Speaker 1: You're listening to play back a Variety podcast. I'm your host,
Speaker 1: Variety Awards Editor Chris Tapley. Film festivals are raging from
Speaker 1: Venice to Toronto, but the biggest industry story this week
Speaker 1: had to be the box office strength of Andy Machette's It,
Speaker 1: a new adaptation of Stephen Kings six horror classic. The
Speaker 1: film took in more than seventeen million dollars opening weekend
Speaker 1: and looks to stay strong, ensuring a whole new generation's
Speaker 1: fear of clowns. Speaking of which, my guest today stars
Speaker 1: as Pennywise, the dancing clown in the new film, the
Speaker 1: creepy physical manifestation of an ancient evil entity that has
Speaker 1: terrorized the town of Dairy, Maine for centuries. His name
Speaker 1: is Bill scars Guard, and we're very happy he could
Speaker 1: stop by to discuss Bill. Thanks for coming on the show.
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me. I almost got tongue tongue tied there.
Speaker 1: I sometimes forget there's there's things you write and there's
Speaker 1: things you say. I don't necessarily go together anyway. First
Speaker 1: of all, congratulations the movie has done so phenomenally well.
Speaker 1: Uh and so I my first question is, what does
Speaker 1: this moment feel? Like for you because as you sit
Speaker 1: in that chair right now, you're the face of the
Speaker 1: biggest movie in the world at this very moment, and
Speaker 1: that must be just heavy and exciting, and you know
Speaker 1: your career is poised to go to the next level.
Speaker 1: So just what's going through your mind this week? It's
Speaker 1: been really weird for me, and I haven't Like I'm
Speaker 1: I'm almost like a little bit confused by the whole
Speaker 1: thing because we were shooting. First of all, when I
Speaker 1: got the job, it was a huge deal for me, obviously,
Speaker 1: Like it's such a you know, I knew that there
Speaker 1: was a lot of anticipation for the movie and excitement
Speaker 1: about the project and and the character itself. Um, but
Speaker 1: then I hadn't like I didn't allow myself to do
Speaker 1: two to sort of hope for anything, do you know
Speaker 1: what I mean? Like I feel like I've I found
Speaker 1: hope for success or if the movie you know that
Speaker 1: there's just like I when we were shooting it, I
Speaker 1: had a feeling that we were making something that that
Speaker 1: would work. You know that like this is this might
Speaker 1: actually be very like successful, but more more importantly, something
Speaker 1: that that that's gonna work. You know that that people
Speaker 1: will respond to and an interpretation of the of the
Speaker 1: novel that people will really like. Um. But there was
Speaker 1: always that like in the back of my head, and
Speaker 1: even like when they were you know, we were sort
Speaker 1: of coming up to the release, people were like, Oh,
Speaker 1: it's going to do this well and this well and
Speaker 1: this well, and then the box office sort of you know,
Speaker 1: surprised everybody, even like the most optimistic predictions were like
Speaker 1: half of it, um and um. So yeah, up until everything,
Speaker 1: I was like, I just felt that I was going
Speaker 1: to either like something really terrible was going to happen
Speaker 1: to me personally or or the movie that you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. Like, I was just like that things
Speaker 1: were just seemed to be going, Um, I feel like
Speaker 1: you're in suspended animation or something. What's going to happen? Well? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it's I must admit, as you say, it's
Speaker 1: called everyone by surprise. I didn't expect this, And kudos
Speaker 1: to Warner Brothers marketing for everything that they've done. But
Speaker 1: that's just obliterated expectations. So why why do you think
Speaker 1: it's connected this week so strongly? Well, there's um, I
Speaker 1: think there's like, for first of all, the movie works
Speaker 1: so well. I think that it's it's it's such a
Speaker 1: it's it's a wide movie, you know that they it
Speaker 1: can reach a wider audience. Like when I, um, when
Speaker 1: we had a premier in uh in l A last week. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, people brought their moms and I asked, you know,
Speaker 1: and I had the premiere in Stockholm and my mom
Speaker 1: went and my girlfriend's mom went, and you know, I
Speaker 1: asked them like, what do you think of the film?
Speaker 1: And they really enjoyed it. And I think that's a
Speaker 1: testament to the film that it's a horror movie, but
Speaker 1: it's you know, it's sort of everybody's yeah, and there's
Speaker 1: something for everybody in it. So that's I think it's
Speaker 1: part of the wide success of it, that it's more
Speaker 1: than just a horror film, that people that who might
Speaker 1: not necessarily like horror movies, uh, we'll find something in
Speaker 1: the film or be sort of intrigued by it. Um.
