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‘It’: Here’s Who’s Testing For the Role of Pennywise! (Exclusive)
Update: News just broke that “Hemlock Grove’s” Bill Skarsgard is in final negotiations for the role! Details can be found here.
One of the biggest issues with remaking A Nightmare On Elm Street is that nobody can replace Robert Englund in the role of Freddy Krueger. It’s easier for franchises like Friday the 13th or Halloween because, Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers, respectively, are silent killers who don a mask.
This is where New Line Cinema’s re-adaptation of Stephen King’s It has a small conundrum; nobody will be able to replace Tim Curry as the malevolent clown, Pennywise.
The biggest difference between Freddy and Pennywise, though, is that the latter isn’t nearly as notable or pop culture penetrating as the Dream Demon.
I don’t think any of us are worried that we’re going to see a new Pennywise. In fact, I’m pretty stoked that New Line is attempting a feature version of this terrifying King story that taps into the vein of Stand By Me.
It’s been longstanding that Will Poulter had been cast as Pennywise when Cary Fukunaga was attached to direct.
Reports surfaced in April that Poulter has since dropped out, due to scheduling conflicts, while our own sources told us that he’s still in contention as Mama director Andy Muschietti will hold his own auditions.
We’ve learned that there’s not only been auditions, but that various actors have been part of make-up tests.
One of the most exciting names in contention is Kirk Acevedo, we can exclusively report.
While many of you may know Acevedo from his roles in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, pictured above, “Band of Brothers,” “Fringe,” and “12 Monkeys,” I became a massive fan watching him on HBO’s prison series, “Oz”.
It should be clear that a handful of actors are being tested. Still, I personally think Acevedo is as inspired of a choice as Poulter, whose exit I’m still mourning.
Stephen King’s It will rise from the sewers on September 8, 2017.
What do you guys think?
Hmmm…
Interesting?! https://t.co/r3XYUuUK0d— kirk acevedo (@kirkacevedo) June 2, 2016
All of us here at Bloody Disgusting are deeply saddened to learn that George A. Romero Foundation Founder and President Suzanne Desrocher-Romero has passed away.
GARF shared in a statement on socials, “It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of Suzanne Desrocher Romero. Suzanne passed away of natural causes on June 24 at her home in Toronto after a prolonged illness.”
The statement continues, “Suzanne was the fierce leader of the George A. Romero Estate and The George A. Romero Foundation. She worked tirelessly to preserve George’s legacy. Her work at the foundation will continue to inspire and live on for generations to come. The family asks for privacy at this time.”
Desrocher-Romero founded GARF in 2018, after her late husband’s passing in 2017, and has been a fierce advocate for his legacy and the arts. It was her mission to “strengthen horror as a serious field of global study,” and she was a tremendous fighter on behalf of Romero’s works and supporting new filmmakers inspired by his legacy.
It was Desrocher-Romero who spearheaded the recovery and restoration of The Amusement Park, and, as the person in charge of the George A. Romero estate, worked closely with author Daniel Kraus on completing unfinished novels like Pay the Piper and The Living Dead. She most recently celebrated the restoration of her favorite of Romero’s zombie films, Day of the Dead, and was hard at work producing the upcoming film Twilight of the Dead.
That passionate advocacy led to Suzanne Desrocher-Romero becoming family to Bloody Disgusting as well.
2023 marked the start of an ongoing partnership between Bloody FM and GARF on The Dead, a scripted audio series spanning multiple seasons that saw Desrocher-Romero working closely with the Bloody FM team and mentoring the series’s contributing writers with GARF. To say her loss will be felt internally is an understatement.
“Anytime George Romero is mentioned is good, because what we are doing is to provide a healthy legacy. We’re uplifting his legacy, we’re supporting the archive, and we’re also supporting the Horror Study Center. So, all of these three things are what the Foundation is striving to do. As far as I’m concerned, the more we say George Romero’s name, the better it is,” Desrocher-Romero recently told BD.
It’s the perfect encapsulation of her unwavering enthusiasm for supporting Romero’s legacy and the horror genre, and just a glimpse at how much she contributed to preserving it. She is, in short, an inspiration.
We send our deepest condolences to Suzanne Desrocher-Romero’s family, friends, and GARF.
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