This ‘It’ Scene Was Deemed Too Disturbing for the Final Film

In case you haven’t seen the latest horror flick It, we’ll have you know, it’s creepy AF. Like, if you weren’t scared of clowns before, you definitely will be after leaving the theater. But, according to Bill Skarsgård, who plays killer clown Pennywise, there was an additional scene deemed too disturbing to keep in the film’s final cut.

While on Variety’s Playback podcast, Bill opened up about the terrifying moment. “There’s a scene that we shot that was a flashback scene from the 1600s. Where Pennywise was before ‘Pennywise,’” he explained. “And we shot it for additional shooting and the scene turned out really, really disturbing. And it’s me… I’m not the clown, I look more like myself.”

bill skarsgard it — Getty Images, Warner Bros.

Bill vs. his character Pennywise.

According to a few theories, the scene was included in Cary Fukunaga’s version of the script, but when creative differences with the movie studio forced Cary to give up his role as director, the scene ended up getting cut. Apparently, it consisted of a more normal-looking Pennywise approaching a mother. The mother eventually allows him to devour her daughter in order to keep her own life.

“I’m not gonna spoil what the scene is, because we might use it [in the sequel]. But it’s a very disturbing scene, sort of a backstory for what It is or where Pennywise came from,” Bill said. “The idea is that It, the entity, was dormant or resting for thousands of thousands of years and [the scene] hints on [the founding of Derry, the town the films takes place in].”