20 Wild Horror Movie Casting Choices We Almost Got

6. Tilda Swinton - Pennywise (It)

When it was announced that a new adaptation of Stephen King's It was in the works, naturally everyone wanted to know who would end up cast in the role of Pennywise the Dancing Clown, as was so thoroughly owned by Tim Curry in the 1990 miniseries.

Will Poulter was originally cast when Cary Fukunaga was set to direct it, but when Fukunaga was swapped out for Andy Muschietti, Poulter was replaced with Bill Skarsgård.

But in the months leading up to the film's release, producer Barbara Muschietti revealed a surprising name they wanted for Pennywise - Tilda Swinton.

Swinton's name was thrown around during pre-production, but when they reached out to her team with their scheduling details, she sadly wasn't available, so that was the end of it.

Swinton is one of cinema's all-time great chameleons so there's no doubt she would've absolutely cooked in this role, and having a woman portray Pennywise would've certainly been an interesting way to further differentiate this take from Tim Curry's.

But Bill Skarsgård is basically unimpeachable in the role - he absolutely crushed it and, against serious odds, turned in a terrifying performance that was at least on par with Curry's sublime work.