Speaker 1: And then I think there was just a perfect storm
Speaker 1: with in terms of like just that draft on in
Speaker 1: the film. You know, there was having people and they
Speaker 1: were ready for something, so sort of a perfect storm
Speaker 1: of things. I think, Well, when you landed the part,
Speaker 1: you've probably asked this enough, But was it daunting considering
Speaker 1: just the kind of iconic portrayal of Tim Curry in
Speaker 1: the mini series from me? Was was that at all
Speaker 1: on your mind? Like, oh man, this is like a
Speaker 1: very iconic performance that's out there already, and you know,
Speaker 1: um yeah, I mean it was terrifying. I remember, Um.
Speaker 1: So first I got the audition itself, and I tried
Speaker 1: to prepare myself for that. I thought the audition was
Speaker 1: such a fun opportunity to sort of play play, like
Speaker 1: truly play, you know, like change your face and your
Speaker 1: voice and do something very transformative. Um, And I thought
Speaker 1: that was going to be it. You know, I never
Speaker 1: sort of put any expectations in booking a job because like,
Speaker 1: I don't think it's sustainable as an actor in the
Speaker 1: long run if you do so. Um, I had really
Speaker 1: fun with the audition and then they seemed to respond
Speaker 1: to it. So then that was sort of started the
Speaker 1: process of of trying to get the job. And and
Speaker 1: you know, there was I think I did four or
Speaker 1: five auditions. You know, it was a long process and
Speaker 1: in getting it, and then that was like the only
Speaker 1: thing right, like I'm just I need to book the job.
Speaker 1: And as soon as when I got the call, like
Speaker 1: you got it, you know your penny Wise, then it
Speaker 1: sort of dropped like holy ship, can I do this?
Speaker 1: Like can I pull this off? And more so than
Speaker 1: if like more so you know now that I've gained
Speaker 1: the trust of the director Andy, like am I gonna
Speaker 1: let him down? Like there was more that was probably
Speaker 1: something that I was worried more about. Yeah I have
Speaker 1: my friend. Yeah, and then just assured like that the
Speaker 1: the the every day like the the usual uh sort
Speaker 1: of inner demons that I think every creative person goes through.
Speaker 1: It was like, yeah, I'm a fraud. I've just fooled everybody.
Speaker 1: Those stup at this point like, um, they're idiots for
Speaker 1: even believing that I could do with this and you know,
Speaker 1: and I'm people are gonna laugh at me and so far. Um,
Speaker 1: so I had a whole there was a whole phase
Speaker 1: there where I was like terrified and I'm like I
Speaker 1: was because I've never done anything on the scale before
Speaker 1: and I and I've certainly never done anything where there
Speaker 1: was that many opinions about the character. You know, beforehand,
Speaker 1: people fans of the TV show and you know who,
Speaker 1: like the Tim Curry performance, fans of the book. You know,
Speaker 1: there were so many people out there that had their
Speaker 1: own opinions, so what the character should be before I
Speaker 1: even started working or before I even started doing it myself.
Speaker 1: So um um, yeah, it was. It was the first
Speaker 1: have you talked at him? He has never met No,
Speaker 1: I've never met him, or or Stephen King. Yeah. Interesting,
Speaker 1: Well I understood that Stephen didn't have much involvement in
Speaker 1: this or the Dark Tyler, I guess. But I'd be
Speaker 1: curious to hear what Mr Curry thinks because it's quite
Speaker 1: an unsettling portrayal. I wanted to get into your incarnation,
Speaker 1: which is, uh, you know, there's something about the physicality.
Speaker 1: There's kind of a feral aspect to it. You know.
Speaker 1: Curry went in a kind of Vaudvilian direction, uh, particularly
Speaker 1: with his voice, which I'll get into as well. But
Speaker 1: I want to know what you and Andy talked about
Speaker 1: in terms of that physical behavior and how this entity
Speaker 1: inhabits his space, because I guess the sky's the limit
Speaker 1: on creativity, right like, in terms of how you can
Speaker 1: portray how this guy is. And I when I say feral,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, just kind of the quick, ferocious stuff.
Speaker 1: He'll do and just just his physical behavior is unk
Speaker 1: and just talk about that what you guys talked about
Speaker 1: and how you would represent that. Yeah, So my sort
Speaker 1: of take on it initially was obviously that Tim Curry
Speaker 1: did such an amazing Tim Curry performance, and and I
Speaker 1: I didn't see a point in trying to emulate that
Speaker 1: because I don't think I could do it as well
Speaker 1: as he did. So I wanted to, you know, um
Speaker 1: do something different with enough course and and and um
Speaker 1: sort of have my own take on it. So and
Speaker 1: there was, you know, the aspect of I thought that
Speaker 1: the character could be or we want to you know,
Speaker 1: go through sort of there's layers to the to the
Speaker 1: entity of it. So Penny Wise is the manifestation of
Speaker 1: this clown that this entity is behind. And this entity
Speaker 1: is this sort of trans dimensional being being. Um that
Speaker 1: is you know, it's very very abstract, the whole thing
Speaker 1: in the novel um, but I wanted to sort of
Speaker 1: implement that more that into the characters of the character.
