Bill Skarsgård‘s portrayal of Pennywise in both IT and IT: Chapter Two is aided at times by a good deal of CGI – often to the disservice of his performance, if we’re being honest – but the creepiest moments are entirely practical and entirely credited to unique talents possessed by Skarsgård. Pennywise’s unnaturally out of sync eyeballs, for example, are 100% Skarsgård.
Similarly, Pennywise’s whimsically sinister smile is one that Skarsgård can pull off without the help of any CGI, and he showed off the strange ability on “The Late Show” last night.
As Skarsgård explained to Stephen Colbert, it was his brother Gustav who first exhibited the ability when they were kids. And as it turns out, 80% of the Skarsgård family can do it!
You can check out the full interview below. Jump to 5:30 for the “Pennywise smile” bit.