Invoice Skarsgård was braced for fan backlash enjoying clown Pennywise in “It” due to a advertising and marketing stunt pulled by the studio.
Pennywise was first delivered to the display screen by Tim Curry in a 1990 two-part TV film. Warner Bros. took on the movie adaptation of Stephen King’s novel for 2 movies, the primary launched in 2017.
Skarsgård recalled to Esquire that the discharge of a first-look picture of him dressed as Pennywise solely rattled him additional throughout manufacturing. The picture was launched in 2016 earlier than he began filming.
“They did a factor that I felt was form of imply,” Skarsgård stated of the studio’s advertising and marketing tactic that spurred on-line backlash to his casting. “I used to be so extremely nervous to begin this job, after which the web is having so many hateful opinions on the bizarre, unusual look of the factor.”
Skarsgård even questioned why he took on the function within the first place, particularly when Tilda Swinton was approached to play Pennywise.
“If you find yourself twenty-six, you don’t really feel younger in any respect, however now, wanting again at it, I used to be a child,” he stated. “It was pretty early on in my profession to tackle one thing that had so many eyeballs and expectations on it.”
But the fan expertise led him to achieve a brand new understanding as an actor: “You may solely make this efficiency to please your self,” Skarsgård stated. “It unlocked one thing in me, and it gave me the arrogance that I can tackle any problem. A minimum of, that’s how I really feel after I settle for these items.”
Whereas Skarsgård admitted he’s not an enormous horror-movie fan, the actor is constant to tackle beloved characters in “The Crow” and Robert Eggers’ upcoming “Nosferatu,” with Skarsgård enjoying the undead Depend Orlok AKA Dracula.
So the place precisely did his horror-action profession beat come from?
“My dad [actor Stellan Skarsgård] was morally in opposition to violence. So I wasn’t allowed to have toy weapons. However I’ve by no means held these beliefs,” Skarsgård stated. “I grew up in a unique time. I don’t suppose enjoying a violent online game makes you a violent individual. I’ve at all times discovered violence fascinating.”
And Skarsgård holds that duality in every efficiency, saying, “It tends to grow to be life-and-death for me. I wish to discover my very own limitations.”