Hitting theaters this Friday is the latest adaptation of Stephen King‘s It, having previously been brought to life for a miniseries in 1990. Tim Curry‘s performance as Pennywise the clown in that adaptation stands out as the most memorable component, creating quite a challenge for Bill Skarsgard, the new actor portraying the role. According to Stephen King, he thinks so highly of both actors’ performances that he can’t pick his favorite.
When speaking with Yahoo! Movies, King explained of the 1990 miniseries, “I thought Tim Curry made the miniseries. He did. If Pennywise doesn’t work, obviously the thing doesn’t work at all, you know? People come to a thing like that because they want to be frightened, and if Pennywise isn’t frightening, the thing falls on its face, obviously. But Tim Curry did scare a lot of kids.”
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It’s important to note that Pennywise is merely one incarnation of the terrifying entity referred to as “It,” which takes various forms in order to scare the children of Derry, ME. To many, the ’90 miniseries is a defining King adaptation, but 27 years later, it’s clear that budgetary issues didn’t allow the adaptation to do the story justice.
“Pennywise is scary in the book, he needed to be scary in that miniseries, and he needs to be scary in the movie. And he is. They’re both good. I wouldn’t pick one above the other,” King confesses. “I would just say that [director] Andy [Muschietti] had more to work with in terms of modern technology and, for all I know, budget too. I’m sure he must have had more; I can’t remember what the miniseries cost — at one time I knew — but it wasn’t that much. It was a TV thing.”
Considering how iconic Curry’s performance in the first adaptation is, becoming one of the defining images of a creepy clown, Skarsgard’s performance being considered as effective as Curry’s by King himself is about as high of remarks as the actor could receive.
It lands in theaters this Friday.