Speaker 1: Is there's an entity, this thing who can take any
Speaker 1: shape or form it want, and it's taken this shape
Speaker 1: of a clown. So the representation is this clown, but
Speaker 1: it's something wrong with the clown. The clown isn't isn't
Speaker 1: a perfect clown, right, It's there's something off with it. Uh.
Speaker 1: So it's like almost like it there's glitches in the
Speaker 1: interpretation of it. Um uh. And I thought that was
Speaker 1: just such a fun thing to explore. So there's this
Speaker 1: undertone of like, you know, the walleyed look and um um,
Speaker 1: you know, the sort of thing glitching. And at times
Speaker 1: the character seems like painting why, seems to disappear altogether.
Speaker 1: So he's yeah, he shuts down and he freezes in
Speaker 1: a moment, and he's lost. And in my idea, that
Speaker 1: was like the entity who lives in the sort of
Speaker 1: other tracking like dimension is sort of tapping in and
Speaker 1: out out of these spaces. So at times he disappears
Speaker 1: and as you're just left with this sort of skeleton
Speaker 1: of a skeleton um so um. And then there was,
Speaker 1: you know, the the childlike aspect that we wanted to
Speaker 1: play up as well, and that Andy sort of had
Speaker 1: had had thought about a lot two because Pennywise exists
Speaker 1: sort of in in he only exists really in the
Speaker 1: imagination of children, so he's forever linked to the children
Speaker 1: and to their fears. And so we incorporated sort of
Speaker 1: childlike mannerisms and and and fit in the physicality and
Speaker 1: um sort of goofy childlike uh you know things, and
Speaker 1: in her in his face and now how he how
Speaker 1: he played how I played it? Um and um and
Speaker 1: the feral thing like I I always I always like
Speaker 1: I think it's you know, not to get too pretentious
Speaker 1: with like your character's inner animal. But like I, I
Speaker 1: do think it's fun to look at animal shows, especially
Speaker 1: for a character like this, to go like wild animal
Speaker 1: programs and see what what you can sort of get
Speaker 1: inspired by in terms of some ferocious you know, some
Speaker 1: something ferocious and animalistic that I wanted to implement in
Speaker 1: the character as well. So was there a particular animal
Speaker 1: that had a weird parallel for you? Yeah? The hyena,
Speaker 1: oh yeah. Um, And and bears as well. Um, bears
Speaker 1: can sometimes how you just made that face, guys, and
Speaker 1: it really creep me it smile, But they if you
Speaker 1: look at you know, bears have that really great trip
Speaker 1: then they drooled a lot as well. Um. And hyenas
Speaker 1: as well, for those sort of uh energy and pace
Speaker 1: in them, they're so like they're so explosive and hysterical right,
Speaker 1: So how about the voice. It's it's more of like
Speaker 1: a guttural kind of uh just growl really in some ways.
Speaker 1: And then how he speaks, so that and again that's
Speaker 1: completely you know, a different direction than what was done before,
Speaker 1: which was very interesting to me. So talk about that.
Speaker 1: Um yeah, no, the same thing there was like that.
Speaker 1: You know, I didn't want to um like, I never
Speaker 1: wanted to compete with the Tim Curry performant, so like
Speaker 1: and and I genuinely believe that you could appreciate and
Speaker 1: look at these performances separately, you know that they're there
Speaker 1: are two different things and and and um. In order
Speaker 1: to do that, obviously I had to do something different
Speaker 1: with it. If otherwise the comparisons would be um impossible
Speaker 1: not to do. So I am um. And the voice
Speaker 1: for me sort of started out with a laugh, like
Speaker 1: I I was playing around with a laugh, and I
Speaker 1: wanted the laugh to be not a laugh, like, I
Speaker 1: wanted the laugh to be something that's on the verge
Speaker 1: of a panic attack and crying at the same time
Speaker 1: as it's a laugh. So that's just something. And when
Speaker 1: I started doing it just by myself, I sort of
Speaker 1: creep myself out with it like this does not because
Speaker 1: it doesn't sound like a real laugh, and again going
Speaker 1: into the aspect of the character not being human or
Speaker 1: or a perfect clown. It's like this, it's something really
Speaker 1: really off with the character. So um. And then the
Speaker 1: voice kind of came in with that as well, or
Speaker 1: it took off after that. I sort of figure out
Speaker 1: who the laugh was and sort of this nuances of
Speaker 1: the kind I'm having a breaking like there's something breaky
Speaker 1: lee and then it goes up and down in pitch
Speaker 1: and sometimes it really drops, and sometimes it breaks up
Speaker 1: really high and and and have to get this sort
Speaker 1: of crack ely crack ely, you know, demonic sound to him.
