Things are really floating for Andrés Muschietti’s two-part remake of Stephen King’s It. A few weeks ago, the filmmaker posted a few pieces of concept art and set photos for his adaptation, and now he’s gone ahead and unleashed a terrifying first look at Bill Skarsgård as the nefarious titular force, Pennywise.
The soon-to-be 26-year-old actor spoke to Entertainment Weekly about the “extreme character,” specifically its complicated mythos: “He’s not even a clown. I’m playing just one of the beings It creates,” he explained, adding: “What’s funny to this evil entity might not be funny to everyone else. But he thinks it’s funny.”
Skarsgård also addressed the big shoes waiting to be filled with sewage water. “Tim Curry’s performance was truly great, but it’s important for me to do something different because of that,” he remarks of the veteran actor’s iconic role in the 1990 mini-series. “I’ll never be able to make a Tim Curry performance as good as Tim Curry.”
Better yet, the kid’s hit the books, as he contends: “I’ve been doing some clown research. I’m not sure if there was so much clown phobia before the novel. There’s obviously been this thing where people find clowns are unsettling, but nobody explored it the way Stephen King did.”
As previously reported, this adaptation will split King’s original 1986 novel into two movies. The first will follow the children being stalked by the titular shapeshifting monster, while the second will pick up decades later, when those same kids are confronting their same demons as adults.
Jaeden Lieberher, Finn Wolfhard, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs, and Jeremy Ray Taylor lead the pack as The Losers Club which Skarsgård’s Pennywise and Owen Teague’s bullish Patrick Hocksetter will prey upon. Their adult counterparts have yet to be cast and it’s still unclear if they will prior to the first installment’s release.
Filming is currently underway in Port Hope, Ontario, which the production team has turned into Derry, Maine. Dread Central recently stumbled upon a number of juicy set photos, confirming the time frame (Summer 1989) and the appearance of one terrifying form of It (ahem, he’s carrying an axe). Take a look at a handful of shots below.
The first half of Stephen King’s It hits theaters September 8th, 2017.
Originally Posted by Detoxing:
Saw IT last night and enjoyed IT quite a bit.
I actually liked it more than the original (ducks for cover). Loved the humor, didn't mind the cussing. Sure, we could sit here and nitpick it as it wasn't perfect.
The kids always wandering off annoyed me more than anything. "Guys, we gotta stick together"...and then a kid immediately wanders off...every freakin' time.
It was engaging, it was humorous, i thought they executed the time period extremely well and i thought Pennywise was significantly more creepy than the original.
I tried to watch the original a couple days ago after watching this remake. It was bad. Really really bad. Posted via Mobile Device [Reply]
Originally Posted by Predarat:
Me too, always hate the Alex Kitner scene is Jaws.
Same. Can't do it. Have two young sons. Even though it's fake as hell I can't watch a little brother get eaten. I'll wait for it to come to on demand and FF that part. Part 2 I'll see in the theater. [Reply]
Originally Posted by -King-:
I tried to watch the original a couple days ago after watching this remake. It was bad. Really really bad. Posted via Mobile Device
The best part about the 1990 version (aside from Tim Curry, obviously) is the bunch of old TV stars that played the adults, and the fact that one of the kids is Seth Green. [Reply]
I'm completely opposite of everybody else. I thought the original was more scarier than the new one. I couldn't tell if he was a clown or a fucking jackrabbit. I don't like how they made him scary looking, he wasn't inviting like the original clown. I didn't live up to the hype and the beginning scene was far from brutal. It was pretty weak. Even the library scene with the eggs made me think he was a fucking rabbit. 2.5 stars out of 4 [Reply]
Originally Posted by Inmem58:
I'm completely opposite of everybody else. I thought the original was more scarier than the new one. I couldn't tell if he was a clown or a ****ing jackrabbit. I don't like how they made him scary looking, he wasn't inviting like the original clown. I didn't live up to the hype and the beginning scene was far from brutal. It was pretty weak. Even the library scene with the eggs made me think he was a ****ing rabbit. 2.5 stars out of 4
Fake looking CGI ruined the Georgie scene for me in the new one. [Reply]
I truly enjoyed it. But liked it mostly because of the human drama with the kids. That stuff was great and spot on. They cast the kids incredibly well.
Pennywise was well done and creepy enough. Although some of it was kinda corny like him dancing around
Originally Posted by Deberg_1990:
I truly enjoyed it. But liked it mostly because of the human drama with the kids. That stuff was great and spot on. They cast the kids incredibly well.
Pennywise was well done and creepy enough. Although some of it was kinda corny like him dancing around
But overall, great movie.
I heard more than a few people say "what the fuck?" At the end when he starts doing his silly dance in front of the girl. That was was just dumb.lj Posted via Mobile Device [Reply]
Originally Posted by New World Order:
Fake looking CGI ruined the Georgie scene for me in the new one.
Yeah it was terrible, for people to walk out like one poster mentioned is a bit dramatic. Too bad he wasn't more inviting like the original Pennywise. The two big front teeth totally killed it for me. ****ing rabbit looking clown. I watched it with 7 other people, all agreed that it wasn't scary. [Reply]
I thought they did well with Pennywise, but not as good as the original. They tried to hard to make him scary, where the original was inviting is what made him scary. [Reply]
I don't like the way the new Pennywise looks at all really. The original looked a lot scarier to me. Probably due to the fact that I was a kid when I saw it. I was already freaked out about clowns from Killer Klowns from Outer Space. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Deberg_1990:
Also, isn't 'It' and alien or an inter dimensional being? I could have missed it, but did they even explain that very much?
IT is never truly explained in the books either. Yes, IT is from another realm, or an inter-dimensional being. He came to Earth and found that fear "seasoned the meat" of humans. He targeted children because they were easier to scare with his ability to shape shift. [Reply]
