The horror film IT was one of the biggest surprises of the summer movie season, breaking box offices records, earning a sequel, and turning Pennywise into a gay icon alongside the Babadook. Not only did the film scare the pants off of people, it reminded audiences that horror films could actually be funny, too. Either way, director Andy Muschietti was able to tap into a truly universal experience: people love to hate clowns.
While Muschietti dreamed about one day doing another Stephen King adaptation, star Bill Skarsgård was a little more wary. After bringing Pennywise to terrifying life, Skarsgård got the biggest boost to his career to date, and with that came no small amount of anxiety. He explained on Variety’s Playback podcast, saying “It’s been really weird for me. I’m almost a bit confused by the whole thing.”
“When I got the job, it was a huge deal for me, obviously – I knew there was a lot of anticipation for the project and the character itself. But I didn’t allow myself to hope for anything. I feel like if I’d hoped for success… At the back of my head, even coming up to the release – people were like, ‘it’s going to do this well!’ And then the box office surprised everybody. Even the most optimistic projections were like half of it! Up until everything, I just felt like something really terrible was going to happen to me personally – thing just seemed to be going too well.”
Luckily for Skarsgård, things seem to be skewed towards the good. He’s already lined up for the sequel, so he’ll have even more chances to terrify people in 2018.
(Via Express)
