How IT's Pennywise Actor Came Up With His Creepy Smile

by Olivia

---

Posted on 21-02-2021 10:40 PM

---

---

Last night, skarsgard was a guest on tbs talk show conan and was asked about pennywise's horrifyingly creepy smile. Said smile was featured on much of the marketing for it and is also prominent in the film itself. Skarsgard proceeded to reveal how he came up with the clown's sinister grin - and surprisingly, the inspiration for it goes back to his childhood. Check out the full clip of skarsgard on conan above.

Eamonn m. Mccormack/getty images bill skarsgård is peeling back the mask to reveal the man behind the terrifying pennywise costume. Since taking on the role of pennywise the clown for it, it's become nearly impossible to separate the monster from the actor. Once a viewer witnesses the terrifying smile from pennywise and hears his eerie voice it's pretty hard to look at bill the same way.

Plus, the actor talks about discovering the voice for pennywise, tim curry's performance, and more. There's no shortage of iconic horror characters out there, but few have struck fear into as many hearts as pennywise, the child-eating, shape-shifting clown created by stephen king as the force of evil corrupting the small town of derry, maine is his horror epic it. When the book was adapted to miniseries in 1990, tim curry transformed the character into a living, breathing force of evil on bozo's clothes, scaring the wits out of audiences everywhere with a sinister smile and gravelly voice and cementing a generation of kids as clown-phobic.

He's known for more than just Pennywise.

It is the title character and the main antagonist in stephen king 's 1986 horror novel it. The character is an ancient cosmic evil which preys upon the children of derry, maine , roughly every 27 years, using a variety of powers that include the ability to shapeshift , manipulate reality, and go unnoticed by adults. During the course of the story, it primarily appears in the form of pennywise the dancing clown.

It : i'm every nightmare you've ever had. I'm your worst dream come true. I'm everything you ever were afraid of. Pennywise : kiss me, fat boy! pennywise : excuse me, sir. Do you have prince albert in a can? you do? well, you better let the poor guy out! a-ha! a-ha! a-ha!.

“andy had also asked to explore clown laughter, so i’m sitting in the car and i feel ridiculous, but i thought i might as well absorb it and use it. So i just started to laugh like crazy in the car, as i’m just bearing down on pedestrians. ”as skarsgård was crafting the character, he paid special attention to how pennywise should sound, and how his voice could further inform the character:.

It (also known as stephen king's it) is a 1990 american abc two-part psychological horror drama miniseries directed by tommy lee wallace and adapted by lawrence d. Cohen from stephen king 's 1986 novel of the same name. The story revolves around a predatory monster which has the ability to transform itself into its prey's worst fears, allowing it to exploit the phobias of its victims. It mostly takes the humanoid form of pennywise , a darkly comedic clown. The protagonists are the lucky seven, or the losers club, a group of outcast kids who discover pennywise and vow to kill him by any means necessary. The series takes place over two different time periods, the first when the losers first confront pennywise as children in 1960, and the second when they return as adults in 1990 to defeat him a second time after he resurfaces.

Related: pennywise ruined clowns for it star sophia lillis "there was a scene we shot that was a flashback from the 1600s, before pennywise (was pennywise). The scene turned out really, really disturbing. And i'm not the clown. I look more like myself. It's very disturbing, and sort of a backstory for what it is, or where pennywise came from. ".

It, which comes from warner bros. ’ new line label, went through high-profile creative shakeups on its way to the big screen. Cary fukunaga (beasts of no nation) was supposed to direct it, but he left over creative differences. When fukuaga was still attached, will poulter (we’re the millers, the revenant) was supposed to play pennywise. Poulter had to drop out when the film was delayed.

His brothers are also actors

Skarsgård was born in vällingby , sweden , the son of actor stellan skarsgård and doctor my skarsgård. He has seven siblings: alexander , gustaf , valter (all actors), as well as sam, eija, ossian, and kolbjörn. Ossian and kolbjörn are half-brothers from the later marriage between stellan skarsgård and megan everett.

He wasn't the first actor cast in the role

James jude courtney as michael myers in 'halloween' (2018) the man behind the expressionless mask of michael myers in the reboot of halloween is actor/stuntman, james jude courtney. Before landing the role of the iconic slasher, courtney appeared in several hit tv shows, including buffy the vampire slayer and unsolved mysteries. He is also set to reprise the role in the upcoming halloween kills and halloween ends. However, he wasn't the only actor to portray the killer in 2018's halloween. Nick castle, the actor who played the character in the original 1978 halloween, slipped on the mask for a few of the shots.

