Pennywise actor3/22/2023 His clown look more resembles something one would expect to see in a Marilyn Manson music video than a pie-tossing, unicycle-riding clown, as Curry's Pennywise so convincingly embodied. ![]() There's no better word to describe Bill Skarsgard's Pennywise than monstrous. The Pennywise portrayed by Tim Curry knew how to lay a trap for the children he hunts and lure them into his waiting claws, the hallmarks of what makes a killer clown scary. With his performance as Pennywise, Curry is able to embody everything a child would expect from a clown, while interweaving it with a subversive sense of humor and skill at pushing the right buttons to keep every member of The Loser's Club petrified and unprepared for when he finally chooses to pounce. Scenes of Ben suddenly discovering he's kissing Pennywise rather than Beverly or of the clown aggressively asking " Don't you want it?" repeatedly after offering Audra a balloon work as well as they do because we've seen his skill at penetrating the defenses of anyone he targets, either by telepathic ability or offering them a bit of forbidden fruit. ![]() By this point, Pennywise is a pure force of terror on The Loser's Club, but the film hasn't lost sight of his ability to lure his prey into his clutches either, as we see when he corners Bill's wife, Audra, with his " deadlights" and turns the group's old bully Henry Bowers into his own personal assassin against his returning enemies. This is particularly exemplified in the scene in the Derry library, with the adult Richie being the only person able to see or hear Pennywise and being left unnerved and panicked as the evil clown cracks jokes and blood-filled balloons pop all around him. However, he still maintains his blend of dark humor and circus antics in a clear bid to drive them insane. What's more, the design of Curry's Pennywise has a predatory edge on that of Skarsgard's, with the latter much more tailor made to frighten children (and adults), while Curry resembles the innocuous look of a clown seen at any carnival.Įlsewhere in the film, Curry is more haunting and antagonistic towards The Loser's Club, particularly once they encounter him again as adults. ![]() Pennywise then proceeds to lure Georgie to his demise with his toy boat as bait, but its his ability to gain the trust of children and present himself as a friendly, affable clown that is his true deadliest weapon against those he preys upon. Pennywise, in turn, commends the wisdom of the parental advice Georgie's been given, before introducing himself by name, thus circumventing Georgie's concerns on the grounds that " Now we know each other". His first scene in which he lures the young Georgie into a sewer is every parent's worst nightmare, a true " Don't take candy from strangers" moment, so much so that the film even directly addresses it, with Georgie commenting that he's not supposed to talk to strangers. Curry's Pennywise injects as much levity into the film as he does terror, and he could legitimately be mistaken for a genuine clown by the denizens of Derry, which is exactly what makes Curry's performance work. In his performance as Pennywise, Tim Curry was a cackling, flamboyant cartoon, which by itself is hardly a detour from a typical Curry performance, but it was those very qualities that made him ideally suited for the role. However, both would also take a very different approach to portraying the character and truly make the role his own in both adaptations of King's novel - but which one is better? In the years since each actor stepped into the role of the carnivorous clown, both Curry and Skarsgard's respective performances as Pennywise are fondly remembered as highlights from the career of each. Related: Why IT Waits 27 Years Between Attacks ![]() Both the miniseries and the theatrical films would also divide the story into two separate chapters, with the first devoted to The Loser's Club as children, and the second depicting the group returning to Derry as adults for a final showdown with Pennywise. For 2017's IT, Bill Skarsgard would tackle the role of Pennywise in Andy Muschietti's big screen adaptation of the novel, along with reprising the role for the sequel. As was the case at the time for most adaptation's of King's literary works, the novel was first brought to life as a two-part television miniseries in 1990, with Curry giving an iconic portrayal of the villainous clown.
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