You’ve seen the lazy eye. You’ve seen that weird, wet, prosthetic-looking lip that—terrifyingly—turned out to be completely real. When people talk about the actor who plays Pennywise, they’re usually talking about Bill Skarsgård, the Swedish powerhouse who took a character defined by Tim Curry’s legendary 1990 performance and turned it into something much more predatory and alien.
It wasn't just the makeup.
Honestly, the makeup was just the cherry on top of a very twisted sundae. Skarsgård didn't just step into a clown suit; he inhabited a cosmic entity that happened to be wearing a clown's skin. He’s part of the Skarsgård acting dynasty—son of Stellan, brother to Alexander and Gustaf—but this role was his definitive "I’m here" moment in Hollywood.
He stayed in character.
Reports from the set of Andy Muschietti’s IT (2017) are basically the stuff of HR nightmares. Skarsgård was kept away from the child actors—the Losers' Club—until the cameras were rolling. He wanted their fear to be authentic. It worked. When he finally emerged from the shadows, some of the kids were legitimately rattled. Imagine being eleven years old and seeing a 6'4" man in Victorian lace, drooling uncontrollably and staring at you with eyes pointing in two different directions. That’s not acting. That’s a trauma response.
🔗 Read more: Why Big Trouble in Little China Failed in 1986 But Rules Today
Why Bill Skarsgård’s Pennywise Felt Different
Tim Curry played Pennywise like a mean-spirited circus performer. He was funny until he bit your arm off. Skarsgård went a different route. He played the actor who plays Pennywise role by focusing on the "It" part of the name. He wanted the audience to feel that there was something ancient and hungry underneath the face paint.
He used his body like a contortionist.
Skarsgård has this "lazy eye" trick where he can make one eye look directly at the camera while the other wanders off to the side. Muschietti originally thought they’d need CGI for that. Bill just said, "No, I can do it," and did it on cue. It creates this subconscious "uncanny valley" effect. You know something is wrong, but you can’t quite pin it down until you realize he's literally hunting two different things at once.
Then there’s the voice.
It’s high-pitched, crackling, and sounds like it’s being squeezed out of a throat that hasn't used vocal cords in a century. He didn't want a "monster" voice. He wanted a "child-mimicking" voice. It makes the moments when the mask slips—when the voice drops into a guttural growl—much more impactful. He spent weeks practicing the "Pennywise laugh," which he described as a mix between a hyena and a panic attack.
The Physical Toll of the Dancing Clown
Playing this character wasn't exactly a walk in the park. The costume was restrictive. The makeup took hours. But the mental toll was the real story. Skarsgård has talked openly about how the character lingered after filming ended. He would have vivid dreams about Pennywise. It’s like the character was a separate entity he had to exorcise from his system once the production wrapped on IT Chapter Two.
He was exhausted.
Every scene required a massive amount of "up-energy." You can’t half-ass being a demonic clown. You have to be at an eleven the entire time. By the time they finished the sewer scenes, he was physically spent. But that intensity is exactly why the performance resonated. You can feel the vibration of his energy through the screen.
🔗 Read more: Where to Stream The Year Without a Santa Claus: Don't Let the Heat Miser Win
The Legacy of the 2017 Reimagining
Before the 2017 film, people were skeptical. How do you replace Tim Curry? You don't. You pivot. The actor who plays Pennywise in the modern era succeeded because he didn't try to imitate what came before. He went back to Stephen King’s source material. In the book, It is an eldritch horror from the Macroverse. Skarsgård played into that cosmic weirdness.
He didn't care about being "scary" in a traditional way.
He cared about being strange.
This approach changed how studios look at horror villains. It moved the needle away from "slasher in a mask" toward "transformative character study." Because of Skarsgård’s success, we’ve seen a surge in actors taking big, physical risks in horror. He proved that you can be under five pounds of latex and still deliver a performance that feels human—or, in this case, dangerously inhuman.
What’s Next for the Character?
If you can’t get enough of this specific brand of nightmare, the story isn't over. HBO (now Max) has been working on a prequel series titled Welcome to Derry. For a long time, fans wondered if they’d recast. But you can't really replace the guy who defined the look for a new generation.
Bill is back.
He’s officially attached to the series, which means we’re going to see the origins of how Pennywise started terrorizing the town of Derry in the first place. This gives Skarsgård a chance to play with the character in different time periods. It’s a huge win for the production because, let’s be real, the show would have a massive uphill battle trying to find another actor who plays Pennywise who can do that lip thing.
How to Appreciate the Craft Behind the Mask
If you’re a fan of the films, or even if you’re just a film student curious about character acting, there’s a lot to learn from Skarsgård’s process. He didn't just read the script; he studied animal movements. He watched footage of predators. He looked at how infants move their mouths.
📖 Related: Fast and Furious: How a Movie About Street Racing Turned Into a Multi-Billion Dollar Soap Opera
- Watch the eyes. In the opening scene with Georgie, notice how Skarsgård shifts his focus. He’s not looking at the boy; he’s looking at the "food."
- Listen to the breathing. The heavy, wet breathing wasn't a sound effect. That was Bill hyperventilating on set to get that frantic, hungry energy.
- Notice the stillness. The most terrifying parts of his performance aren't the jumpscares. They are the moments when he is perfectly still, just watching.
The brilliance of the actor who plays Pennywise lies in the contrast. One moment he’s a playful, goofy clown; the next, he’s a vibrating mass of teeth and hunger. It’s that unpredictability that keeps the audience on edge.
If you want to dive deeper into how this role was built, start by re-watching the "Projector Scene" in the first movie. It’s a masterclass in timing. Look at how he moves—it’s jerky, like a corrupted video file. That wasn't just digital editing; a lot of those staccato movements were choreographed by Skarsgård himself.
To truly understand the impact, compare his performance to his roles in Barbarian or John Wick: Chapter 4. You’ll see a completely different human being. That’s the mark of a great actor. They disappear. Even when they’re wearing a bright orange wig and a silver clown suit, they disappear so completely that all you’re left with is the character.
Go back and read the original Stephen King novel. Focus on the descriptions of the clown's face. You'll realize that Skarsgård didn't just play a role—he translated a literary nightmare into a physical reality with surgical precision.
Follow the production updates for Welcome to Derry on trade sites like Variety or The Hollywood Reporter. Pay attention to the behind-the-scenes interviews where Skarsgård discusses his "return" to the psyche of the clown. It offers a rare look at how an actor revisits a role that previously drained them emotionally.
Finally, watch the 1990 miniseries and the 2017 film back-to-back. Don't look for which one is "better." Look at how two different actors interpreted the same dialogue. It’s the best way to see the specific, weird, and brilliant choices Bill Skarsgård made to make the role his own.