Bill Skarsgård became the scary Pennywise the Dancing Clown after he nailed the audition, but not without weird side effects.
Bill Skarsgård took on the role of Pennywise the Dancing Clown, starting from 2017’s It. Skarsgård was a relatively unknown actor before he became the scary clown, giving him the nerves before auditioning for a big project. Needless to say, he nailed it.
In an interview with Variety, he spoke about the voice he used to don the clown’s energy:
The voice for me sort of started out with a laugh. I was playing around with a laugh, but on the verge of a panic attack and crying at the same time. When I started doing it just by myself, I started to creep myself out.
Skarsgård recalled a hilarious anecdote where he had a lot of soda to get into the character’s voice, which resulted in belching and a stomachache. The actor wanted to have his own rendition of how the clown would behave.
How Bill Skarsgård Interpreted Pennywise From the Novel
In the Variety piece, Bill Skarsgård talked about how he read the 1,100-page novel and found new depths to the alien entity, giving him freedom to interpret the shapeshifting being:
It’s almost like there are glitches in the interpretation of it. I thought that was a fun thing to explore. So there was the wall-eyed look and at times it seems like Pennywise disappears altogether, he shuts down and freezes in a moment and he’s lost.
In an interview with SlashFilm, director Andy Muschietti talked about how he saw something unique about the young actor and his capabilities:
..the way that he incorporated the presence of the other side into the performance is fantastic.
Here are key details about the It film.
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Title | It |
| Release Year | 2017 |
| Director | Andy Muschietti |
| Screenplay | Chase Palmer, Cary Joji Fukunaga, Gary Dauberman |
| Based On | It (1986 novel) by Stephen King |
| Genre | Supernatural Horror |
| Setting | Derry, Maine (primarily 1988–1989) |
| Main Villain | Pennywise the Dancing Clown |
| Actor (Pennywise) | Bill Skarsgård |
| Main Cast | Jaeden Martell, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff |
| Running Time | 135 minutes |
| Production Company | New Line Cinema, Vertigo Entertainment |
| Distributor | Warner Bros. Pictures |
Bill Skarsgård had to compete with the iconic character from ABC’s 1990 miniseries adaptation starring Tim Curry as Pennywise, but he never looked at it as a competition.
Sorry Tim Curry, Bill Skarsgård Is Now Our Pennywise
Tim Curry became a legend in the 1990s for portraying sinister roles, from being an antagonist in Home Alone 2 to Pennywise. He killed it from the get-go, starting with the extremely scary sewer scene at the beginning of the movie that scared even adults.
Skarsgård specifically told Variety he “didn’t see a point in trying to emulate that because I don’t think I could do it as well as he [Tim Curry] did.” I am glad that he decided to take his interpretation away from Tim Curry’s, interpreting the character his way, because what we got was equally haunting and scarring (in the best way possible).
Bill Skarsgård’s Pennywise was such a hit that he continues to reprise the role to this day, starring in It, It Chapter 2, and the HBO Max series IT: Welcome to Derry. With strong direction from Andy Muschietti, the franchise elevated itself to psychological scares that did justice to Stephen King’s novels.
What do you think of Bill Skarsgård’s creepy Pennywise voice? Let us know in the comments.
All the It franchise movies and shows are streaming on HBO Max in the U.S.
