Several weeks ago, Entertainment Weekly gave us a first look at the new Pennywise: the clown-faced antagonist from the upcoming adaptation of Stephen King’s It. Today, another new photo from EW reveals the monster’s brand new costume. Check it out below, but don’t look too long — your eyeballs may shrivel from fear.
MY EYES! In all seriousness, though, it’s a cool costume. It’s a very different take on the character than what we saw in the 1990 miniseries. There’s no way you’d mistake the new Pennywise for a clown who was on his smoke break after a miserable two hours spent outside a bounce house or downwind from a petting zoo.
But just to play devil’s advocate here: there’s not much you have to do to make a clown scary. But one of the go-to methods to make anything more frightening is to make it look old — like, Victorian era old. If I go to Google Images and type in “creepy chair”, for instance, the results aren’t stuff you can find at IKEA or Rooms to Go. If you want creepy chairs, you gotta shop where this new Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) shops.
But does this monster really need a stereotypically “creepy” costume for his clown disguise? Not really. I’d say it almost defeats the purpose. There’s an innocence, an innocuous vibe to a great clown costume that makes it even creepier. Here, it looks like he might be exploring a career in ballet. Y’know, just in case being The Eater of Worlds doesn’t work out.
Deadwood costume designer Janie Bryant made this clown’s new duds, and drew reference from “Medieval, Renaissance, Elizabethan, and Victorian eras.” The original Pennywise looks the way he does to lure children, but c’mon — it’s 2016. The secret on clowns is out. They’re scary. EW says “Bryant’s version of the character prefers to camouflage himself and strike rather than lure children with lively plumage.”
Mama‘s Andres Muschietti is directing It right now. The film is split in two, and part one will scare us on September 8, 2017.
Need a Stephen King fix? Check out our list of the best Stephen King novels-turned-mini-series.