A shock to no one, the remake of Stephen King‘s It looks absolutely horrifying. And in an age when Americans are more afraid of clowns than climate change, the movie literally looks like your worst nightmare brought to life.
With this spooky, face paint-laden thriller hitting theaters September 8, there’s really only one way to help cure you of your coulrophobia (fear of clowns): to unmask the creepy character and reveal his surprisingly gorgeous true identity.
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To recap, let’s take one last look at Pennywise, the ugly, weird, red-headed, balloon-carrying, murderous clown.
If you didn’t just pass out from sheer terror, now you can feast your eyes on Pennywise’s actor, 26-year-old Bill Skarsgรฅrd.
Skarsgรฅrd was also featured in recent thriller Atomic Blonde, 2016’s Allegiant and 2012’s Anna Karenina.
If his face looks familiar or the name rings a bell, you may be thinking of Bill’s older brother Alexander Skarsgรฅrd. Alexander is most known for his roles in HBO’sTrue Blood and Big Little Lies, as well as Zoolander.
Since Bill’s stunningly good looks alone couldn’t win him the role of Pennywise, what helped him clutch the coveted job?
More: Stephen King’s ‘It’ Director Explains the Benefits of an ‘R’ Rating
“I wanted to stay true to the essence of the character,” director Andres Muschietti explained to Variety. “I knew that I didn’t want to go the road of Tim Curry. Bill Skarsgard caught my attention. The character has a childish and sweet demeanor, but there’s something very off about him. Bill has that balance in him. He can be sweet and cute, but he can be pretty disturbing.”
The director also said that while Skarsgรฅrd didn’t stay in character and costume in between takes, he didn’t want the young cast members of the ‘Loser’s Club’ spending too much time with the actor outside of filming.
Up Next: The Kids of Stephen King’s ‘It’ Recall Their Reactions to Seeing Pennywise for the First Time
“We wanted to carry the impact of the encounters to when the cameras were rolling,” Muschietti detailed. “The first scene where Bill interacted with the children, it was fun to see how the plan worked. The kids were really, really creeped out by Bill. He’s pretty intimidating because he’s six-four and has all this makeup.”
Despite a cast of predominantly young actors, the film is rated R.
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