Speaker 1: So you can pop that off at any moment. The voice, Um,
Speaker 1: I don't know, like I think I can, but I
Speaker 1: don't want to make you dance, but I almost want
Speaker 1: to be like, can you say you're listening to playback?
Speaker 1: You're listening to playback at variety? This is pennywise, you're
Speaker 1: listening to playback at variety. You're listening good playback on rity.
Speaker 1: I promise we won't exploit that, thank you know. But
Speaker 1: it's funny even doing it like that, because like I
Speaker 1: like I would always I would, even before every take,
Speaker 1: I would, I would. I would start with a laugh
Speaker 1: and the shouts. It's like and then like and you know,
Speaker 1: really go into the left and then I would find
Speaker 1: sort of the right tone. Yeah, yeah to start. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's differm but it's it's it's it's more like finding
Speaker 1: because every character sort of for me, they have sort
Speaker 1: of a tone, Like everych each character sort of has
Speaker 1: like a like a tone that you can almost find.
Speaker 1: Um and for a pennywise you know, I said, there
Speaker 1: was the laugh and and sort of just to scream
Speaker 1: kind of high pitched scream that made me find like
Speaker 1: all right, and now I can carry on with that
Speaker 1: sort of essence into the dialogue and the scene. Were
Speaker 1: you seene for scene or where did you try to
Speaker 1: main like not that you're like talking and accepting direction
Speaker 1: in that voice, but I don't know how much of
Speaker 1: that part of the character you stayed in while you
Speaker 1: were on the set. Yeah, like I'm I'm I've never
Speaker 1: done like a full the full sort of method. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they for me, so um um, I would maintain in
Speaker 1: in the energy of it. So whatever that means for
Speaker 1: whatever sen you're doing. Um, but um Um, I never
Speaker 1: spoke to um Andy and full penning by this voice?
Speaker 1: How many hours of makeup were you looking at every day?
Speaker 1: Two and a half. Okay, I'm not terrible. There's definitely worse.
Speaker 1: I guess what did that physical transformation do for you?
Speaker 1: Did it put you in the zone or was it
Speaker 1: like something you felt like you had to perform past
Speaker 1: to get past? Um? You know, it's just it affects
Speaker 1: actors differently sometimes. Yeah, Um, it was. It was the
Speaker 1: whole process of leading up to getting the makeup on
Speaker 1: I had. The character was so abstract to me, so
Speaker 1: I played around with a lot of ideas, but I
Speaker 1: didn't know how anything translated onto the makeup or the face,
Speaker 1: so the the visual like, you know, I didn't know
Speaker 1: up until the point where the first time I had
Speaker 1: to make up onto like, oh, this is how my
Speaker 1: face moves and reacts. And I tried like sort of
Speaker 1: you know, the expressions and facial expressions and all of that,
Speaker 1: and I had ideas for them, but I didn't and
Speaker 1: Andy didn't really know either. So the first time we
Speaker 1: got him on, like or the first time I got
Speaker 1: the makeup on, I was, um, you know, I really
Speaker 1: took time just by myself in the mirror trying to
Speaker 1: figure out how my face would move and react to it.
Speaker 1: And I also did like sort of selfie videos of
Speaker 1: like how things played, how the lightheaded and everything. You
Speaker 1: still have those those should go on the DVD and
Speaker 1: I have, I have, I have, I have quite a few.
Speaker 1: But and then we had the screen tests, so me
Speaker 1: and Andy sort of together, um figured out, you know,
Speaker 1: we did phaces and um, I've never like wanting to,
Speaker 1: like I I never sort of cared to look at
Speaker 1: my dailies or look at my performances, but with this one,
Speaker 1: it was very important for me to kind of actually
Speaker 1: look at the monitor to see how things would would
Speaker 1: would track and how it would work, because I didn't
Speaker 1: really know, right, So there was that was the first
Speaker 1: for me. Uh you know, I think the highlight of
Speaker 1: your performance is it comes in the very first scene.
Speaker 1: For me, it's by now it's an iconic sequence, you know,
Speaker 1: the Georgie Denboro and the riyellow raincoat and the red
Speaker 1: balloon and the paper boat. You know, it's it's kind
Speaker 1: of Stephen King iconography. And there you are in the
Speaker 1: sewer luring this child to his death. So I just
Speaker 1: want to talk to you about shooting that scene and
Speaker 1: in that coverage and just I don't know if it
Speaker 1: took a day or two days or whatever, but what
Speaker 1: can you recall shooting that very iconic laugh comes to mind? First,
Speaker 1: this is the first, uh, the first time I actually
Speaker 1: got this question. And we shot this scene at the
Speaker 1: very end of the production I think goes the last
Speaker 1: day or the or the second to last day. Um,
Speaker 1: And I felt, um, I think this is something that
Speaker 1: a lot of actors, uh could sort of sympathize with.
