It: Tilda Swinton was originally considered for the role of Pennywise the Clown

'We all thought about her'

Tilda Swinton can truly play anyone.

She can play the elderly (Grand Budapest Hotel), she can play vampires (Only Lovers Left Alive), she can even play Asian men (Doctor Strange, though whether she should have is another question entirely). She also, assuredly, could easily have played a killer clown.

Which is what made her an early top choice in the minds of It's director Andrés Muschietti and his producing partner and sister Barbara Muschietti.

The duo revealed to journalists (via The Nerdist) that Swinton had been approached for the role of Stephen King's terrifying Pennywise the Clown.

"She wasn’t available," Barbara replied. When the room burst into laughter she added, "No, no I swear to God. We had a slot to shoot the movie and she wasn’t available, so she didn’t even audition. But of course, we all thought about her."

Indeed, It seems to have had a particularly fascinating casting process, which didn't place any barriers in who could audition for the role. "We auditioned literally hundreds of potential Bob Grays or Pennywises," Barbara explained. "And it was an amazing process. We got to audition people that don’t audition anymore and a huge gamut of talent; women, younger age, older age, we really went through the spectrum of actors."

Bill Skarsgård (brother to Alexander, son to Stellan) eventually won the role with an absolutely killer audition; as Barbara recalled, "Bill came in and blew our socks off. Because he was doing his very own interpretation of Pennywise, very erudite…very very familiar with the novel and with Pennywise in the novel, which for us was a huge help, because we went in the casting process with the book in mind."

His performance certainly looks terrifying so far from what's been teased in the trailers, but you can judge for yourself when It hits UK cinemas 8 September.