IT: Chapter Two’s Bill Skarsgård says it’s strange playing Pennywise again

After the incredible success of the first film, Pennywise the Clown actor Bill Skarsgård is having some difficulty reprising the role from IT: Chapter Two.

Bill Skarsgård is having some problems filling his own shoes…

Everyone knows about the smash hit success last year’s IT turned out to be. The film reestablished the horror genre’s place in pop culture, crushing many records in the process. Pennywise the Clown is perhaps the most famous movie monster of today, and that couldn’t be any more surreal for the man who plays him — Bill Skarsgård.

With production under way for the upcoming sequel due out next year, Skarsgård is putting the makeup on once again for another go round. Oddly enough, however, returning to the role is proving to be more challenging than it was originally taking it on. In an interview with Collider, Skarsgård mentions having trouble separating the role from the pop culuture phenomenon it became.

"“This time around, because the movie became such a phenomenon, it’s almost like I’m re-adapting myself. The character became very iconic. Pennywise became a star. You see Instagram posts of people dressing up or dressing their kids as Pennywise for Halloween. It’s all over the place. LeBron James was Pennywise. How surreal is that?So, it became this completely universal thing, outside of the thing. That’s not me. I can’t even relate myself to it anymore. And now that I’m going back and doing it, it’s such a bizarre thing. I don’t think I’ll ever really experience anything like it. It’s this dualistic thing of me and the work and the character, and then the thing that it became, but it’s fun.We had the read-through and I’ve done some rehearsals, and I was surprised how much of the character was just there already. I instantly could access him again, like it was yesterday that we wrapped the first one. It was just all there. So, the work and preparation and figuring out the character is almost intuitive, which is pretty cool. It’s a very strange thing, but I’m trying to enjoy the ride, as much as I can.”"

Certainly, Skarsgård’s fresh take on the character has given it its own place in the hearts of horror fans. While there will always be respect for Tim Curry’s performance in the 1990 mini-series, Skarsgård’s Pennywise is already legendary as well. It’s very split between fans as to which the better one is, although many of us can just agree that both are great.

There’s no reason to believe Skarsgård won’t be just fine in the role, but we’ll ultimately have to see that for ourselves when the film arrives. IT: Chapter Two is set for a release in theaters everywhere on Sep. 6, 2019.