Speaker 1: And it's on the last day of of your shoot.
Speaker 1: You go, oh, I figured out the care and now
Speaker 1: I know what the character is. It's almost like you
Speaker 1: wanting you want to start shoot the shoot on your
Speaker 1: very last because um. And it's natural because you know,
Speaker 1: so much of the journey in doing a movie is
Speaker 1: getting to know the character as well. Um. Um. But um,
Speaker 1: you know so that I you know, I've done all
Speaker 1: my prep and we've shot the whole thing essentially up
Speaker 1: into the scene, and the scene if it's like if this,
Speaker 1: if the scene doesn't work, the movie doesn't work. I
Speaker 1: mean it's it's it's sets the whole town, it sets
Speaker 1: the whole tone and and and and in that regard,
Speaker 1: it's definitely one of the most important scenes in the movie,
Speaker 1: and it opens the film, and it's the introduction to
Speaker 1: penny Wise, the new penny Wise and all those things.
Speaker 1: So we like we knew that we had to, you know,
Speaker 1: nail it, and that scene was the scene that I
Speaker 1: auditioned with. So like the scene itself felt like I
Speaker 1: don't It was really hard to find anything new with it.
Speaker 1: You know, it felt like I've done it a thousand
Speaker 1: times and I knew it inside out and I had
Speaker 1: you know, I've sort of implemented all of my different
Speaker 1: ideas and takes on it, and we sort of found
Speaker 1: a middle ground um or me and he sort of
Speaker 1: found a place where like, Okay, we need to I
Speaker 1: need to be scary and threatening, but something cute about
Speaker 1: it and alluring and all these different sort of nuances
Speaker 1: and for the scene to work. And then when we're
Speaker 1: shooting it, and we're shooting so first of all, we
Speaker 1: started with Jackson's the kids coverage, UM and then in
Speaker 1: that scene, you know, he's very young, he's seven, so
Speaker 1: I had to sort of play up for his performance.
Speaker 1: So if I got too intense. He he would sort
Speaker 1: of come off or forget his lines and stuff like that,
Speaker 1: so we would I had to really kind of encourage him.
Speaker 1: And we had ear pieces where you know, the director
Speaker 1: and the acting coach were like directing him and I
Speaker 1: was UM. And then we turned around in my on
Speaker 1: my on my coverage uh at in the end of
Speaker 1: the you know, so we worked on him and this
Speaker 1: is at the end of the day. We shot it
Speaker 1: a lot, you know, many times, and we did did
Speaker 1: different ways. UM. And then there was we went in
Speaker 1: closer and this is the final setup of the scene
Speaker 1: and it was the closest, you know, the closest that
Speaker 1: we got for the setup. And I was tired, you
Speaker 1: know the end of the day. UM and UM you're
Speaker 1: probably wet. So I had this idea that we that
Speaker 1: we that we um UM sort of didn't actually end
Speaker 1: up being in the movie, but I was drinking a
Speaker 1: lot of soda water because I wanted UM sort of
Speaker 1: involuntary burbs to come up like like that just come
Speaker 1: and there's and it does something to your voice too,
Speaker 1: with the carbonated um and look, I I kind of
Speaker 1: have that and there's UM moments where I go because
Speaker 1: the way like it's there's like things that play around
Speaker 1: with my voice. So I was chugging soda water to
Speaker 1: kind of get those like involuntary things. I I don't
Speaker 1: I don't know. It might have ended up being like
Speaker 1: too commedic for the scene to be used, but it
Speaker 1: was there's there's that should be in the DVD because
Speaker 1: it's there's some really good like uncertain words, like I
Speaker 1: know circus is like the whole away and it's like
Speaker 1: this long birth of that word. But anyways, I've been
Speaker 1: drinking so and like I've been shugging soda water and
Speaker 1: my stomach started acting up like weird, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: oh no, like ah, this doesn't feel good at all,
Speaker 1: Like and we're like, oh, you know at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, and I knew we've gotten some good stuff,
Speaker 1: but there was something like I didn't feel like I've had,
Speaker 1: you know, nailed the whole thing um and the stomach thing,
Speaker 1: and I was like feeling uncomfortable and like almost sweaty
Speaker 1: and like almost dizzy because I've been doing the scene
Speaker 1: for so many times and then we're like the final setup,
Speaker 1: we're moving closer, you know, and he wanted of the
Speaker 1: closest set up and we start shooting it and that
Speaker 1: take is like what you see in the film because
Speaker 1: something happened there where I sort of completely lost myself
Speaker 1: in in in the performance and like I didn't think
Speaker 1: of anything, and like the burbs just started happening exactly
Speaker 1: when they should and everything just started going perfectly. And
Speaker 1: like the minute before I felt like I was going
