As if we needed a reminder, Pennywise from IT is really, really, really scary.

So save a thought for the new actors in the franchise, especially James McAvoy, who's revealed that he was completely "freaked out" by star Bill Skarsgard in his full clown costume.

"He's amazing," the actor said of his fellow star during an appearance on Good Morning America. "The guy who plays the clown in terrifying. He's a lovely guy, and yet he really freaked me out.

BBC

"I remember standing there with the rest of the cast, all these adults, and we'd all done weird, freaky stuff.

"And we are all looking at each other going, 'I don't like being here. I don't like being an actor today.' He really did, he really freaked me out. I never liked clowns as a kid."

McAvoy was then pressed on why he thought people found clowns so scary, the actor musing: "It's something like a guy wearing make-up, they're crying but they're laughing.

"There's something tragic about them. Maybe they've all run away to join the circus - what you running away from Mr Clown? What have you left behind? Is it like bodies in a trunk?"

Very fair point.

Warner Bros.

Related: IT: Chapter 2 will be "scarier and more intense" according to director Andy Muschietti

The next chapter in the Stephen King adaptation is set to focus on both the child and adult incarnations of the Losers' Club, with McAvoy playing the older Bill Denbrough.

The young finished filming their scenes back in November, with star Finn Wolfhard confirming the news on social media.

IT: Chapter 2 is due to be released on September 6.

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