New ‘It’ Photo Puts Pennywise in the Gutter, Director Says ‘You’re Going to S— a Brick’
After a somewhat tumultuous development stage, the new adaptation of Stephen King’s classic horror novel It is finally heading to the big screen in September, courtesy of Mama director Andy Muschietti. While we wait for the first trailer (which may be arriving sooner than you think), a new photo of Pennywise the clown has debuted online, giving us another look at the iconic villain in a scene that fans of King’s novel and the original miniseries adaptation will immediately recognize.
Empire premiered the new image in a feature on the upcoming horror film, in which Bill Skarsgard (Hemlock Grove) plays Pennywise, a role previously made iconic by Tim Curry. The photo teases what is essentially the inciting incident from both the novel and the 1990 miniseries: A little boy named Georgie is lured over to a gutter by the evil clown. What happens next sends a group of young friends (including Georgie’s older brother) on a horrific odyssey.
Speaking with Empire, Muschietti says he eschewed the “less-is-more” approach with his adaptation:
There’s supposed to be a less-is-more thing in horror. It’s like you’re not really meant to show the monster. But Pennywise is different. With Pennywise, it’s like, ‘This is the monster, I’m showing it to you… and you’re going to shit a brick.’
Your ejection of said brick depends on a few variables — like if you’re already terrified of clowns (or jaunty Victorian-era costumes, or what appears to be CGI-assisted grease-paint). Maybe “s— a brick” is slang for throwing a brick, like at a theater screen; if you dislike this movie enough, you may be tempted to do just that.
There’s already been some backlash from fans over Pennywise’s new look, which we’ve only seen in heavily-Photoshopped images. He doesn’t seem all that scary, to be honest, — but it’s hard to gauge these things in still photos. Perhaps the first trailer will give us a better grasp on this thing.
It hits theaters on September 8.