Speaker 1: to like ship my pants or something because my my
Speaker 1: I was like feeling so strange and my stomach was
Speaker 1: so upset. And then just like and we kept rolling
Speaker 1: and you know, and he's like you know again, and
Speaker 1: like we did over and over and uh and that
Speaker 1: was like that was the scene and then he was
Speaker 1: just cut and like everything just went perfect with it
Speaker 1: and it's one of those things that you can never
Speaker 1: plan for and it it just sort of happened, and
Speaker 1: um um, it's just such an amazing and we knew
Speaker 1: and like, actually, if you look in the movie, I
Speaker 1: think probably you know, most of what you see in
Speaker 1: that scene is that coverage from that that's the last take,
Speaker 1: and you know we probably shot that scene, you know,
Speaker 1: thirty forty different takes. So movie magic times, stomach aches
Speaker 1: sometimes gets your best performance. Well, now everyone's attention is
Speaker 1: turning to the sequel, obviously, which will bring the children
Speaker 1: back fully grown for their last showdown with it. And uh,
Speaker 1: it's sort of an unusual circumstance for you to be
Speaker 1: in because there's just one more half of the story
Speaker 1: to tell, you know, it's it's like not a big
Speaker 1: franchise yet anyway, and your commitment presumably extends to just
Speaker 1: one more film. So uh, you know what, what are
Speaker 1: your thoughts on that, like being able to come back
Speaker 1: for a reprise but not being locked into this like
Speaker 1: multi film thing. Um. Yeah, that was even a part
Speaker 1: of like I I I didn't want to become you know,
Speaker 1: this movie and Stern and sort of seven different films. Um,
Speaker 1: mainly because I feel that, you know, part four and
Speaker 1: part five is never gonna be good. You know, there's
Speaker 1: like there's there's there's and I you know, when becomes
Speaker 1: franchises and people sort of really start to drag them
Speaker 1: out and stretch them out, and like there's really not
Speaker 1: much more story to tell, but because just because there's
Speaker 1: money in it, they just forced them. And um, I
Speaker 1: obviously just you know, I I want to do inspiring
Speaker 1: things and movies and um, you know, I love Andy
Speaker 1: uh you know Musquetti as a as a director and
Speaker 1: a close friend of mine now and um, it's just
Speaker 1: so great that we have We've done this one, and
Speaker 1: we have the sort of the the the the finale
Speaker 1: in part two, and you know he's gonna do it
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna do it, and we're gonna get to
Speaker 1: work together again with like um you know, new cast
Speaker 1: with like adults, and it's gonna be completely different experience
Speaker 1: to shoot. Um. But I also think that, um, there's
Speaker 1: so much more to explore and penny Wise, like we
Speaker 1: we just sort of got a little glimpse and taste
Speaker 1: of him in the first one. Um, and there's so
Speaker 1: many sort of questions left unanswered. Um, so I'm really
Speaker 1: looking forward and that to show more of him, more
Speaker 1: of penny Wise and um and explore sort of the
Speaker 1: entity of it and his background and everything. And UM, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's great. And UM, I think and hope
Speaker 1: that you know, the core, um, you know of the
Speaker 1: films are the kids and this one and the kids
Speaker 1: are so amazing and and they're you know, they're really
Speaker 1: like they're really the drive through the film and the
Speaker 1: the emotion that you like, you feel you you love
Speaker 1: all these characters, you love the kids, and you're you're
Speaker 1: rooting for him, and it's just really hitting all those
Speaker 1: notes that it has to. And it's thanks to uh,
Speaker 1: you know, Andy as a filmmaker. But you know, of
Speaker 1: course the kids are just phenomenal actors, so well cast.
Speaker 1: And then the second one, um, you know, it's adults.
Speaker 1: So I hope and think that there's something to explore
Speaker 1: in the second one. Well, he certainly engages with them
Speaker 1: as adults differently than he does is yeah, exactly, there's
Speaker 1: there's there's I think there's a room for a more
Speaker 1: sort of darker and more adult movie or more you know,
Speaker 1: grown up movie in terms of what adults fears are
Speaker 1: and how is penny Wise approaching these kids as as
Speaker 1: now adults. Um So, so there's you know, I think
Speaker 1: the great way or the right way to do it
Speaker 1: is to sort of make them these two movies very separate,
Speaker 1: like very differently, you know, and then put together. You know,
Speaker 1: they really sort of compliment each other absolutely. And you know,
Speaker 1: whenever something as successful as this, you you expect studios, well,
Speaker 1: squee is every drop out, you know, I mean, you
Speaker 1: can't blame them. You write it till the wheels fall off.
