Pennywise actor Bill Skarsgård reveals terrifying way he uses horror characters to discipline his kids
Bill Skarsgård has terrified millions of moviegoers as Pennywise the Dancing Clown in the blockbuster IT franchise and as Count Orlok in Robert Eggers' Nosferatu.
But according to the Swedish star, his most intimidating horror personas occasionally make an appearance off-screen—especially when it's time for parental discipline.
Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast with host Josh Horowitz, the 36-year-old actor opened up about family life, Halloween, and whether his signature nightmare fuel ever bleeds into his home in Stockholm.
During the interview, Horowitz brought up the distinct, unsettling vocals that made Pennywise a generational villain, asking Skarsgård if his children had ever been exposed to the voice around the house.
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"I would imagine you're not doing like your Pennywise voice in the company of your children," Horowitz asked. "Have they heard you do Pennywise?"
Without missing a beat, Skarsgård admitted he uses the horrifying vocal register as an effective parenting tactic when bad behavior kicks in: "Yeah, if they misbehave, you know," Skarsgård laughed.
"Yeah, he can slip out there. Yeah, he can slip in, slip out, and Nosferatu can pop in. You know, there's a whole colorful bunch of schizophrenic daddy."
Skarsgård, who shares two daughters with his partner Alida Morberg, joked that while he avoids dressing up as his horror characters for free outside of work, his household still leans heavily into the spooky season.
He revealed that his oldest daughter is obsessed with Halloween and went trick-or-treating dressed as a classic vampire—though she did ask if her dad would join her as his blood-drinking alter ego.
"She said like, 'You could go as Nosferatu,'" Skarsgård recalled. "And I was like, 'Yeah, just tell your makeup people to put on the makeup. Eight hours later.' I was like, that's not exactly how it works."
Stepping into the mud for Peter Berg's 'The Mosquito Bowl'
While horror fans know him for creature suits and prosthetics, Skarsgård's latest outing sees him stepping into historical, grounded drama for director Peter Berg in The Mosquito Bowl.
Adapted from Buzz Bissinger’s bestselling nonfiction book, the film chronicles the real-life story of collegiate football stars and military heroes who played an impromptu game on Guadalcanal on Christmas Eve 1944 before heading into the meat grinder of the Pacific War.
Filmed chronologically with five handheld cameras, practical explosions, and intense Australian boot camps featuring hours of daily football drills and military training, Skarsgård explained that the film fulfilled a childhood bucket list desire: "I was trying to, because the shoot was really tough, but I’m like, 'Just do it for nine-year-old Bill, he wouldn't believe where you ended up."
Skarsgård continued: "There was a part of me that was like, 'Okay, what's on my bucket list of things to do?' And it's like to play a character that served in the Marines in the Pacific... World War II was always something that was like, I'm doing it for the little guy inside of me."
The Mosquito Bowl hits theaters this month ahead of its streaming debut on Netflix on November 25.
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