IT could have been Tilda Swinton for Pennywise

1 August 2017

Tilda Swinton was wanted to play Pennywise the Clown in the 'IT' remake.

Tilda Swinton

The 56-year-old actress is said to have been wanted for the re-imagining of the hit Stephen King novel by producer Barbara Muschietti and her husband Andres, however, due to conflicting schedules Swinton wasn't able to take on the role of the monstrous child killer.

Speaking to Joblo, Barbara said: "Tilda Swinton wasn't available. No, no, I swear to God. She was not. 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."

The new big screen version of Stephen King's chilling novel about a child killer on the loose in an American town - which was turned into a 1990 TV mini-series starring Tim Curry as the terrifying Pennywise - is set to hit cinemas this September.

The role of Pennywise ultimately went to 'Allegiant' star Bill Skarsgard, 26, who was revealed to be so scary that he had to stay away from the child co-stars during the shoot.

Andres said: "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. We read the novel when we were teens, we saw the miniseries much later in the game, so Tim Curry's performance is extraordinary but that is not necessarily what we link to Pennywise immediately. For us, the Pennywise is the Pennywise in the book which is quite different. I think Bill went for that and he did an amazing, amazing performance and we gave him several tests. Again, because he's a shape shifter, we wanted to make sure that he could play in different grades, right? And he did. He's amazing.

"And what's even more amazing is that he kept the character very unpredictable, and that's what scares us the most, when you don't know what way he's going to go."

'IT' follows a group of young children who are faced with their biggest fears when they square off against Pennywise in Derry, Maine, after multiple children go missing.

The brave kids mature into adulthood and are forced to revisit their horrors as one by one they encounter Pennywise again.

Muschietti has already revealed that a plan for a sequel is in the works.