Speaker 1: So you know, the cynical might even expect like they'll
Speaker 1: probably put together a Pennywise origin movie or something one day. Uh,
Speaker 1: what I gather from you is that what Stephen King
Speaker 1: has written is pretty perfect on its own, and expanding
Speaker 1: beyond that maybe unnecessary. But I don't want to speak
Speaker 1: for you. What do you you know, I I completely
Speaker 1: agree and and uh, um, like I said, I I don't.
Speaker 1: I would never want to end up in this in
Speaker 1: a sort of money machinery where it's where where the
Speaker 1: only incentives of doing it is for more money. And
Speaker 1: it's like, you know, yeah, that's I don't. That's not
Speaker 1: why I'm doing this in the first place. And I
Speaker 1: don't think that that sounds like a very fun part
Speaker 1: thing to be a part of. So for you know,
Speaker 1: I we I think that we could and you know,
Speaker 1: I think the studio is very supportive in this in
Speaker 1: this as well, but that we can get to do
Speaker 1: really interesting and cool movies. Um, they've already surpassed there
Speaker 1: actually patients as it is, I guess, And then I think,
Speaker 1: and but yeah, exactly, but and I do really think
Speaker 1: that we made a very good movie, um, a very
Speaker 1: good movie. So I think for for number two, it's
Speaker 1: it's gonna be great and I and I hope that
Speaker 1: there's room to explore sort of an origin and and
Speaker 1: and where Pennywise might have come from in the second
Speaker 1: one as well. Yeah, there's there's a scene that we shot,
Speaker 1: UM that was a flashback scene from six hundreds where
Speaker 1: this where Pennywise was before Pennywise, um, and we shot
Speaker 1: it as additional um for additional shooting, UM. And the
Speaker 1: scene turned out really really disturbing. And it's me like
Speaker 1: I we thought it shot at three different things and
Speaker 1: I'm not the clown. I look more like myself. There's
Speaker 1: one where I was like, yeah, I'm not going to
Speaker 1: spoil sort of what the scene is, but because we
Speaker 1: might use it. But it's it's a very disturbing scene
Speaker 1: of sort of a backs, you know, a backstory for
Speaker 1: what it is or where where where Pennywise came from,
Speaker 1: and um, um you know that it might might be
Speaker 1: something that really worth exploring in the second one as well,
Speaker 1: you know. So it's like what because I guess dairy
Speaker 1: was according to the book founded in seventeen fifteen. So
Speaker 1: this is before there's like a population. Um yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's seventeen maybe maybe you're right.
Speaker 1: I think this is like late maybe early sevent late
Speaker 1: sixteen hundreds um um. And so there was yeah, just
Speaker 1: when it started being populated. Um. And that's sort of
Speaker 1: the I think the idea is that Penny or the
Speaker 1: the entity was sort of dormant or like resting for
Speaker 1: for thousands and thousands, um yeah, or sort of you
Speaker 1: know that. Um, it hints on it. And the book
Speaker 1: is very also very like abstract and metaphysical and what
Speaker 1: it means to pixes and and an idea of fantasy
Speaker 1: and you know, imagination and all these things. So um,
Speaker 1: I think that could be cool to explore as well,
Speaker 1: to make something that's more like, you know, what is
Speaker 1: Penny Wise, And like I said at the point, like
Speaker 1: that he only exists in the imagination of children, Like
Speaker 1: if you don't believe him to be real, you might
Speaker 1: not even be real, you know. I think that, like,
Speaker 1: like there's an interesting aspect to explore there. So well,
Speaker 1: let's talk briefly before we close out here. You're shooting
Speaker 1: Castle Rock now to the extent that you can talk
Speaker 1: about it. Just how's that going? What? What's uh it
Speaker 1: like being in Stephen King's world in a different way. Um, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's Um, it's going really well. I mean we're I'm
Speaker 1: just sort of it's just sort of picking up for me.
Speaker 1: Um and UM, I think they're gonna kill me if
Speaker 1: I say anything about what the show is about. But
Speaker 1: but but I can tell you that it's the character
Speaker 1: I'm playing is very different from from Penny Wise. It's
Speaker 1: a UM, it's also a kind of a transformative character
Speaker 1: that he's very different for me and um, but I'm
Speaker 1: playing much more with sort of subtleties Pennyways. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of things, but it's not one of them. Uh.
