Female Marvel star almost played Pennywise the clown in IT

As the release of the new movie adaptation of Stephen King’s IT creeps closer, it’s been revealed that a different actor was originally considered for the villainous role of Pennywise the clown.

Producer Barbara Muschietti, sister of the film’s director Andres, told JoBlo that IT almost took a very different direction by hiring a female to play Pennywise. Muschietti revealed that Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton was right at the top of the list and may well have been cast, had it not been for a scheduling conflict:

“We auditioned literally hundreds of potential Pennywises; women, younger age, older age, we really went through the spectrum of actors. [Unfortunately Tilda] wasn’t available. We had a slot to shoot the movie and she wasn’t available so she didn’t even audition. But of course, we all thought about it.” Muschietti said.

Swinton as the Ancient One is Marvel’s Doctor Strange.

Of course the role ended up going to Bill Skarsgård, as Muschietti was extremely impressed with his audition:

“Bill came in and blew our socks off. Because he was doing his very own interpretation of Pennywise, very erudite… very, very familiar with the novel and with Pennywise in the novel, which for us was a huge help. Because we went in the casting process with the book in mind.”

Stephen King’s IT arrives in cinemas on 8 September 2017.