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New poster for Stephen King’s It, director discusses Pennywise design

August 25, 2017 by Amie Cranswick

With just two weeks to go until It arrives in cinemas, a new poster has arrived online for the hotly-anticipated big screen adaptation of Stephen King’s classic horror novel by artist Oliver Barrett; take a look here…

Meanwhile, speaking with Collider, director Andy Muschietti discussed the inspiration behind Pennywise’s appearance and the early designs of the character: “Yeah. Well, the fact that this entity has been around for thousands of years… I’m more drawn— I never— aesthetically, I don’t dig the 20th century clown,” he explained. “I think it looks cheap, and it’s too related to social events and stuff and circus and stuff, which circus is fine, but I’m more aesthetically attracted to the old time, like the 19th century clown. And given that this guy has been around for centuries, I wondered myself why, why not, having an upgrade that was 1800s.”

“I had a sketch. One sketch. It was like a baby. It was like a Gerber baby,” he said. “With something very off, because his eyes were wide-eyed – the eyes like, slightly apart. And then, to be honest, it didn’t evolve much from that point. And then the Pennywise you saw today is special because his hair is crazy, but the rest of the movie is different. I’m playing a little bit with his mood, and his mood sometimes in terms of the hair. There’s like two hairs maybe. But the official shape is more like a weird baby.”

When children begin to disappear in the town of Derry, Maine, a group of young kids are faced with their biggest fears when they square off against an evil clown named Pennywise, whose history of murder and violence dates back for centuries.

It is set for release on September 8th, 2017, with Andy Muschietti directing Bill Skarsgard (Hemlock Grove) as Pennywise alongside Jaeden Lieberher (St. Vincent), Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things), Jack Dylan Grazer (Tales of Halloween), Wyatt Oleff (Guardians of the Galaxy), Chosen Jacobs (Cops and Robbers), Jeremy Ray Taylor (Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip), Owen Teague (Bloodline), Sophia Lillis (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and Nicholas Hamilton (Captain Fantastic).

Originally published August 25, 2017. Updated April 17, 2018.

Filed Under: Amie Cranswick, Movies, News Tagged With: Andy Muschietti, It, Stephen King

About Amie Cranswick

Amie Cranswick is Executive Editor of Flickering Myth, responsible for overseeing editorial coverage across film, television and pop culture.

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