Pennywise Has Become a Martial Artist! Skarsgård's Workout Secrets For Boy Kills World

April 26, 2024, will see the release of Boy Kills World, where the main character, played by Bill Skarsgård, confronts a ruthless ruling clan in a post-apocalyptic city.

He needs to learn martial arts from a mysterious shaman in the jungle and build muscles to look natural. We will tell you how Skarsgård turned into a martial artist.

In 2017, Skarsgård played the leading role — Pennywise the Dancing Clown — in the horror movie It. The actor did a fantastic job embodying the antagonist and scared everyone with his creepy smile. Bill had to lose 15 kilograms to look morbid and exhausted. But for Boy Kills World, he needed to bulk up and learn striking techniques.

Skarsgård took a two-month crash course in martial arts taught by fight choreographer Dawid Szatarski, who had practiced kung fu, taekwondo, Muay Thai, and Filipino martial arts since childhood. He also trained with Tony Jaa, a famous actor and stuntman who specialized in martial arts movies. What's interesting is that Szatarski learned from renowned stunt guru and great actor Jackie Chan.

Szatarski developed a unique movement style perfect for Bill, who is 192 cm tall. He promised that Skarsgård would become "an unconventional new-age action star."

You've never seen an actor move like this in a movie.

Dawid Szatarski

Skarsgård was thrilled to work with the Polish stunt coordinator and called Dawid a "wizard."

This was an incredible journey into something completely new for me. I had two months to learn how to pretend to fight well. Dawe Szatarski is a wizard, and he might've just pulled it off. I credit the abs to another wizard, my main man, Valdemar Fredriksson.

Bill Skarsgård

Valdemar Fredriksson is a Swedish trainer and nutritionist. In Boy Kills World, Bill fought in the jungle and didn't have to become much more muscular. However, he was asked to define his abs as much as possible.

I did a lot of band warm-ups for his shoulders and hips, and then that was followed by pretty intense strength training. It was a four-day split, meaning you worked different muscles each day, and then you’d covered the whole body in four days. Then you start over.

Bill Skarsgård

According to the Lifestyle portal, Bill followed the ketogenic diet. To prepare for his role, he reduced his consumption of carbohydrates and added proteins and a lot of fat. Once the actor's body started using fat as a fuel, it would burn fat instead of carbohydrates. To bulk up, Bill also had to increase his daily calorie intake.

The movie will hit the big screens on April 24, but American critics have already shared their opinions.

Boy Kills World' is a two-hour roller coaster. You’ll leave exhausted and beaten, yet feeling like maybe you too can defeat the fascist dictators in your life.

Alan Ng (Film Threat)

We look forward to the Boy Kills World release to see Skarsgård's unique striking technique. Bill devoted much time and energy to bulking up and learning martial arts.