When Bill Skarsgård signed on to play Pennywise in the new It reboot, none of us knew just how prepared he was to take on the role of the sadistic clown. Because he’s been practicing the smile for years.
In an interview with Conan O’Brien, Skarsgård shared that his brother Gustaf had the ability to, as he put it, “point his lip in a strange way.” When he was 10 years old, Skarsgård discovered he could do it too. So, as any older sibling would do, he instantly used it to terrify his little brother, creating a proto-Pennywise (actually a character based on a Swedish name) by pulling his T-shirt around his face and chasing his brother around the house.
Come on, you would totally do it too.
Check out the clip below, and keep an eye out for his creepy eye thing. You’ll know it when you see it. Fair warning, it might not help you sleep tonight.
[YouTube]