It: Welcome to Derry star Bill Skarsgard played hilarious pranks on the cast in Pennywise costumes 

The It: Welcome to Derry premiere had plenty of us on edge with its jump scares and flying demon mutant babies, but there's been no sign of Bill Skarsgard's Pennywise as of now. While we know Pennywise will be appearing soon enough, the audience has had a bit of a reprieve. However, the young actors playing the children in Derry on the show cannot say the same for themselves, not after the affinity that Pennywise has for children.

In a recent conversation with ScreenRant, the young actors appearing on It: Welcome to Derry dish on the pranks Bill Skarsgård played on the young kids on the sets of HBO Max.

Keep reading to find out more.

It: Welcome to Derry, young actors dish on the pranks that Bill Skarsgård played on them as Pennywise

For Bill Skarsgård to achieve the horror he needed in his young co-actors while surrounded by cameras, lights, and a hundred cast and crew members, the actor was forced to get into his young co-stars' heads. It appears he did so by playing pranks on the young actors, which had them terrified of him the whole time, despite knowing that they were filming.

When questioned about the pranks in a conversation with ScreenRant, Brad Caleb Kane, the co-showrunner for It: Welcome to Derry, explains this:

"Oh, he messes with them terribly. Oh my God. He gets in their heads. You have to scare them in real life to scare them on screen, because they're used to seeing the cameras there, and the lights. It's not as scary when there's a lot of people around, when there's a giant cast and crew, so Bill has to get in their heads and he does it beautifully. They're always terrified of him."

When questioned about these pranks, the It: Welcome to Derry young actors attested to this.

Blake Cameron James, who plays Will Hanlon on the show (yet to make an appearance), revealed that he was very anxious about seeing Bill. He went on to add that the first time he met the actor, in complete costume and makeup, embodying Pennywise, was not a great experience for him:

"Oh my goodness. Literally when we were on the pole, it was this big pole and we were on the platform in the sewers, that was the first time that we met him. He jumped at me trying to scare me on some funny stuff, but it was not funny. That's not funny at all. I didn't find humor in it. I didn't think it was funny. I didn't giggle. It didn't tickle my laughter box at all."

Matilda Lawler, who plays Marge, Lilly's friend in school, reveals that she was scared to her core when she met Bill as Pennywise in person. The tall actor, donning Pennywise's costume and makeup, looking down at her carrying Pennywise's energy, had her scared out of her wits:

"I was not immune to the terror that is Pennywise. I was absolutely so scared just seeing him in person. There's nothing like it."

Amanda Christine, who plays Ronnie, also added that Bill Skarsgård had been kept a secret from the kids until the very last second to evoke the authentic fear of Pennywise in them:

"I was definitely scared too...with them keeping him a secret also gave our true authentic reaction, and our scaredness."

Safe to say, the kids were more than just scared after their first meeting with Bill Skarsgård's Pennywise, and hopefully, the audience will reap the fruits of that over future episodes.

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