IT movie: The TERRIFYING reason the original Pennywise star QUIT new film

It should come as no surprise that a film about a killer clown is going to be pretty dark.

Add in the involvement of horror legend Stephen King and the fact that this is the original scariest of scary clowns and even a small child in a sleepy American town knows something disturbing and petrifying is going to happen.

Yet IT movie director Andres Muschietti has just revealed the astonishing reason why Poulter pulled out of such a major leading role, to be replaced by Bill Skarsgard. 

The 24-year-old British actor is currently starring with Star Wars leading man John Boyega in Detroit, a particularly dark and, yes, disturbing look at race relations in inner city America. It sounds like he can handle anything and yet…

In the most disturbing scene in the latest trailer, a bathroom erupts in huge spurts of blood, gushing upwards to soak the ceiling and walls, as well as the terrified figure kneeling in terror.

Muschietti also warned fans to brace themselves for a different, but equally traumatic, scene when he said: “Well, the Georgie death is pretty gruesome.”

The Argentinian director evealed that poor little Georgie’s arm will be ripped off but viewers will not be sure if he is actually dead.

Apparently all of this was too much for it’s young star…

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Poulter was attached to the role of Pennywise under the previous director Cary Fukunaga.

Fukunaga had shephered the project to the big screen for over five years before dropping out in 2016. Poulter quit the movie shortly afterwards but it wasn’t over his loyalty to the director, it was something for more visceral.

Muschietti revelaed that he had been keen to keep his lead star but the young Brit felt the role was just too scary. Isn’t that the point of a horror movie monster?

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Muschietti said: “I was very, very intrigued by the prospect of working with Will, I always thought that he would be an amazing Pennywise. We talked a little bit about it, the idea of making the movie even though that Cary wasn’t there.

“Will basically expressed a feeling that he had slowly disengaged from playing that character, that was so dark and terrifying. It was a personal decision I respected, but I was eager and willing to find my own Pennywise and that’s what we did.”

Stephen King explained the root of IT’s unspeakable evil is wickedly simple: “The entity that is Pennywise focuses on whatever you are afraid of the most.”

The IT movie is out on September 8.