Pennywise The Clown Might Be Getting Starstruck With His Adult 'It: Chapter 2' Co-Stars

By Andrew Roberts | | July 17, 2018 |

By Andrew Roberts | | July 17, 2018 |

The filming for It: Chapter Two is underway, meaning it is almost time to invest in a super absorbent diaper and pray that no giant spider monsters make an appearance at the close of the film. The TV mini-series met its weakness when it traveled to “present day” to give some of television’s best faces from the ’70s and ’80s a chance to fight Pennywise the Dancing Clown. With the success of the remake, the cast for the second installment, and the updated setting, things don’t look like they’ll repeat the same mistakes.

One of the big reasons is Bill Skarsgard’s portrayal of Pennywise the Clown, a take that stands apart from Tim Curry’s iconic performance in the mini-series to create something more horrifying and menacing. He recently spoke to the folks at Collider about taking on the role, returning for the second installment, and if it felt different following the success of the first film:

“Yeah, it’s weird. It’s a bit strange ‘cause it’s a very different thing now. The first time I did it, nobody knew what I would do with it, so it was just all of this expectation. I didn’t know if it would work, or if people would respond to it. There was a lot of that worry going on about it. But that was also cool ‘cause I was just doing my thing and nobody knew what that was or could tell me how I should do it. I was like, “I’m gonna distance myself from the Tim Curry performance, and then come up with some weird stuff, myself.” I worked really closely with Andy [Muschietti], the director. This time around, because the movie became such a phenomenon, it’s almost like I’m re-adapting myself…

I can’t even relate myself to it anymore. And now that I’m going back and doing it, it’s such a bizarre thing. I don’t think I’ll ever really experience anything like it. It’s this dualistic thing of me and the work and the character, and then the thing that it became, but it’s fun. We had the read-through and I’ve done some rehearsals, and I was surprised how much of the character was just there already. I instantly could access him again, like it was yesterday that we wrapped the first one. It was just all there. So, the work and preparation and figuring out the character is almost intuitive, which is pretty cool.

Does he own a mirror? I’m aware he’s a Skarsgard, but he can easily slide right into the whole doll killer whenever he wants to. You run into him in the dark and see how you feel. I’m not surprised he fell right back into the role. I’m also not surprised he is feeling a bit starstruck about working with the team of actors playing the adult Losers’ Club in the sequel:

“I get to hang out with the entire adult cast now. It’s weird and it’s surreal because some of them are really big stars and they’re coming in to your thing. They’re stepping into the thing that me and Andy and the kids did. They’re joining the band, in a way. They’re excited, and I just had a lot of fun hanging out with all of them. It’s going to be a very different shooting experience with all adults, for sure, but it will be fun. They’re all really cool and talented people, so I think they will bring a lot to the table.”

He could’ve just said, “I miss scaring children, it was the best part of my day. Now I just have to go do it for free at the park,” and I’d have bought that. It is a different shooting experience without that.