Professional clowns may not be happy about It, but just about everyone else is, as the updated adaptation of Stephen King‘s novel hit the top of the box office for the second week in a row. It has been so wildly successful that the film may even become the biggest horror movie of all-time before the end of the month. This is a film that really seems to get under the skin of its audience, but according to Bill SkarsgÃ¥rd, there’s at least one unsettling lost scene that featured Pennywise before he took on the appearance of a clown.
While making a guest appearance on Variety’s Playback podcast, SkarsgÃ¥rd offered a tantalizing glimpse at Pennywise’s first incarnation. “There was a scene we shot that was a flashback from the 1600s, before Pennywise [was Pennywise],†recalled Skarsgard. “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. â€
King’s novel established It’s origins, pre-Pennywise form, as a being that existed billions of years ago, in the dark void that predates our universe, which was called the Macroverse. That part of his origin wasn’t really dealt with in the movie, although SkarsgÃ¥rd’s comments about the monster’s long hibernation does track with the history of the character as laid out by King.
We do know that It will receive a director’s cut on Blu-ray, so it’s possible that the scene in question will show up there. But if the sequence is saved for a sequel, it would be intriguing to see how and why Pennywise created his infamous persona. The novel established the clown as It’s favorite form, but perhaps the movie can explain exactly why the monster first took this particular shape, and what made it so appealing.
Also unclear is if SkarsgÃ¥rd is correct about when the flashback was set. According to the book, Pennywise’s awakening (after an eons-long slumber) was in 1715, approximately 25 years before he destroyed the first 300 settlers of the Derry Township. That particular rampage could potentially be worth exploring as its own movie, if Warner Bros. decides to keep the franchise going beyond the novel.
Are you looking forward to the exploration of Pennywise’s history? Scare up some thoughts for the comment section below!
Images: Warner Bros. Pictures/New Line Cinema
