"I had a weird kind of departure from the character"

Back in 2017, director Andrés Muschietti released the first installment of his chilling adaptation of Stephen King's 1986 novel It - a movie that took in $700m at the box office, making it the highest-grossing horror film of all time.

Bill Skarsgard's incredible performance as the iconic clown Pennywise was a massive factor in the film's success and now he's back in IT Chapter Two, which Muchietti describes as "scarier, visually bigger, and more emotional, but most importantly is about the human experience".

In the sleepy town of Derry, the evil clown Pennywise returns 27 years later to torment the grown-up members of the Losers' Club, who have long since drifted apart from one another.

Big names such as James McEvoy, Jessica Chastain and Bill Hader also star in the sequel, and it looks absolutely terrifying:

He’s waited 27 years. Watch the new trailer now. 🎈🎈 #ITMovie pic.twitter.com/gNbTV4Gqui

— IT Chapter Two 🎈🎈 (@ITMovieOfficial) July 18, 2019

Skarsgard chats to Today FM's Dermot and Dave about wanting to put his own stamp on the eerie character made famous by Tim Curry's portrayal in the 1990 movie It.

Speaking of his version of Pennywise's trademark smile, Bill admits, "I have to give credit to my older brother Gustav who kinda came up with that", and he used it to scare relations as a child.

The 29-year-old also reveals how playing such a sinister role really got into his psyche, "I had a weird kind of departure from the character the last time round. The following 10 ten days I had these recurring, I wouldn't call them nightmares coz they weren't scary, it was me sitting in a room talking to Pennywise".

That's one fantasy we could all do without.

IT Chapter Two hits cinema screens Friday, September 6th so be weary of any yellow rain jackets, red balloons and paper boats you see between now and then.

Check out the chat in full by pressing the play button on screen.