Disturbing It Movie Deleted Scene Contained A Gruesome Pennywise Moment

There's no denying that Pennywise (Bill Skarsgard) did some truly terrible things as a means of taunting the children of Derry in the recent reimagining of It. Whether it was ripping off one child's arm with his teeth, soaking a bathroom with fresh blood, or even making a young boy relive the moment his parents died in a fire, it was all pretty horrific.

Still, while it may be hard to believe, there were much more graphic plans in the works for the evil dancing clown. In an interview with the Throwing Shade podcast, actor Timothy Simons revealed a disturbing scene that was not included in the final cut of the movie. While Simons isn't a member of the It ensemble, he did audition for the role of Pennywise, before Skarsgard was ultimately cast.

In his interview, the actor claims one particularly gruesome moment in the film was set to feature Pennywise eating a baby in front of its mother as part of his origin. "It was [Pennywise] way back at the beginning of Derry, convincing a woman to give him her baby to eat," the actor says. "It was scary. The thing that was scariest about it was that it was very direct. It was, 'If you don't do this, these are the things that I'm going to do.' And they were all terrible."

Bryan Safi, one of the co-hosts of the podcast, also auditioned for the role and still has the script--a piece of which he shares in the interview. The words largely match up with a scene depicting these very events that was earlier posted on Reddit. In the scene, Pennywise demands the woman's baby under threat of killing her other children and husband if she doesn't hand him over. You can see the scene in its entirety below.

While the scene never made it into the completed film, it shows that at some point the creative team behind It was interested in exploring more of the character's history. With a second film already in the works, it's entirely possible this moment--or one close to it--could appear in the future. Then again, it could also stay out of the franchise altogether, much like the controversial group scene from the book that producers decided not to include.

That wasn't the only scene not included in It; prior to the release of the movie, director Andres Muschietti talked about one controversial scene from Stephen King's original It novel involving a ritual.

"My emotional experience with the book did not regard that scene at all, and I think in general it's an unnecessary metaphor at the end of the story of a rite of passage," he said. "That actually was talked about during the whole story, but it was a bit unnecessary. It's great in the book. I love Stephen King's style, his way of shocking people with those tonal swings and unexpected intensity, but I think while it was jarring in the book, it wasn't necessary in the movie adaptation. For me it was about engaging the audience from an emotional point of view with the characters."

In GameSpot's It review, Michael Rougeau said "when that title card at the end appears and the closing credits start to play, you're likely to feel relief--not just the tension leaving your body as it does at the end of any scary movie, but relief that 2017's It is the rare adaptation that does the original justice while crafting its own identity, too.

He continued: "The only people likely to feel disappointed are actual clowns, whose chosen profession is, unfortunately, not about to get more popular any time soon."