What You Didn't Know About Pennywise's Costume In The Original It

Tim Curry's Pennywise in the "It" miniseries is marked with a white face, domed head, thin black eyebrows, blue triangle eyeshadow, simple red lips, and, of course, a red ball nose. Makeup artist Bart J. Mixon told Dread Central that his original idea for the look was to include more prosthetics. To determine the best look, Mixon took a full head cast of Curry and created three models. "Tim wanted to wear as little prosthetics as possible, so we tested two looks for Pennywise," Mixon said. 

Initially, Mixon's idea featured cheek and chin prosthetics. "But in the end, the lighter makeup was chosen and the paint was modified to what it was in the film," Mixon said. "Of course, this look was chosen AFTER I had sculpted the 'battery acid' look for Pennywise." Therefore, the models still exist, even though Curry was adamant about spending as little time as possible in the makeup chair. 

There's also an urban legend that Curry's signature frizzy red hair was not a wig, but his own hair teased out and dyed red. There's been no firm confirmation of this, but Mixon did mention in the interview that he did have a wig made for the character during the design phase. So Curry's Pennywise could have had a completely different look for the "It" miniseries. And who knows how that would've impacted not only the character's legacy, but the "evil clown" trope in horror for years to come.