If those knee-jerk reactions flooding the interwebs are to be believed, Pennywise the Clown is about to enter horror’s modern-day pantheon thanks to New Line’s upcoming It reboot, which is getting ready to creep into theatres later this week.
Directed by Andy Muschietti of Mama fame, the film is a totally reimagined and, crucially, R-rated interpretation of the literary classic, one that splits King’s horror saga right down the middle so that the opening chapter – aptly titled It Part 1 – The Losers Club – focuses on Derry’s freaks and geeks as kids. Pushed to the fringes of society by abusive parents, bullies, and so-called friends, the Losers find solace in one another. Which is just as well considering that the quaint town of Derry, Maine is about to play host to the ancient, otherworldly entity known as Pennywise.
Originally portrayed by Tim Curry in the famous miniseries, that coveted role has now been passed on to Bill Skarsgård, and since climbing aboard, the former Hemlock Grove star has described his portrayal of the famous movie monster as “animalistic and instinctive.” But what a lot of people are probably wondering right about now is what does Curry think about this new take on Pennywise? As it turns out, he hasn’t seen the film just yet, but he is looking forward to it.
Speaking to Screen Geek this past weekend at Fan Expo Canada, the actor was asked for his thoughts on Skarsgård’s take on the horrifying monster, and here’s what he said:
“Well, I like [Bill] Skarsgard very much, I think he’s very clever. It’ll be interesting what sort of clown face he puts on, because it’s not an obvious clown face at all. I’ve seen the trailer and you can’t really see him at all. So I’m fascinated to see it. He’s very good.”
While Curry’s performance is iconic and chilling, and still fairly effective to this day, we’re definitely in agreement with him here. We’re beyond excited to see what Skarsgård has done with the role, mostly because he seems to be giving us a very different take on Pennywise, though one that’s no less terrifying. Whether he’ll be able to match what Curry did all those years ago remains to be seen, of course, but we’re feeling pretty confident that the actor will send us home from the theatre quite shaken once those end credits roll.
Hoping to birth the beginning of a two-part horror saga, It is due to haunt audiences on September 8th. Should those box office forecasts hold true – $50-60 million is the current estimate for opening weekend in North America – then New Line and Andy Muschietti will revisit the Losers as adults to banish Pennywise once and for all.
