Stephen King is rolling around in the profits from It, which has now become the highest grossing R-rated movie of all time, the highest rating horror movie of all time, the highest grossing film ever released in September...you get the point.
King was already absolutely rolling in it and his latest cash cow - or should we say cash clown? - has now returned a total of nearly $700 million, not bad for a film that cost just $35 million to make.
It could have all been so different. It was terrifying enough in the first place, but it has been revealed that there was a scene filmed that even the producers couldn't stomach.
Credit: Warner Bros
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Worse than Pennywise the Clown waiting in the gutter to jump out at kids, worse than his creepy af balloons, worse than those robotic dance moves.
There was a scene filmed that featured Pennywise indulging in an orgy - and there have been some strange sex fantasies about the clown that have appeared online - that somewhat unsurprisingly failed to make an edit, but even more shocking than that was the scene that showed him eating a baby. That's right, eating a baby.
"There was a scene we shot that was a flashback from the 1600's, before Pennywise [was Pennywise]," explained Bill Skarsgard, who plays the clown, in a podcast interview back in September.
"The scene turned out really, really disturbing. And I'm not the clown. I look more like myself. It's very disturbing, and sort of a backstory for what IT is, or where Pennywise came from."
Credit: PA
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Speculation has raged regarding what that scene contained, and now the man who interviewed Skarsgard on the pod, Bryan Safi, has lifted the lid on the interview.
He read the script on his podcast and subsequently, the script has found its way onto Reddit.
It reads:
"1637: INT. WELLHOUSE - NIGHT ABIGAIL, 19. Rushes in and SLAMS the door. As if trying to keep Satan himself out. She clutches her BABY to her breast. Kneels by DYING EMBERS in the hearth. She blows on 'em but a flame never catches. Her Baby starts to fuss... ABIGAIL: Hush now, shhhh... it'll be - She stops.
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Realises that the SMALL CANDLE CHANDELIER slowly spins above her. As if some unnatural force has caused its light to rotate around the room, like tiny primitive searchlights. She hears something slithering in the gray shadows by the Well. Occasionally we catch glimpses of a BLACK SILHOUETTE. Shifting its shape. As if trying to decide on a form.
ABIGAIL (CONT'D): Please, Devil... leave us be...
Shape shifts again. A beam of light passes, revealing PENNYWISE, naked, lithe, flesh pale and translucent, a half- formed imitation of a human, opens his maw full of large razor sharp teeth, dripping with saliva. As the Tin Can spins clockwise, Pennywise moves counter around the room. Each time the light hits his face - It's different. A Man. A Woman. A Beast. A Monster.
PENNYWISE: You mistake me woman. No mere devil, I am the Eater of Worlds. His voice is guttural, unnatural.
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ABIGAIL: But my child, not my child... He is innocent...
PENNYWISE: So you say. The Baby SCREAMS. Pennywise smiles.
PENNYWISE (CONT'D): Beautiful fear... ABIGAIL: I pray Thee, take me. Abigail shuffles back. PENNYWISE: I will. And then, him. And thy husband and the rest of thy children, and all the savages who brought you here. And when you all rot in the earth, I will pick thy bones dry until no meat is left to pick. And then I will seek out thy bones and consume thy souls until nothing is left but the weeds! (beat) Or you will occupy yourself otherwise and not interfere. I will take her and you will live, and those of thy other children - in whom I take no interest. And you will thank ME fever and frost did not damn you to the soil.
Abigail looks down at her baby again. She's shaking, doesn't want to let go. Behind her, the Door OPENS. A Little Boy, 6, asks - BOY: Mama?
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ABIGAIL: NO! OUT! NOW!
Frightened by his mother, the boy runs. Abigail turns back to Pennywise. Wherever he may be now in the room. The light somehow seems to spin faster now. She kisses her baby and sets it down. It BAWLS.
ABIGAIL: I'm sorry, I'm so sorry...
She turns away from the baby. Faces those dying embers. We keep on her face as they seem to begin GLOWING BRIGHTER AS - OVER HER SHOULDER - OUT OF FOCUS - Pennywise crawls over to the Baby and starts to feast. SHARP CRY FROM THE BABY CUT OFF as we hear a CRUNCH. Abigail continues to look into the BRIGHT ORANGE GLOW of not the flickering fire... ...but the DEADLIGHTS. Her expression changing. Fear. Denial. Grief. Acceptance. And then nothing. Just a glazed look. AS IF NOTHING HORRIFIC IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING BEHIND HER."
Topics: IT, TV and Film, US Entertainment, Stephen King