That lazy eye. Most people assume the creepy, wandering gaze of Pennywise the Dancing Clown was some high-end CGI trickery or a clever post-production edit. It wasn't. Bill Skarsgård, the Swedish actor who stepped into the oversized shoes of Stephen King’s most famous monster, can actually move his eyes in different directions on command. He showed it to director Andy Muschietti during his audition. It's unsettling. It’s practical. Honestly, it’s exactly why he got the job.
The guy who played Pennywise didn't just put on some face paint and a ruffled collar; he basically deconstructed what it means to be afraid. When Tim Curry played the role in the 1990 miniseries, he was a loud, abrasive, New York-style bully. He was iconic. But Skarsgård? He went somewhere else entirely. He turned Pennywise into something that felt like it was barely wearing a human skin suit.
Beyond the Makeup: Who is Bill Skarsgård?
If the name Skarsgård sounds familiar, it should. Acting is essentially the family business. His father is Stellan Skarsgård, the veteran actor from Good Will Hunting and the Marvel movies. His brothers? Alexander (True Blood, The Northman) and Gustaf (Vikings). Coming from that kind of pedigree, you’d think Bill would be a polished, traditional leading man. Instead, he’s carved out a niche playing the weirdest, most intense characters he can find.
Before he was terrorizing children in Derry, Bill was making waves in smaller, moodier projects. He starred in the Netflix series Hemlock Grove, where he played a wealthy, troubled guy who might be a vampire. It was a weird show. It didn't last forever, but it proved he had this specific, ethereal quality that makes audiences feel just a little bit uncomfortable.
He’s tall. Really tall. Nearly 6'4". When you put a guy that big into a Victorian-era clown costume and tell him to drool—which he also did naturally, by the way—you get a physical presence that fills up the screen in a way CGI never could.
The Physicality of a Monster
Acting is usually about the lines. You learn the script, you hit your marks, you say the words. For the guy who played Pennywise, the words were almost secondary. Skarsgård spent months working with a movement coach to figure out how a shapeshifting entity would actually move. He wanted it to look like the clown was a puppet being controlled by something ancient and hungry.
Think about the "refrigerator scene" in the 2017 film. Pennywise unfolds himself from a tiny space, his limbs snapping and popping into place. Skarsgård did a lot of that contortion himself. He studied animal behavior, specifically hyenas and bears, to capture that predatory, lunging energy. It’s why the character feels so dangerous even when he’s just standing there.
The voice was another mountain to climb. Skarsgård wanted something that sounded like it was coming from a broken throat. He landed on this high-pitched, crackling tone that sounds like a child's toy with dying batteries. It’s a stark contrast to Curry’s gravelly, Bronx-inspired growl. It’s more alien. More wrong.
The Casting Gamble That Paid Off
Casting Pennywise was a nightmare for the studio. For a long time, Will Poulter (We're the Millers, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3) was attached to the role. When the original director, Cary Fukunaga, left the project, the search started over. People were skeptical. How do you replace Tim Curry? Fans were worried the new movie would lean too hard on jump scares and lose the psychological edge of the book.
Then the first image of Skarsgård in the suit dropped.
The costume design, led by Janie Bryant, moved away from the modern, colorful Bozo-style clown. They went back further. They looked at the Renaissance, the Elizabethan era, and the Victorian era. The result was a dirty, off-white silk suit that made Pennywise look like he’d been hiding in the sewers for hundreds of years. It worked. The internet lost its mind.
During filming, Muschietti kept Skarsgård separated from the child actors—the "Losers' Club." They didn't see him in full makeup until they were actually filming the scenes. The fear you see on those kids' faces? A lot of it was genuine. Jack Dylan Grazer and Finn Wolfhard have both talked about how terrifying it was to see this 6-foot-something clown screaming in their faces while covered in actual prosthetic drool.
Legacy and the Future of Derry
Bill Skarsgård didn't just play a role; he reinvented a horror icon. The 2017 It became the highest-grossing horror film of all time, largely because people couldn't stop talking about the performance. It wasn't just about the scares. It was the way he portrayed the hunger. There’s a scene where he’s talking to Georgie at the storm drain, and you can see his hunger—it’s physical. He’s salivating.
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Now, we’re looking at a return to this world. Max (formerly HBO Max) is producing a prequel series called Welcome to Derry. For a while, everyone wondered if they’d recast the role again. Could anyone else do it? Apparently not. In May 2024, it was confirmed that Bill Skarsgård is returning to play Pennywise. He’s also an executive producer on the show.
This is huge because it means the show can bridge the gap between the ancient origins of "It" and the movies we’ve already seen. We’ll likely see Pennywise in different eras, perhaps taking on different forms, but with Skarsgård’s specific, haunting DNA at the center of it all.
Why Skarsgård’s Performance Matters
- Practicality over CGI: He used his own physical quirks (the eye, the lip, the drool) to create the character.
- Psychological Depth: He played the clown as a lure, a trap that was purposely "cute" but fundamentally "wrong."
- Cultural Impact: He proved that a remake could respect the original while creating something entirely new for a modern audience.
If you’re looking to dive deeper into the craft behind the character, start by re-watching the first It (2017) and paying attention to the silence. Watch how Skarsgård uses his eyes when he isn't speaking. Then, check out his performance in Barbarian (2022)—it shows how he can use that same "uncanny" energy to play a character that you want to trust, even though your gut tells you something is off. Following his career path from Hemlock Grove to John Wick: Chapter 4 provides a masterclass in how an actor can use their physical presence to dominate a scene, regardless of the genre. Keep an eye out for Welcome to Derry in 2025/2026; it’s going to be the definitive look at how this version of the character became the monster we know.