Yahoo Movies See Bill Skarsgård's shredded new physique for upcoming 'dystopian fever-dream action thriller'
Look out, kids: Pennywise just got ripped.
Bill Skarsgård is the latest of the Skarsgård clan to dramatically beef up for a role, following in the footsteps of older brother Alexander, who gained 20 to 30 pounds to play a Viking berserker in The Northman. (See before and after comparisons of the brothers' journey from sinewy to beefy at the bottom of the post.)
In the forthcoming film Boy Kills World, described as a "dystopian fever dream action thriller," Skarsgård plays Boy, a deaf mute with a vibrant imagination. When his family is murdered, he's trained by a mysterious shaman to repress his childish fantasies and become an instrument of death.
"This was an incredible journey into something completely new for me," the actor tells EW exclusively. "I had two months to learn how to pretend how to fight well. [Action coordinator] Dawe Szatarski is a wizard, and he might've just pulled it off. The abs I credit to another wizard, my main man Valdemar Fredriksson. I just showed up, slightly late."
Graham Bartholomew Bill Skarsgård in 'Boy Kills World' first look
In the exclusive first look above, a buff, shirtless Skarsgård is featured with his fists up, ready to fight. The normally svelt actor underwent a two-month martial arts crash course with Szatarski, a renowned action and fight designer who trained under Jackie Chan's longtime stunt guru, Brad Allan. Together, they developed "a unique movement style" for the 6 foot 4 actor, whose size and length "help make him an unconventional new-age action star," a rep for the film tells EW, adding, "You've never seen an actor move like this in a movie."
Boy Kills World also stars Jessica Rothe, Michelle Dockery, Brett Gelman, Isaiah Mustafa, martial arts master Yayan Ruhian, Nicholas and Cameron Crovetti, Quinn Copeland, Andrew Koji, Sharlto Copley, and Famke Janssen.
Moritz Mohr directs the film, which features a script by Arend Remmers and Tyler Burton Smith (Child's Play). Sam Raimi and Zainab Azizi are producing through Raimi Productions, Roy Lee of Vertigo Entertainment, Simon Swart and Wayne Fitzjohn through Nthibah Pictures, and Alex Lebovici of Hammerstone Studios.
Before:
Paul Hawthorne/Getty; Matt Carr/Getty Alexander (left) and Bill Skarsgård in leaner times
After:
Graham Bartholomew; Aiden Monaghan/Focus Features Bill (left) and Alexander Skarsgård bulked up for their various roles
A release date for Boy Kills World has yet to be announced.
Related content:
