Oh what could have been...
The new trailer for the IT remake (due for release in Irish cinemas on 8th September) hit the internet yesterday. People were squealing with fright at IT and now there’s more anticipation than ever for its arrival in cinemas.
While the movie sees Bill Skarsgard (who IRL is actually very handsome) take on the role that was once made unforgettable by Tim Curry, namely Pennywise the Clown, it turns out that Tilda Swinton was at one point a serious contender for the role.
According to Nerdist, director Andrés Muschietti and his producing partner and sister Barbara Muschietti considered ”a huge gamut of talent; women, younger age, older age” for the role of Pennywise.
A reporter jokingly asked if Tilda Swinton, whose recent credits include Doctor Strange and Okja, was approached, to which Barbara answered sincerely: “She wasn’t available.
“I swear to God. We had a slot to shoot the movie and she wasn’t available, so she didn’t even audition. But of course, we all thought about her.”
In any case, Bill, who got the role, knocked it out of the park. “Bill came in and blew our socks off,” Barbara said. “Because he was doing his very own interpretation of Pennywise, very erudite…very very familiar with the novel and with Pennywise in the novel, which for us was a huge help, because we went in the casting process with the book in mind.”