It Actor Bill Skarsgard Discusses 'Really Disturbing' Scene Cut From Movie
It could have been even more terrifying than it already is.
Actor Bill Skarsgård, who turns the creep factor up to the highest degree as the manifestation of It through Pennywise the clown in the Stephen King novel adaptation, made a recent appearance on Variety's "Playback" podcast. There, he spoke about a horrifying scene that was shot for It but was ultimately left on the cutting room floor.
"There was a scene we shot that was a flashback from the 1600s, before Pennywise [was Pennywise]," Skarsgård explained. "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."
Originally written by filmmaker Cary Fukunaga (Shock and Awe), who exited the project in early 2015, and Chase Palmer (Beasts of No Nation), the It screenplay when through numerous drafts. Early versions of the story were thoroughly picked apart by the online film community, who noted that at least one draft featured a scene set in the 1800s, in which Pennywise plays a saloon piano to encourage acts of violence. Another would-have-been scene was a colonial-set sequence where It eats a child.
These two moments could be the scene Skarsgård, who wouldn't divulge too many details, referenced. Whatever the scene was that director Andy Muschietti and the It creative team shot, the actor stated that it could appear in the in-development sequel, It: Chapter Two.
Speaking of the follow-up film, Skarsgård expressed his excitement over getting into the more abstract elements of King's novel, which have yet to be completely translated on screen in any adaptation, but could be in the second film.
"The book is very abstract and metaphysical about what it means to exist and the idea of fantasy and imagination and all of these things," said Skarsgård. "I think that could be cool to explore as well. It's like, what is Pennywise? He only exists in the imagination of children. If you don't believe him to be real then he might not be real. There's an interesting aspect to explore there."
It has been dominating at the box office ever since its September 8 official release (and it's September 7 Thursday previews), raking in nearly $180 million USD in the domestic box office and just over $274 million USD worldwide. Joining Skarsgård in the adaptation are Finn Wolfhard, Sophia Lillis, Jaeden Lieberher, Wyatt Oleff, Jack Dylan Grazer, and Jeremy Ray Taylor.
As we try to wait patiently for another It movie, check out the disturbing It moments from the book that were cut from the film.