After a fleeting mention in the original 1977 star wars movie, george lucas decided to debut the emperor in the empire strikes back. The script called for a shaky hologram of the character, giving the audience a taste of palpatine without fully revealing the trilogy's true villain. As such, lucas didn't cast a proper actor for the role of palpatine at this point, and instead left the emperor down to his visual effects and make up teams. The palpatine glimpsed conversing with vader in the empire strikes back is physically played by a painter and little-known actress called marjorie eaton, who was layered in heavy make up. To make palpatine look more like a monster and less like a woman in her 70s, eaton's eyes were replaced with those of a chimpanzee.

Actors typically do the following: read scripts and meet with agents and other professionals before accepting a role audition in front of directors, producers, and casting directors research their character's personal traits and circumstances to portray the characters more authentically to an audience memorize their lines rehearse their lines and performance, including on stage or in front of the camera, with other actors.

As the most popular spin-off of power producer dick wolf's original law & order series, law & order: special victims unit, which focuses on a sex crimes unit in manhattan as well as the detectives and lawyers who bring these heinous criminals to justice, was an immediate hit upon its premiere in 1999. Though the original series experienced plenty of cast turnover, replacing its two lead actors multiple times, special victims unit is fairly unique in that mariska hargitay, who originated the leading role of detective olivia benson, has remained on the show throughout its long and storied run. Plenty of other roles have been recast, however, including that of the new york assistant district attorney responsible for prosecuting all the offenders that detective benson scoops up. One such sterling prosecutor appeared in a very different role years before her turn as ada.

The tv writer's channel 4 series it's a sin hits screens later this month and follows a group of young gay men who move to london in the 1980s amidst the aids epidemic. Speaking recently, davies reflected on his decision to cast gay actors including olly alexander, neil patrick harris and stephen fry in the roles, emphasising the "authenticity" they bring in place of their straight counterparts.

This week pan, the story of peter pan’s origins opens in the us. Already there has been controversy. The film-makers caused an outcry when it was announced that rooney mara, a white actress, had been cast in the role of tiger lily, a character widely viewed as being native american. An online petition that now has 94,000 signatories has a crystal clear message to the studio: “stop casting white actors to play people of color!".

Wikimedia list article whitewashing is a casting practice in the film industry in which white actors are cast in non-white roles. As defined by merriam-webster , to whitewash is "to alter in a way that favors, features, or caters to white people: such as casting a white performer in a role based on a nonwhite person or fictional character". In film, the practice is as old as the industry itself. The bbc said, "the list of films in which white actors have played other races includes everything from romantic comedies to action adventures and fantasies to historical epics. " african-american roles and roles of asian descent have been whitewashed.

How Bill Skarsgård Transformed Into Pennywise

It (alongside randall flagg ) is regarded as the most evil and popular of stephen king's villains, and an immense icon in horror. In 2006, wizard magazine ranked it the 15th greatest villain of all time. Ironically, bill skarsgård was born in the same year as the original film adaptation (by tommy lee wallace) of it: 1990, and the time when the 1990 movie was released for the 2017 movie is equal to the time when pennywise (it) tends to wake up to cause the capture and murder of its victims (being 27 years).

Pennywise is the main antagonist in the book it, published in 1986 by the legendary horror writer stephen king. It is a supernatural creature, which changes its shape, but most of the time it takes the form of a clown to attract its favorite prey, children. In addition to literature, the supernatural clown was originally played by english actor tim curry in the film \”it – a masterpiece of fear\” in 1990, and his most contemporary incarnation was in 2017 played by bill skarsgård in the film \”it: the thing\”, an adaptation of the book for the second time.

Pennywise’s demonic smile in the box-office smash “it” actually has its roots in family fun. Bill skarsgård, who plays the terrifying clown in the horror remake, told conan o’brien on his show tuesday that as a 10-year-old he was inspired by his older brother, who “had this ability to point his lip in a very strange way. ”.

It turns out that bill skarsgård was already prepared to creep audiences out as pennywise in the new version of it. Talking to digital spy, director andy muschietti revealed that he wanted his version of pennywise to have "something 'off' about the look of his eyes", which ended up with the dancing clown being able to have his eyes looking in opposite directions.

By phil archbold /july 27, 2017 1:40 pm est/updated: march 27, 2018 5:43 am est bill skarsgård isn't quite a household name yet, but over the last couple of years, that's all quickly started to change. Younger brother of the legend of tarzan star alexander skarsgård—and son of pirates of the caribbean and thor vet stellan skarsgård—this emerging star really started making a name for himself when he signed on to play the terrifying being known as pennywise in the hit 2017 big-screen adaptation of stephen king's classic novel it.

20 Things You Never Knew About Pennywise

With this reinvented pennywise on paper, it was time to find an actor to fill the ancient clown clothing. Barbara muschietti noted that actor will poulter, who was attached to play the role when cary fukunaga was attached to direct, did enter the conversation: he was on the table but there were, to be completely honest, there were scheduling conflicts because he was on the maze runner. When we started, we started seeing people right away and the moment bill popped up, i think we knew it was for us.

