We recently learned that Andy Muschietti didn’t like the televised of mini-series of ‘It‘ and now we’re finding out how and why he gave Pennywise the new look. Not everyone has been thrilled with the way Bill Skarsgård appears on screen in costume though it is hard to tell if it is the new look or just not close to Tim Curry’s iconic take on the demonic entity. Some of the complaints are that the new Pennywise is too intimidating to be able to lure in unsuspecting children, but the principal change appears to be that Muschietti didn’t find Curry’s look to be appealing.
Here is what he had to say on the matter:
“Well, the fact that this entity has been around for thousands of years… I’m more drawn— I never— aesthetically, I don’t dig the 20th-century clown. I think it looks cheap, and it’s too related to social events and stuff and circus and stuff, which circus is fine, but I’m more aesthetically attracted to the old time, like the 19th-century clown. And given that this guy has been around for centuries, I wondered myself why, why not, having an upgrade that was 1800s.”
This look does seem to be a bit more faithful to the original novel if you go by how old the entity has decided to clown around with humanity. It is clearly a more dated take on a clown and horrifying to behold as well.
There is a major factor to Pennywise which sounds as if we’ll see it in the film but hasn’t really been shown too much on screen as of yet. When taking over from what Cary Fukunaga had developed before leaving, Muschietti states:
“Well, one of the things— It was a good script, in terms of characters and the depth of characters and such, but it didn’t really tap into one of the most attractive traits of the character, which was the shapeshifting qualities. So that’s one of the things that I started talking about.”
Shapeshifting is going to happen! I’m not sure how much will be shown on screen but am eager to find out.
Do you agree with Muschietti’s reasoning on so drastically changing the look of Pennywise from the original miniseries? Which style do you prefer for the character? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Source: Collider
