we’re lucky, we may even see a cameo from our favorite bully with the eventual release of Welcome to Derry on Max.
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