By Darlene Donloe
Chucky fans will be in Chucky heaven or hell this television season.
The frightful, murderous doll has been scaring the pants off folks for generations. His terrifying antics continue in the aptly named drama, “Chucky.”
An idyllic American town is thrown into chaos after a vintage doll turns up at a suburban yard sale. Soon, everyone must grapple with a series of horrifying murders that begin to expose the town's deep hypocrisies and hidden secrets.
Friends and foes from Chucky's past creep back into his world and threaten to expose the truth behind his mysterious origins as a seemingly ordinary child who somehow became this notorious monster.
"Chucky" will premiere simultaneously on both USA Network and SYFY on Tuesday, Oct. 12, at 10 p.m.
Recently, Executive Producer Don Mancini, Devon Sawa, Zackary Arthur, Brad Dourif and Jennifer Tilly sat down to talk about the show.
Q: Don, did the network tell you not to make it too gory?
DON MANCINI: I would simply say wait. In regard to the gore questions, wait.
JENNIFER TILLY: We have a whole blood team on the movie, and I'm telling you there's a lot of people on this team, the "blood team."
DON MANCINI: Yeah, we -- one of the things that was important to me, that we'd be able to retain all of the aspects of the franchise that the fans love, one of which is the gore, the other of which, of course, is Chucky's propensity for dropping f-bombs. And the networks SYFY and USA, when we pitched the project, assured us that there would be no compromise in these departments. And when I had worked on both "Hannibal" and "Channel Zero," which are both also under the NBCUniversal umbrella, I was shocked and kind of encouraged and excited to see how the boundaries could get pushed. So, there will be no compromise in that regard. In the first episode, you know, there is -- well, I don't know how much -- I guess I can say to you guys because you've seen it. You know, there's a death, but it's quite deliberately a bloodless death because, remember, in the episode, Chucky hears Jake say, "I can't stand the sight of blood." So Chucky accommodates his new friend to the end by committing a bloodless murder. Like, that's Chucky's idea of being thoughtful.
Q: Aside from the blood, are there things that you did stylistically to keep the look or maybe things that you did differently to set it apart from the films just like from the way it looks?
DON MANCINI: Right. Well, with regard to the look of the show, it's very important to me and I try to have a different overriding, governing aesthetic for each film. And now for this season of the TV show, one of the things I was really excited about with the show was presenting "Chucky" in Halloween, at Halloween, because we'd never done that before, and fans have gotten a glimpse of that in the trailers that they've seen. I really wanted to affect a sort of luxurious and glamorous autumn look with fall foliage, and that became the central aesthetic principle, was glamorous autumn. And there were certain challenges facing the show because we shot it during the spring and summer. So, one of the things the art department had at our disposal was basically truckloads of artificial but very real-looking -- actually better than real-looking -- autumn leaves, which we just spread around the ground like butter whenever we were outside. So, between that and some really beautiful drone footage that we were able to get last fall, actual drone footage from the air that we got last fall in the environs where we shot the show outside Toronto, it looks like a Halloween horror movie as directed by Dario Argento or Brian De Palma. At least, that was our goal.
JENNIFER TILLY: We have an -- I don't know if I'm muted or not. But we have an amazing production designer and cinematographer. And I think it's different from "Cult of Chucky," which was very sterile because it took place in an insane asylum in the middle of winter. And I think the colors are so saturated. And the cinematography and the set design are so beautiful in this film that it's just a pleasure to watch. It looks really expensive because it is. When I had shown up on the set, because I don't show up until halfway through, I was like, "Oh, my gosh. We have so much money."
DEVON SAWA: Yeah. That's what I noticed when I got there first too. I didn't realize how big of a budget we had and then how many departments and how many people working. And they did such a beautiful job. It looks stunning. It's so beautiful to look at.
Q: For Devon and Zackary, being newbies to the franchise, I'm curious what your perceptions were of the franchise before you actually joined and what your big questions were to join the series?
DEVON SAWA: Listen, I have grown up with Chucky. "Chucky," when it came across my desk to audition for it, it was a no-brainer. I jumped at it. Chucky's a legend. Brad is a legend. You know, Chucky belongs on the Mount Rushmore of horror with, you know, Krueger and Jason. So, I mean, I'm just trying not to smile so big, because I just was so excited to be a part of this and put this on the list of cool things I've done. I don't know what more I could say. I'm thrilled. Thrilled. The script was great.
Q: I know none of you were involved in the 2019 remake. Is this consciously a way for you to reclaim the franchise?
DEVON SAWA: There was a remake? Just kidding. Just kidding.
JENNIFER TILLY: Well, this franchise was already in the works long before the remake. So, it did throw a crimp in things a little bit because we were
kind of like, "Well, now, where do we belong in the Chucky universe?" And apparently, the film was very good and very well-reviewed. But the fans, I don't know. Remember they came out with New Coke and everyone liked Coke Classic better, so they brought back the old Coke and now they call it Coke Classic. I think this is a similar thing. I mean, people, they love the original Chucky with the voice of Brad Dourif.
Because they actually called Brad, I think and asked him if he wanted to do Chucky for the remake, and he said, "No, I stand with Don."
JENNIFER TILLY: The great thing about doing the “Chucky” franchise, the fans are so loyal. Like, I've never seen such really fanatic -- they're like Trekkies times two, do you know? So, I didn't even realize until the Internet happened that how much of an icon Tiffany was and Chucky and how much they love Chucky all over the world. And, so, for me, it's just really wonderful when Don wrote his television series. I was hoping he could find, like, a tiny corner under the stairs for me. And then when I got my scripts, I was like, I honestly -- I don't want -- I want Don to feel like he's really, super lucky to have me, but I can't help but blurt out things like, "Thank you, Don. Thank you for the wonderful scripts. And thank you for putting me in the television series." Because his writing is so amazing. And you've just seen the first half, you guys. But in the second half, Fiona Dourif comes in, Brad's daughter, who plays Nica in the movie. And then Andy Barclay, Alex Vincent's character, comes back. And Christina Elise. And, so, it just really -- it goes bonkers from this point. I was saying to Don when I read it, even without Chucky, it's just such a beautiful coming-of-age movie. I mean, you kind of don't even need Chucky because the relationship between Zackary and the other kids is really just you're rooting for them. You want to know where it goes. But then Chucky, of course, complicates things. But all of the kid actors are so good, Aly and Bjorgvin and Teo, just amazing actors. I said to Don when I read the script, I said, "You've got to get good kids. Like, there's not a lot of good kids out there." Then we got Zackary, and it was amazing.
Q: Brad, how did you find the voice of Chucky? Talk about the process.
BRAD DOURIF: Well, now, I have Don saying, "Get it more up into your" -- higher and so forth, and we kind of adjust as we go. You know, my voice is changing. I'm getting older. I'm 71. So, I have to constantly adjust for how my voice is. Originally, Chucky was from Chicago, and so I had a Chicago rasp and so forth. Now, he's, oddly, kind of moving more toward New Jersey; I wonder why? And, so, his accent is a little bit more New Jersey. But, basically, I go to "Cult," and I listen to "Cult" and I mimic the voice before we shoot. And then, you know, Don schools me.
DON MANCINI: I don't have to school you, Brad.
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