In 1990, Tim Curry became the first actor to portray Pennywise. His portrayal was since regarded as iconic and fittingly terrifying, no matter how badly the It miniseries itself was received. However, in 2017, Andy Muscietti revived Stephen King’s 1986 novel with a movie adaptation.
Though Muscietti’s film versions of It are most commonly regarded as being the best, Tim Curry did originally portray the demon clown onscreen, bringing a more human-like quality to the monster.
Bill Skarsgard’s portrayal of Pennywise was very different. He brought a much more eerie quality to the character, making the fact that Pennywise was not, in fact, from the Losers’ Club’s dimension, seem very believable.
Both portrayals of Pennywise the Dancing Clown were unforgettable and terrifying in their own right, so let’s take a look at 5 reasons why Tim Curry’s Pennywise was so iconic in its day, and 5 reasons why Bill Skarsgard’s was total nightmare fuel.
10. TIM CURRY’S PENNYWISE WAS THE NIGHTMARISH VERSION OF THE SCHOOL BULLIES
It’s no secret that the It miniseries did not have a lot to work with when it came to special effects. Unlike the terrifying arsenal of Pennywise’s surrealistic antics that the movies were able to create, the miniseries had to work primarily with practical effects.
Due to this, Pennywise was changed from what he was in the book - a creature from another dimension - and shaped into something that represented the problems and fears that the Losers’ Club was already dealing with. The miniseries presented a version of Pennywise that was almost a direct mirror of the bullies from school.
9. BILL SKARSGARD BROUGHT THE OTHERWORDLY ELEMENT
Bill Skarsgard’s portrayal of Pennywise was eerie and unworldly even before it was edited and enhanced with special effects. While Tim Curry’s Pennywise terrorized the Losers by obnoxiously bullying them, the film version of Pennywise took on a much more unsettling approach.
With eyes moving in separate directions, an unhinged quality to his voice, and an appearance that made him look utterly deranged and cunning at the same time, Bill Skarsgard Pennywise is going to live on in fan’s nightmares for some time.
8. TIM CURRY’S PENNYWISE IS FUNNY
Before he brought Pennywise to life in 1990, Tim Curry spent his acting career starring in films and TV shows that were much more lighthearted than It was meant to be. Due to his background in comedy, Tim Curry brought his signature eccentric humor with him when he portrayed Pennywise.
His version of the demon clown brought a completely obnoxious, loud, unhinged sense of humor to the character.
7. BILL SKARSGARD’S PENNYWISE IS FUNNIER
Bill Skarsgard portrayed Pennywise in a way that was much more accurate to how he was depicted in the book. The character of Pennywise was never meant to be grounded in reality, as he was not a creature from our dimension. He was from another world entirely, which makes him all the more terrifying and extremely difficult to defeat.
Not only did Bill Skarsgard nail Pennywise’s otherworldy qualities, but he also brought a deranged sense of humor to the character that was so unique it would be impossible to duplicate.
6. TIM CURRY HAD LESS TO WORK WITH AND STILL ENCAPSULATED THE CHARACTER
Obviously, when the two are compared, Tim Curry’s Pennywise does not look nearly as menacing as Bill Skarsgard, but that doesn’t discount this portrayal. Rather than benefitting from a completely terrifying appearance, Tim Curry was dressed up to look like a regular clown.
This could have ended up simply coming across as completely ridiculous, but Tim Curry didn’t let the inhibitions stop him, making Pennywise horrifying in some difficult circumstances.
5. BILL SKARSGARD’S PENNYWISE PREYED ON DEEPLY PERSONAL FEARS
Pennywise is a horror villain known for unlocking his victims’ greatest fears and bringing them to life. This was portrayed in the miniseries, but Bill Skarsgard and Andy Muscietti took it to the next level in the films. As the Losers’ Club grew up and became adults, their fears changed and morphed into different terrifying ideas.
As the kids grew into adults, their fears grew with them, and Pennywise didn’t miss a beat. What makes this scarier is how deeply personal Pennywise gets with the main characters. For example, taunting Richie with an eerie song while floating down from the Paul Bunyan statue, preying on a secret that Richie himself can’t even bring himself to face.
4. TIM CURRY’S PENNYWISE WAS OBNOXIOUS
Tim Curry took Pennywise’s taunting and brought it to the next level. In fact, most of the character’s screentime in the miniseries consisted of him obnoxiously tormenting the kids, whether bombarding Eddie in the gym shower or goading Richie with a noisemaker, Tim Curry made Pennywise into more of an obnoxious, ridiculing psychopath, than a demon clown.
3. BILL SKARSGARD’S PENNYWISE CREATED THE MOST TERRIFYING ILLUSIONS
The miniseries tried to bring to life some of the most iconic scenes from the book, but with dated and cheap effects, these moments didn’t exactly land well and ended up being more laughable than impactful. In the movies’ case, Pennywise’s illusions were brought to life in a completely intense fashion.
Pennywise makes the Losers see a variety of traumatizing things, including demented fortune cookies, disgusting lepers, the ghost of Georgie, and a spider version of Stan’s head.
2. TIM CURRY’S PENNYWISE HAD A DEEPLY DISTURBING EFFECT ON ADULTS
One thing that the movies unfortunately glossed over was the absolutely terrifying effect that Pennywise actually had on the adults and Derry as a whole. Pennywise primarily preyed on children, and to do this, he had the adults wrapped around his finger.
In the miniseries, this is touched on several times. In one scene, Beverly is being tormented by bullies and her neighbor sees this and promptly just walks away. Additionally, Bill’s parents pick up Georgie’s bloodsoaked photo album and act completely zoned out, adults have blood-filled balloons pop in their faces and don’t react, and Beverly’s father is eerily oblivious to the blood coming from the bathroom sink.
1. BILL SKARSGARD’S PENNYWISE WAS ACTUALLY 75 FEET TALL
In the miniseries, a grown-up Eddie states that Pennywise was “about 75 feet tall” upon finally remembering the harrowing events that occurred in Derry. In the book, Pennywise often morphed into a giant version of himself, but the only problem is that the miniseries never actually ever portrayed this.
In the movies, Pennywise famously takes on a huge form and crawls out of the projector to terrorize the kids. Additionally, he is easily 75 feet tall in the final battle. There’s nothing more terrifying than a shape-shifting villain that can literally take any form known to humans.
