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Why Universal’s Planned ‘Child’s Play’ Remake Never Happened

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Right now, MGM is filming a remake of the original Child’s Play. Ain’t that rich? They sold the franchise in the’ 80s because they wanted to get out of the horror business. Then it became a lucrative success for Universal so the new MGM wants to exploit the one they still own. Die hard Chucky fans may remember there was talk of a Child’s Play remake with creator Don Mancini that never happened. Fortunately, he made Curse of Chucky instead.

At the Screamfest Q&A for the 20th anniversary screening of Bride of Chucky, Mancini revealed what happened to his remake.

“There was a brief time when we were talking about it because that was so en vogue,” Mancini said. “This was when Jason got his reboot and Freddy got his reboot.”

From Platinum Dunes’ 2003 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre to their 2010 remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street, the ‘00s were dominated by remakes of classic horror films. The problem is, even if most of them made money, fans of the franchises didn’t exactly love them.

“They didn’t really make that much of a splash, so then people started to rethink that,” Mancini said. “We thought with Curse we could have our cake and eat it too. We made it sort of a tonal reboot that turned out to be a sequel in disguise if that makes sense.”

Curse of Chucky was actually positioned as a reboot of sorts. It was still Brad Dourif as Chucky, but the idea was he was terrorizing a brand new character, Nica (Fiona Dourif). Only in the middle did it turn out Nica had some connection to Charles Lee Ray, and by the end, Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly) and Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent) returned.

“I think that’s one of the most unusual things about our franchise is that we actually have 30 years and seven films and counting,” Mancini said.

“This is an incredibly complicated history of all these characters. We then start bringing people back. We brought Andy back in Curse and Kyle back in Cult. Stay tuned to see who else comes back.”

As for that other remake in production, it won’t affect Mancini’s plans for an official Chucky TV series, and he maintains his position on that other movie.

“I don’t know her,” Mancini said.

Screamfest continues through Thursday, October 18.

Interviews

“Chucky” – Zackary Arthur, Bjorgvin Arnarson, and Alyvia Alyn Lind on Working with John Waters & Brad Dourif

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Chucky - Jake, Devon, and Lexy (Zackary Arthur, Bjorgvin Arnarson, Alyvia Alyn Lind)

Warning: Spoilers ahead for “Chucky” Season 3.

The Chucky” Season 3 finale, “Final Destination,” picked up with Jake Wheeler (Zackary Arthur) venturing deep into the spirit realm for the sole purpose of finding where Chucky (Brad Dourif) may be hiding Lexy’s (Alyvia Alyn Lind) younger sister. As Lexy and Devon (Bjorgvin Arnarson) guarded his body, Jake confronted the ghosts of his past, including many, many iterations of Chucky. That led to Jake falling straight into Chucky’s trap, with the serial killer using his counterparts to distract him while he hijacked Jake’s body.

Bloody Disgusting spoke with Arthur, Arnarson, and Lind about the season finale, where the trio discussed working with guest star John Waters and reflected on their favorite moments from the series so far.

Finding sister Caroline (Carina Battrick) has been Lexy’s primary goal this season, and her relentless pursuit has put her on the offense when it comes to Chucky. It even gave the actress some hilarious one-liners, like calling Chucky a “nuked-up ginger.” When asked if she had any personal favorite scenes or lines of dialogue, Lind cited a season two fan favorite.

“I think that there are a lot of different things throughout all three seasons; Don’s writing is so incredible,” Lind told us. “A lot of the dialogue that stuck with me was between me and Nadine. All of those scenes were really, really heavy in the bathroom, both bathroom scenes. Everything that they talked about, just those entire scenes, will always make me tear up. The writing in those scenes was so beautiful, and their relationship was perfect, especially our wonderful Bella Higginbotham, who’s the best ever. The way she delivered all the lines. Everything about it, it’s my favorite scenes, for sure.”

Arnarson echoed that sentiment with a similarly fond, bittersweet memory, “The scene that I remember that was really cool was the scene in season one way back when Devon comes out to his mom about Jake and stuff. That scene was really sweet. And then it leads right into her dying. So good job, Don [Mancini], for breaking our hearts like that.”

Chucky Jake

As for Arthur, working with Brad Dourif in the Season 3 finale gave him his favorite series moment so far. He explained, “The scenes with Brad Dourif and me, or Chucky, talking to each other were a lot of fun to film. While I was doing the scenes, I was going into the theater to watch my dad die and watching all these deaths, and when I was getting ready for that, I was being serious. Then Brad Dourif did the most Chucky thing ever; he would be laughing at me because I was getting so serious before all my scenes. So, it was almost perfect. That was a lot of fun, working with Brad.

Arthur doesn’t just act opposite Dourif in “Final Destination,” though. He plays Chucky inhabiting Jake’s body, delivering a striking impersonation in the process. Arthur walks us through how he nailed his Chucky performance.

“Well, I mean, there was a certain familiarity that we all have with the doll at this point after three years,” Arthur tells Bloody Disgusting. “But, really, it was the fact that I got to sit in with Brad on some of his recordings, and actually, there was about 30 minutes on set where me and Brad Dourif were screaming at each other, and I’m sure Aly and Bjorgvin have heard that and remember that. There’s got to be a video of that somewhere. But it was definitely a long time coming, and it really just felt like an out-of-body experience filming all of that.”

Chucky season 3 finale - John Waters

CHUCKY — “Final Destination” Episode 308 — Pictured in this screengrab: (l-r) John Waters as Wendell Wilkins, Chucky — (Photo by: SYFY)

The actors also shared scenes with John Waters as the Good Guy doll’s creator, Wendell Wilkins. While meeting Wendell may not have gone well for Jake, Devon, and Lexy, the actors’ experience working with Waters was quite the opposite.

Lind gushed, “I mean, I’m such a horror fan, so I was kind of nerding out, and he was such an icon. We were just listening to his stories all day on set. We’d sit down, and then he’d just go on another tangent, another story, and he was just mesmerizing to listen to. All of the things he had to say, all of his experiences on horror sets, and all of these iconic films that he has made. He would say something and he’d always followed it up by, ‘Pretend you didn’t hear that. Pretend you didn’t hear that. Pretend you didn’t hear that.’ I just had the best time working with him. As just a co-star and as an acting partner, he’s incredible. Then also just as a fan, it was a really great experience.”

“Yeah. I mean, we really get to work with legends on this show, Arthur added.

You can stream the “Chucky” Season 3 finale on Peacock now.

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