After languishing in development limbo for the last year or so, the big-screen adaptation of Stephen King’s It appears to be moving forward again with a new cast and director.
A new report indicates that the actors playing the young versions of the film’s “Losers Club” have all been cast, and most importantly, studio New Line has also found an actor to portray Pennywise the Clown, the film’s iconic, terrifying villain. Taking on the role of the nightmare-inducing character will be Hemlock Grove and The Divergent Series: Allegiant actor Bill Skarsgard.
Skarsgard is in the final stages of negotiating his deal to portray Pennywise, according to The Hollywood Reporter. he will replace actor Will Poulter (We’re the Millers, The Maze Runner), who was previously cast in the role but was forced to exit the project after it was delayed more than a year.
The son of actor Stellan Skarsgard (Thor, The Avengers) and the brother of True Blood actor Alexander Skarsgard, Bill Skarsgard will be joined in the cast of the two-part movie by Jaeden Lieberher (Midnight Special), Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things), Jack Dylan Grazer (Tales of Halloween), Wyatt Oleff (Guardians of the Galaxy), Chosen Jacobs (Hawaii Five-O), and Jeremy Ray Taylor (42) as the group of young friends terrorized by Pennywise.
True Detective director Cary Fukunaga was initially attached to direct It, only to leave the project due to creative differences with the studio. Fukunaga was later replaced by Mama filmmaker Andy Muschietti.
Originally published in 1986 and then adapted into a 1990 television miniseries, King’s It follows a group of friends who band together to defeat an evil entity terrorizing their small town in Maine, only to face dire repercussions from their battle later in life. Tim Curry famously — or rather, infamously — played Pennywise in the miniseries.
There’s been no release date announced for the movie at this point.
