Following his fame with Turtles All the Way Down and IT: Welcome to Derry, Miles Ekhardt opened up about his experience in an exclusive interview!
Before he became the missing kid in IT: Welcome to Derry, Miles Ekhardt had found fame for the 2024 film, Turtles All the Way Down. As a relatively new actor in Hollywood, Miles Ekhardt found worldwide fame for his involvement in the horror show IT: Welcome to Derry.
In IT: Welcome to Derry, Ekhardt plays the role of Matty Clements, the child who ends up getting kidnapped by Pennywise in the HBO show.
In an exclusive interview with FandomWire, Miles Ekhardt sat down for a chat to talk about his transition from teenage drama to horror. From working alongside Andy Muschietti to seeing Bill Skarsgård in full Pennywise makeup, check out the conversation between FandomWire and Miles Ekhardt below:
FandomWire: Miles, what was it like working on a horror series directed by Andy Muschietti?
Miles Ekhardt: It was honestly incredible. Andy is super calm and really good at explaining what he wants, even when a scene is intense or creepy. He made the set feel fun but also really focused, and in the end, was able to get a good scene within that time. I never had to worry that he would end before I got a good performance. I learned a lot just watching the way he works.
FandomWire: What was your reaction when you read the script for the first time?
Miles Ekhardt: It was darker than I expected, but also really exciting. I was a little disappointed by my character’s very brief life, but when I got further in, I was very excited to get to play all of these scenes where Pennywise is impersonating Matty.
FandomWire: Are you a fan of Stephen King’s novels or horror in general?
Miles Ekhardt: I was not a horror fan before this role. I’m growing into the genre a little. His only book I’ve read thus far is IT, and I like a lot about his style. The rest of the horror genre is still coming around on me.
FandomWire: Young actors in horror projects are sometimes shielded from the full story to protect them. Did anything similar happen to you on the set of IT: Welcome to Derry?
Miles Ekhardt: No, the scenes were intense, but the actors were never out of the know. I personally relied on a lot of the context from the rest of the series to figure out how to play some scenes. I remember the youngest actor in the opening car scene, Lochlan, was kept a bit in the dark, but that’s the only example I could think of.
FandomWire: With your character being somewhat reminiscent of Will Byers from Stranger Things (who goes missing in the first season), were you inspired by that series in any way?
Miles Ekhardt: I think something like a few weeks before I got the role of Matty, I got COVID and watched most of Stranger Things, and I remember Will was the character I projected myself onto and thought through the performance of. It was fun getting such a similar character, but Will Byers wasn’t a big influence on my performance as Matty outside of whatever subconscious carryover there was.
FandomWire: Were there any other inspirations that helped shape your portrayal of Matty?
Miles Ekhardt: Matty wasn’t based much on other characters, but more just a product of Andy’s vision for him. However, the base character did have a lot of influence from the IT character Eddie Corcoran.
FandomWire: The infamous opening scene of IT: Welcome to Derry is quite unnerving. What was going through your mind while filming that intense car scene?
Miles Ekhardt: I was curious while filming about how the final scene would look. It wasn’t too intense or traumatic during the shoot because even when you get into the emotional space of the scene, once they call cut, it’s easy to get back into the mindset that this is all happening on a soundstage.
FandomWire: Did you ever see Bill Skarsgård in full Pennywise makeup?
Miles Ekhardt: I did, I had watched his part of the pole scene in episode 5 before they filmed mine, and I talked to him outside of that. Whenever I saw him, he was definitely in the zone.
FandomWire: Are you afraid of clowns?
Miles Ekhardt: I think there’s a clown out there I’d be afraid of, but I think Pennywise specifically is more tame for me. After talking with [Bill] Skarsgård out of character, it’s easier to see him as a regular guy in makeup.
FandomWire: Compared to the other young characters in the show, Matty Clements is depicted as being more mature for his age. How did you approach handling his emotional depth?
Miles Ekhardt: I tried to play him as someone who feels a lot but doesn’t always know how to express it. He’s had to grow up faster than other kids, so I focused on that mix of being young but carrying heavy emotions.
FandomWire: You’ve mentioned that your older brother’s love for movies inspired you to pursue acting. What was that transition like in your early theater days?
Miles Ekhardt: My oldest brother definitely got into acting before I did; he was in a lot of musicals and things like that. Part of my motivation to start acting was honestly just trying to copy him. Luckily for me, he moved on to other interests, and I stuck with it. I think I’ve one-upped him now in the acting department, and I’ve been able to achieve everything I could have hoped for in this career.
FandomWire: What were the biggest differences between working on a stage production and a major Hollywood project like IT: Welcome to Derry?
Miles Ekhardt: The biggest difference is in your performance. Stage techniques don’t really translate to the camera, so you have to think a lot harder about your headspace and the conscious/subconscious physical expression that you’re giving. On stage, I could just get away with thinking about what a person would do and doing it.
FandomWire: What originally inspired you to pursue acting?
Miles Ekhardt: I just kind of did it one day and realized I had something going for it. Over time, I got more invested, and I kept ending up further along than I expected. I never planned on working in film, but I went to L.A. once and ended up getting an agent and manager who could figure these things out. It wasn’t some big master plan on my part.
FandomWire: Did it affect your academics in any way?
Miles Ekhardt: Not really. I was out of school for a good few months, but I stayed in contact with my teachers. It isn’t hard to work digitally nowadays. There was a bit of a process to not get persecuted for truancy.
FandomWire: What was your reaction when you received the call that you had been cast in It: Welcome to Derry?
Miles Ekhardt: It wasn’t a call; it was an email to my parents that they just told me one weekend. I was very excited, and learned very shortly after that my character wasn’t making it very far when I read the script. Luckily, I got to do all of these scenes where Pennywise impersonates my character, which were equally exciting.
FandomWire: From John Green’s Turtles All the Way Down to IT: Welcome to Derry, you’ve taken quite a leap between genres. What drew you to the HBO series?
Miles Ekhardt: Well, I wasn’t drawn to the series per se; I was really just receiving audition requests and trying to get into whatever I could. I definitely enjoyed it more than most other projects I could have been in. The more dramatic tone and higher budget allow for much more time to be spent on a performance, and characters are naturally given a ton of depth.
FandomWire: In the first episode, your character receives a turtle while sitting with Lilly Bainbridge. Was that a deliberate nod to Turtles All the Way Down?
Miles Ekhardt: It definitely wasn’t. That was an allusion to Maturin, Stephen King’s space turtle that created most of reality. It was just a fun little coincidence, though.
FandomWire: Are you afraid of anything in real life?
Miles Ekhardt: Well, yes, that is a bit of a prerequisite to life. I could list many, many things if given the time.
FandomWire: What are your future plans after IT: Welcome to Derry?
Miles Ekhardt: Nothing has been established yet, but we’ll see.
Alongside acting and theater work, Miles Ekhardt also manages his academic work while figuring out his professional career. Being one of the finest actors in IT: Welcome to Derry, we share Miles Ekhardt’s feelings of being written out of the script.
However, no other actor could have portrayed the role of Matty Clements as well as Miles Ekhardt. The world remains excited for the final episode of IT: Welcome to Derry, which is set for a release on December 14, 2025 (USA).
