We’ve already had an up-close look at Bill Skarsgård’s Pennywise the Clown from the new It, but now you can see the suitably chilling body that sinister face is attached to.
The full costume was revealed last night by Entertainment Weekly, and shows that Andy Muschietti’s new take on the classic Stephen King tale is adopting a more traditional clown look for Pennywise, rather than the garish colour scheme of the 1990 adaptation.
Costume designer Janie Bryant says that the traditional clown look is meant to make Pennywise look almost child-like, which just makes his child-murdering even creepier — which is definitely saying something, considering a sinister kid-murdering clown is already pretty much maximum-creepy:
There is almost a doll-like quality to the costume: The pants being short, the high waistline of the jacket, and the fit of the costume is a very important element. It gives the character a child-like quality.
Bryant also says that Skarsgård’s Pennywise is “almost like a shadow”, choosing to hide and strike out at his victims rather than luring them in with his brightly coloured appearance — which makes sense, given the muted tones of this costume. We’ll be seeing Pennywise slink into action when It hits US theatres on September 8.