‘ When you’re a kid, you think that you’ll always be… protected, and cared for. Then, one day, you realize that’s not true. If you open your eyes, you will see what we’re going through. ‘Cause when you’re alone as a kid, the monsters see you as weaker. You don’t even know they’re getting closer. Until it’s too late. ‘
It (2017) dir. Andy Muschietti
In It Skarsgård is expertly camouflaged as the sinister, shapeshifting apparition of a child’s deepest fears. With his teeth bared in a lip-curling grin, Bill’s voice work is masterful — always cracking on verge of hysterics, but with the saccharine, high-pitched inflection one would use with a pet. The physicality of Pennywise is perhaps the most ingeniously unsettling dimension Skarsgård lends to the character. In the beginning of his scenes, Pennywise is unnervingly still, his body articulated like a puppet. When you least expect it, he will lurch in a ferocious, convulsive blur, mimicking horrors that lurk only in the deepest realms of sleep paralysis.
Bill Skarsgård photographed for Flaunt Magazine.