2. Pennywise Comes from Deadlights

It is a shape-shifting creature known as a glamour who is billions of years old. Although it lived on planet earth for many years, it originated in a void/dimension outside the regions of space known as the macroverse. Since its true identity is unclear, due to its shape-shifting abilities and being from another universe, its real name and species are called deadlights , but few know this, which is why it is referred to as it. The form of a female spider seems to be its true physical form on earth (or at least that is the closest thing the human mind can comprehend), living deep below the fictional town of derry, maine. It can morph into any other human animal, nonhuman animal or object (including combinations thereof). This ability is useful for, a) appearing as the target's loved ones or friends to manipulate them or lure them into a trap or b) appearing as the target's worst psychological fear. However, its favorite and most common form is that of a circus performer named "pennywise the dancing clown," as most small children love a clown and generally, it seems that the people in derry happily accepted the presence of a stray circus performer. At the same time, many people are afraid of clowns, making them an easy fear to exploit.

14. Pennywise Can Eat Anything

‘’ lives: meet the man behind pennywise when king conceived it, he admitted that the idea was to write an epic book featuring, in his words, “all of the monsters. ” the vampire, the werewolf, the mummy — the entire stable of vintage universal horror, bump-in-the-night fodder. But he needed one character outside this old creature-feature canon, “a binding, horrible, nasty, gross creature. ” something, the author imagined, that would inspire a sense of fear and revulsion on sight. “what scares kids the most?” he asked himself. The answer, of course: clowns. Thus was born pennywise, circus-centric chomper of children, destroyer of innocence, the most name-recognizable king creation this side of cujo, and the single most horrifying thing the author has ever dreamed up. The monster-mash idea quickly went away. Who needs frankenstein when you have a fucked-up clown?.

Related: it chapter two review: pennywise is back in brilliantly creepy horror sequel "i wanted to magnify this character in the second part, and to be even more of a threat – a bigger threat," said the director. "bill is restless, also. So he wanted to bring something new to the table. And the new things at the table basically have to do with pennywise's motivations.

Warning: spoilers ahead for "it. "a disturbing deleted scene from " it" hinted at the origins of pennywise – and showed the monster devouring a baby. While it was always expected that "it" would do well at the box office, the scale of its success has been stunning. It's officially the highest grossing r-rated horror movie of all time – beating "the sixth sense" and " the exorcist " – and it received strong reviews from both critics and fans.

Download, install and activate voicemod pro. The voice changer app to create pennywise’s voice. Select the voice maker function, the custom simulator / generator to create a new sound. Select the “reverb” effect and set the mix parameter to 60% and the room parameter to 30%. To make the scary tone of the pennywise voice, select the highpass effect and just set the mix parameter to 100% and the frequency parameter to 60%.

Brian truitt usa today san diego – not everybody adores evil clown pennywise. But the cast members of " it pennywise tiki mug coffee mug movie it pennywise it pennywise horror coffee mug : chapter two" love the very committed co-star underneath all that freaky makeup. As the crazy-eyed clown that returns to derry, maine, every 27 years, bill skarsgard haunted a young version of the losers’ club in the first 2017 hit “it. "he returns to terrify their adult selves nearly three decades later in “chapter two” ( in theaters friday ).

This two-part abc mini-series, an adaptation of king’s sprawling 1986 novel about a child-murdering monster in small-town maine, is perhaps best remembered for tim curry’s frightening performance as pennywise the clown. “i liked that series a lot, and i thought tim curry made a great pennywise,” king said. “it scared the [expletive] out of a lot of kids at that time. ”.

16. Bill Skarsgard Took Playing the Role of Pennywise Very Seriously

7. 11. 2017 8:45 pm pennywise might normally hang out in derry, maine, but stephen king ’s classic villain is coming to castle rock this time around. Or at least, the actor who’s playing pennywise in the upcoming it remake, bill skarsgard, is coming to visit. King and j. J. Abrams’s hulu series castle rock, based on a number of king’s novels and short stories , has added skarsgard to its ranks as a series regular.

After scary audiences silly this year, bill skarsgard is preparing to reprise the role of pennywise the clown for it: chapter two, the second half of new line cinema’s hugely-successful stephen king adaptation, and the actor has been chatting to ign about what he’s hoping to see in the sequel.

It: Chapter One (2017 film)

Pennywise the clown is back, and it’s going to make you face your fears, whether you want to or not.

the film, which went to the cinema yesterday, has brought creepy clown pennywise back for the first time since the original it two-part tv horror was released in 1990. Pennywise, the film's warped villain, is an age-old shapeshifter who takes the appearance of a ginger clown. In the 1990 tv miniseries, tim curry played pennywise, spooking an entire generation of kids when it was first released.

---