Clowns had been scary for a long time before Stephen King got around to them, but the sinister entity he created called “Pennywise the Clown” was probably the last nail in their coffin. As brought to life in his 1986 novel It, and then by actor Tim Curry in the seminal 1990 television mini-series, this all-powerful manifestation of childhood phobias has been plaguing the nightmares of audiences young and old for three decades now.
But times change, and so much Pennywise. Andrés Muschietti, the director of the 2013 supernatural thriller Mama, is now hard at work on an ambitious, two-part feature film remake of It, and today we got our first look at his vision of Pennywise the Clown, courtesy of Entertainment Weekly.
And yeah, it’s creepy as hell.
Entertainment Weekly / Marco Grob
Also: Kings of Horror Looks Back at Every Stephen King Movie Ever! (Exclusive Video Series)
This is a more refined look for Pennywise, who appeared as a conventional small-town carnival clown in Tommy Lee Wallace’s mini-series. The red smile curves up all the way to the top of Pennywise’s face in this version, which also gives him the appearance of devil horns.
Bill Skarsgård plays Pennywise in the new adaptation of It, and although he’s stepping into the oversized shoes of beloved character actor Tim Curry, and the actor tells EW that he knows it. “Tim Curry’s performance was truly great, but it’s important for me to do something different because of that,” Skårsgard says. “I’ll never be able to make a Tim Curry performance as good as Tim Curry.”
Hopefully his interpretation is just as scary. We’ll find out how creepy he can be when the remake of Stephen King’s It on September 8, 2017.
Top Photo: Entertainment Weekly / Marco Grob
William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and Canceled Too Soon, and watch him on the weekly YouTube series Most Craved, Rapid Reviews and What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