Speaker 1: So UM, and I've I've I've had so much fun
Speaker 1: with it, and I'm really enjoying the project and and
Speaker 1: and I'm really enjoying the character I'm playing. So I'm
Speaker 1: I'm really excited for it. And with TV shows, it's like,
Speaker 1: I don't I've read four episodes and we're shooting ten.
Speaker 1: It's an anthology shows. It adds a full ending to it,
Speaker 1: and I don't know really what's gonna happen, And I
Speaker 1: I sort I don't know what the finale is going
Speaker 1: to be, so it's like it's I'm on this sort
Speaker 1: of discovering journey as I'm shooting it, and I'm completely hooked,
Speaker 1: you know, on the show. Like I'm like, I really
Speaker 1: want to find out what's gonna happen next. So where
Speaker 1: the Sam Sewan and Dustin Thomas and the show runners.
Speaker 1: And they've done an incredible job so far. Awesome. Well,
Speaker 1: the last thing here on a light and completely different note.
Speaker 1: I just wanted to get your action to this because
Speaker 1: it made me laugh. Hopefully it doesn't make you uncomfortable
Speaker 1: or your girlfriend uncomfortable. But I was reading some headlines.
Speaker 1: They cracked me up. I'm going to read them to you.
Speaker 1: Bill scars Guard is extremely hot and we are not
Speaker 1: clowning around boo. It's penny Wise. Bill scars Guard is
Speaker 1: hot as fun, and now we're reevaluating our relationship with
Speaker 1: creepy clowns. These are actual headlines. How to deal with
Speaker 1: the fact that the clown from it is very hot
Speaker 1: in real life. I like that it's a how to
Speaker 1: This one's my favorite. Alas people online are quite horny
Speaker 1: for penny Wise, the clown. I like that because of
Speaker 1: the alas waiting for anyway, So I guess you're like
Speaker 1: a sex symbol or something. Now is that weird? Um?
Speaker 1: What in its context? Yeah, I would say it's extremely weird. Um.
Speaker 1: I have a friend who a comedian, um, and he
Speaker 1: was like, oh, boy, like you're gonna have some interesting
Speaker 1: girls after you when this movie comes out, Like there's
Speaker 1: going to be this nit nish of people that are
Speaker 1: into some really dark word you know, funked up ship.
Speaker 1: All the fetishes are going to come out of the closet. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: Um yeah, I don't know, man, It's it's like it's
Speaker 1: I think it's I think it's fun. Like I mean
Speaker 1: because I don't think anybody thinks penny Wise is hot
Speaker 1: and right, so um yeah, I think that's the thing.
Speaker 1: They see you and you're this tall, handsome guy and
Speaker 1: they're like, oh, penny Wise is a looker. Yeah, It's
Speaker 1: it's strange. I mean, I don't know, like there's like, um,
Speaker 1: like they're so like I could be I'm really really disturbing,
Speaker 1: even without the you know, makeup as as the character.
Speaker 1: And like I was like even my cousin Nick after
Speaker 1: the premiere, she was like, uh, in Stockholm, and she
Speaker 1: was like so uh like the voice, like there's a
Speaker 1: lot of work on it, like there's a lot of effects,
Speaker 1: and she thought that my voice was like tampered with um,
Speaker 1: which was like I was like almost I guess, like, oh,
Speaker 1: thank you, but also like like do you think that
Speaker 1: do you think that there was so much like there
Speaker 1: was so little of my performance in it. I need
Speaker 1: so much work. Yeah that it was like, um, I
Speaker 1: don't know, but it's it's it's it's for me. It's
Speaker 1: so much fun to sort of have this break up
Speaker 1: part and it's such a transformative character where it's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you can make a headline to like, oh, this guy
Speaker 1: doesn't look like this creepy clowns in real life. Well,
Speaker 1: the movie is called it. If you haven't seen it,
Speaker 1: you should probably go out and see it so you
Speaker 1: can join this conversation. It seems like everyone else has
Speaker 1: seen it. Uh, Bill scars Guard, thanks for coming on
Speaker 1: the show. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you.
Speaker 1: When you're a kid, I think the universe of alls
Speaker 1: around you. Do you think that you'll always be protected
Speaker 1: and cared for? Then one day you realize that's not true.
Speaker 1: Because when you're alone, the kid the monster see you
Speaker 1: is weaker. You don't even know if they're getting closer
Speaker 1: until it's too late. M h yeah. Take My grandfather
Speaker 1: thinks it's Thomas cursed, that all the bad things that
Speaker 1: happened in this town are because of one thing, an
Speaker 1: evil thing. Oh, if you come with me, so full too.
Speaker 1: I saw something clown, Yeah, I saw him too. What
Speaker 1: happens when another chorgy goes mission or what have I?
Speaker 1: Are you just gonna pretend it isn't happening, like everyone
Speaker 1: else in this town would just stick together when ye