For some, nothing is more terrifying than a clown. The Stephen King book took a step further by making a clown a killer and the flesh incarnation of a powerful demon spider. The book and the TV adaptation frightened the audience, and both shied away from revealing the origins of Pennywise.
Pennywise’s Secret Origin
Speaking to Variety, the clown actor #BillSkarsgard had revealed what the future IT films might explore and one creepy scene that did not make the final cut.
“There was a scene we shot that was a flashback from the 1600s, before Pennywise [was Pennywise]. The scene turned out really, really disturbing. And I’m not the clown. I look more like myself. It’s very disturbing, and sort of a backstory for what It is, or where Pennywise came from. That might be something worth exploring in the second one. The idea is the ‘It’ entity was dormant for thousands and thousands of years. The [flashback] scene hints on that.”
There was a lot that was unsettling about IT for Skarsgard to say that the scene is “really, really disturbing” and this must mean that the flashback was darker than the rest of the movie.
We must remember that no montage exists in King’s novel, although a similar Pennywise scene was a part of the previous director, Cary Fukunaga’s script. This sequence was horrific. Due to a few indepth detective work on these parts of LowResWünderbred, fans know that the original scene had featured a “pale and translucent” Pennywise making a deal with one of the mothers the 1800s. To save herself, the mother feeds her infant daughter to Pennywise.
The scrapped script has formed the basis of a scene Bill Skarsgard is referring to and though it seems to be altered significantly. We are left wondering if the scene was removed because it was horrifying or that Muchietti decided that a backstory just did not feel right.
Andy Muchietti wanted fans to be scared of Skarsgard’s clown and told the actor not to even interact with the kids on set. A flashback scene may have reduced Pennywise’s impact by removing all the mystery from the character.
The sequel is set to hit the screens in 2019 and revolves around the adult version of the Losers Club and pits them against Pennywise. Warner Bros. may be hoping to turn IT into a Conjuring-esque franchise with spin-offs and prequels.
Whatever the reason, it’ll certainly be great to find out more about where Pennywise came from, and if the scene is any bit as disturbing as Skarsgard claims it was, it’ll certainly be worth the wait.
