With excitement mounting over the new film adaptation of Stephen King’s classic clown horror “It,” Bill Skarsgård, the actor who is taking over from Tim Curry as Pennywise, confessed all in an interview.

In the original adaptation of “It,” Tim Curry famously played the horrifying clown Pennywise to incredible effect, making him one of the most memorable and scary clown villains of all time. Skarsgård is filling some pretty big shoes in his portrayal of the scary clown, and that is not just relating to the enormous clodhoppers normally donned by clowns.

While Curry was almost cute when he wasn’t baring his terrifying fangs, Skarsgård is playing a different version of the scary clown and it sounds like he is doing it pretty well.

Bill Skarsgård makes kids cry on ‘It’ set

He recently spoke to Interview about his role as Pennywise in Andy Muschietti’s film adaptation of the King story. Skarsgård was interviewed along with his brother, Alexander (of the HBO series "True Blood"), and told the tale of how he probably scarred a bunch of child extras for life on the set of the new King adaptation.

Skarsgård recalls that many of the child extras on the film set had never seen him before.

He said they were setting up a scene when a bunch of kids came in with their parents, aimed at being extras in the film and totally unaware of what they were about to face. Skarsgård said they were all just normal young kids and when they spotted him as Pennywise there was a mixture of reactions. Some maybe had an idea of what to expect and he said they were really intrigued when they saw him.

However, he admitted that other children couldn’t look at him and he said some were actually shaking. View the extended trailer to get an idea of exactly why those kids were so scared.

Pennywise actor asks himself ‘What am I doing?’

Skarsgård said he was completely in character as they started filming, but as the director yelled “Action!” one little kid started to cry.

He suddenly realized what he was doing, as several of the children became terrified and started to cry, right in the middle of the take. He said he asked himself “What am I doing” as he realized the situation was actually pretty horrible.

Playing Pennywise in “It” is Skarsgård’s biggest American role yet, in the role of the terrible child-eating clown. The actor spent the entire time filming under layers of grotesque and scary makeup. No doubt the kids eventually got used to that terrifying visage and hopefully didn't end up having nightmares every night.

The Loser’s Club of Stephen King’s ‘It’

As noted by Bloody Disgusting, the actors playing the Losers’ Club in the film probably weren’t scared as many of them have experienced a little horror before, especially Finn Wolfhard, who won fame in the Netflix series “Stranger Things.” Other members of the kids' club include Jack Dylan Grazer, Jaeden Lieberher, Chosen Jacobs, Wyatt Oleff and Jeremy Ray Taylor.

Other stars in the movie include Javier Botet as The Leper and Nicholas Hamilton stars in the role of Henry Bowers. The bully, Patrick Hocksetter, is played by Owen Teague.

'It' is the story of Pennywise the horrifying clown

For those still unaware of the plot of the adaptation of King’s novel “It,” it tells the tale of a group of kids (The Losers Club) facing their worst fears as they try to find answers to the mystery of children disappearing from their home town. They finally face the evil clown Pennywise, who has a centuries’ long history of killing and violence.

Judging by the recent teaser trailer of the upcoming Hulu adaptation of various of King's stories, dubbed "Castle Rock," Pennywise will probably get a mention there too.

“It” will finally hit theater screens on September 8, 2017.
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