12 Facts You Never Knew About the Actor Who Portrayed Character of Terrifying Clown 'Pennywise' In movie 'IT'

5 In his first major film role, he was nominated for an award

His first major role was in the 2010 Swedish film Simple Simon playing a man with Asperger's syndrome. He was nominated for the Guldbagge award which is the Swedish equivalent of an Oscar. His first major American film was Allegiant of the Divergent series where played the role of Matthew. 

Image Source: www.altfg.com

6 He made kids cry on the sets of IT

Skarsgard admitted that the intensity of the character Pennywise was so terrifying that even Kids who visited the set started crying. “On set, I wasn't very friendly or goofy," he said. "I tried to maintain some sort of weirdness about the character, at least when I was in all the makeup”.

He went on to say how some parents brought their kids as extras and when he came out as Pennywise, he was so terrifying that some of them started shaking and crying. It was then that the director even decided to do a take. ‘I am completely in character. So some of these kids got terrified and started to cry in the middle of the take, and then I realized, 'Holy s***. What am I doing? What is this? This is horrible." 

Image Source: www.digitalcine.fr

7 The smile of Pennywise was perfected by help of his brother

The evil smile of Pennywise the clown was achieved with help from brother Gustaf. Bill revealed how his brother Gustaf had the ability to point his lip in a certain strange way and that’s what he taught bill to do.

Image Source: www.squarespace.com

8 His audition was in full costume and character

Bill auditioned for pennywise by coming in full character and complete makeup. His makeup was put in by his girlfriend and he drove through Hollywood dressed as Pennywise the clown. He later said in an interview, “I was like, this is really humiliating—the epitome of the Auditioning Actor in L.A. But I'm happy I stuck with it."

The director Andres Muschietti admitted how Bill Skarsgard had perfected a balance between a childlike feature and a disturbing intense look. In fact, he also revealed how he told Skarsgard that he may need him to have his eyes looking in different directions when Skarsgard replied, 'Oh, I can do that'—and he actually did it in from of Muschietti. 

Image Source: www.cdnds.net