NY Comic Con ’13: ‘Child’s Play’ 25th Anniversary Panel

[Sorry for the lateness; I just finally got around to posting this.]

I was so focused on the various booths on the show floor last Friday October 11th that I nearly forgot about this panel.  I rushed over to Main Stage 1-D and barely made it on time.  Harry Knowles of Ain’t It Cool News was introduced as the moderator for the panel.  He then introduced a montage of clips from all of the Chucky movies (1988’s Child’s Play, 1990’s Child’s Play 2, 1991’s Child’s Play 3, 1998’s Bride of Chucky, 2004’s Seed of Chucky, and 2013’s Curse of Chucky).  After the montage, creator Don Mancini was introduced, along with stars Brad Dourif, Jennifer Tilly, Fiona Dourif (Brad’s daughter), Danielle Bisutti, and Alex Vincent.  Don Mancini explained that the inspiration for Chucky came partly from his father, who had worked in advertising, as well as advances in animatronics and movies like 1978’s Magic.  Brad Dourif said that he first came up with the voice of Chucky during rehearsal.  In regard to Chucky’s character development, Dourif noted that Chucky was pretty much the same in the first three films, but changed from the fourth film on due to falling in love with Jennifer Tilly.  He was glad to get the chance to work with Tilly since he recorded his dialogue alone for the first three films.

Alex Vincent, who played the original Andy, recalled his first audition as a child; he had memorized his lines but had convinced his mother that he wouldn’t curse in front of her.  His mother then told the producers about what had happened, and he joked that he won the part because the producers thought that he must have been a really good actor if he was able to convince his mother that he didn’t want to curse in front of her.  Mancini revealed that he had actually met Dourif at Columbia University while auditing one of the acting classes that Dourif was teaching (Child’s Play director Tom Holland was the one who had cast Dourif).  It was reiterated that the original Andy does indeed appear in the latest Chucky film Curse of Chucky (it was briefly shown in the montage).  Mancini explained that he’s been able to keep Chucky fresh after all these years by embracing the absurdity of the concept after Child’s Play 3.  Fiona was asked about her audition, and she said that she had been nervous about auditioning for a Chucky film.  She had originally auditioned for Barb because that character was a bitch, however, Fiona was called back to read for the lead role.

Danielle (who was cast as Barb) explained that her childhood was actually kind of ruined by Chucky, and it would only make sense that she end up in a Chucky film.  Jennifer Tilly said that there were six puppeteers per Chucky doll, and that she always had to keep an eye out on all of them since some would attempt naughty grabs on her (at that moment I wanted to become a Chucky puppeteer).  Everyone agreed that making Curse of Chucky was a happy experience for them all.  Tilly mentioned that she worked out the psyche of the characters Jennifer Tilly and Tiffany: the character of Jennifer Tilly wanted to be respected as an actress while the character of Tiffany just wanted the fame (Tilly further explained that, in the latest film, Tiffany’s soul is now in actress Jennifer Tilly’s body).  Brad Dourif’s favorite Chucky film is Bride of Chucky.  In Chucky’s voice, he said, “Barbie’s a slut!” (which got a wild reaction from the audience).  He also mentioned that he was still shocked by the doll sex scene in the film, and that he learned to love acting through Chucky.  SPOILER ALERT: Mancini revealed that the original final shot (which was cut out) of Curse of Chucky would’ve shown that Andy’s apartment was located on top of a gun shop (a subtle way of informing the audience how Chucky had scarred Andy’s life).

The panel then opened up to questions from the audience.  Dourif revealed that Tim Burton had actually wanted to cast him as the Riddler for 1995’s Batman Forever (back when Burton was still attached to direct it), but Warner Bros. vetoed this decision.  Jennifer Tilly’s favorite horror film is Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining.  She also gave some acting advice: Always make sure you look good on camera.  Mancini talked about a hypothetical “Child’s Play On Elm St.”  He said that Chucky and Freddy Krueger would be fans of each other at first, but the film would eventually turn into a horror film version of 1988’s Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (how many teens can each kill).  Mancini also said that his favorite Chucky kill is when Chucky kills Tiffany (in her original human form) in Bride of Chucky.  Dourif surprisingly revealed that he doesn’t watch horror films.  The panel then thanked everyone for attending.

The lovely Jennifer Tilly (right).