When Cary Fukunaga was putting together his adaptation of Stephen King's IT, which was supposed to start filming in 2015, some of the actors he considered for the role of the evil clown Pennywise were of the age range you'd probably expect: 55-year-old Mark Rylance, 46-year-old Ben Mendelsohn. However, the actor who ended up being cast was somewhat shockingly young: 22-year-old Will Poulter.
Fukunaga ended up dropping out of the project over creative differences, and by the time IT began filming with MAMA's Andy Muschietti at the helm this past summer, Poulter had also moved on. The actor who stepped in front of cameras in Pennywise's makeup and wardrobe was Bill Skarsgard, who turned 26 during production. Skarsgard's age would seem to indicate that the filmmakers thought they were on to something with the idea of a younger Pennywise.
As it turns out, age may not have been a factor in Skarsgard's casting at all, as the folks over at the ITtheMovies Instagram and StephenKingsItRemake Facebook accounts have revealed that the choice for Muschietti's Pennywise came down to two finalists – Skarsgard, and 56-year-old Hugo Weaving, who is a sci-fi/fantasy icon due to his roles in THE MATRIX, Peter Jackson's LORD OF THE RINGS / THE HOBBIT movies, and CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER.
According to commenter Lloyd Pagett, who claims to be in contact with both Muschietti and Skarsgard,
People are gonna be suprised by the amount of charisma and twisted humor Bill is bringing to the table. Hugo's take was plain creepy, and though effective it didn't have much more to offer.
Pagett goes on to say that Muschietti's film is aiming to earn a hard R rating.
Written by Gary Dauberman and Chase Palmer, IT tells the story of
seven children known as The Losers Club who come face to face with life problems, bullies and a monster that takes the shape of a clown called Pennywise.
Skarsgard's co-stars include Jaeden Lieberher, Finn Wolfhard, Sophia Lillis, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Owen Teague, Nicholas Hamilton, and Javier Botet.
We'll find out exactly what sort of performance Skarsgard has turned in when IT, which is intended to be the first installment in a two-part adaptation of King's novel, reaches theatres on September 8, 2017.
As for how well Weaving would have done in the role, we can only imagine.
Skarsgard's Pennywise