This year’s IT movie has been a massive success – due in large part to Bill Skarsgård’s performance as Pennywise the Clown. That isn’t to say that director Andy Muschietti doesn’t deserve a good portion of the credit, as it was his vision that ultimately ended up on screen.
In a new interview with AFI, the director revealed how he constructed it:
Pennywise’s crossed eyes are definitely unsettling – as Muschietti previously revealed that he was shocked to learn Skarsgård could do it on his own:
“I told Bill, ‘I want it in both directions, I want you to send your eyes looking away and give a really unsettling look’. He said, ‘I can do it’, so he did it. What are the chances? It’s one in a million and he was cast already. So even in those moments when his eyes move, it was in. In the storm drain when he goes limp with his eyes looking f**ked up, that’s all him.”
The director revealed last month that there will be a Director’s Cut for the film, featuring some pretty interesting stuff:
“After the spitting contest it escalates into something that is completely weird and irrelevant to the scene but is so funny. Jack Grazer, who plays Eddie, does something that is completely bonkers.”
He added:
“There’s a great scene, it’s a bit of a payoff of the Stanley Uris plot which is the bar mitzvah, where he delivers a speech against all expectations… it’s basically blaming all the adults of Derry [for the town’s history of deadly ‘accidents’ and child disappearances], and it has a great resolution…Maybe it will be in the director’s cut!”
IT is currently playing in theaters everywhere while IT: Chapter 2 is expected to be released in 2019.