In a recent interview while promoting Glass, James McAvoy had mentioned that he was genuinely terrified of Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise on the set of IT: Chapter Two, and Bill Hader (who plays Richie Tozier in the film) similarly just told Conan O’Brien that Skarsgård was indeed terrifying on set. At the same time, Hader learned he’s not great at *acting* scared.
“When he’s playing that character, it is terrifying,” Hader told Conan. He continued, “This is my first horror movie, and I’m terrible at acting scared, apparently. When I’m scared, I think I smile. Like, I get nervous and I smile. We would do takes and the director Andy Muschietti would come and he’s like, ‘Bill, you need to be scared, man.’ I go, I was terrified! He goes, ‘No man, you’re smiling the whole time. What’s wrong with you?’ And it’s true.”
You can watch the interview segment below.
Pennywise returns on September 6, 2019.
Andy Muschietti directed the sequel, which features the adult version of Losers’ Club members who survived the malevolent Pennywise as kids in the 1980s.
The cast also includes Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain (“Zero Dark Thirty,” “Mama”) as Beverly, James McAvoy (Glass) as Bill, Isaiah Mustafa (TV’s “Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments”) as Mike, Jay Ryan (TV’s “Mary Kills People”) as Ben, James Ransone (HBO’s “The Wire”) as Eddie, and Andy Bean (Starz’ “Power”) as Stanley.
Reprising their roles as the original members of the Losers Club are Jaeden Lieberher as Bill, Wyatt Oleff as Stanley, Sophia Lillis as Beverly, Finn Wolfhard as Richie, Jeremy Ray Taylor as Ben, Chosen Jacobs as Mike, and Jack Dylan Grazer as Eddie.