‘Chucky’s Brad & Fiona Dourif reflect on the surreal joys of playing Chucky & 36 years of mayhem

This week, another incredible season of Chucky came to a close, with an epic — yet open — ending that has already called, quite literally, for another season. For fans to be this eager for a fourth go round is, in itself, quite a feat and a testament to its cast and creator Don Mancini. It’s even more impressive that while this is the fourth season of the show, in actuality it’s just the latest chapter in a franchise that dates back 36 years to 1988’s Child’s Play.

Courtesy of Syfy

Yes, we’ve been treated to nearly four decades of Charles Lee Ray’s possessed doll and his bloody, campy, oh-so-queer mayhem, and we aren’t even close to being done with it.

Behind all of this, alongside Don Mancini is, of course, Brad Dourif, the man who has played (voiced) Chucky from the very beginning. While he has remained a constant throughout the franchise and all its eras and interactions, the already meta series became more so with the casting of his daughter Fiona Dourif as Nica in Curse of Chucky (2013). She has reprised her role in the series and somehow became even more meta. Not only was her character possessed by the spirit of Chucky and entered into a relationship with the serial killer’s longtime paramour Tiffany Valentine (Jennifer Tilly), but the actor also donned prosthetics to play Charles Lee Ray in a flashback of that love story’s origin.

Dan Mancini, sir, you are an evil genius.

While we are craving — and, as we mentioned calling (please call 1-201-500-3347 to demand season four) — for another season of the beloved show, PRIDE had the chance to sit down with the father-daughter pair to reminisce on their shared history with the character, the surreal joys of both actors playing Chucky, and why they both hope the show never ends.

Courtesy of Syfy

PRIDE: Your dynamic is a unique one where you not only get to star in the same franchise together, but you often play the same character. I’m curious, what has been the most sort of unexpected thing that has come out of working together on a character that has been a part of your lives for 36 years?

BRAD: When I was first doing it, Fiona was a kid. I kind of knew she was going to be an actress, but I never dreamed that A. Chucky would be around for this long and B. Fiona would be such an extraordinary part of it.

FIONA: I’m the most grateful nepo baby ever. This thing is so fun to make. Everyone really likes each other, so I get to have these adventures with Don Mancini, who is a real friend of mine. And I get paid for it? And by the end of it, all of these people really like it. Chucky fans are just the best. I love Chucky fans, I love that I get to meet them. I love everything about it. It feels like winning a lottery.

Courtesy of Syfy

I feel like that joy comes through on the screen. In among all the gruesome murders, there’s a lot of joy!

B: I’ve been saying that for years. The thing about Chucky is he loves his job.

Last season, we got to see Chucky and Tiffany’s origin story, and in that role, Fiona, you got to play Charles Lee Ray. I’m curious what it felt like to play a character that your father originated as him.

F: You mean when I was having sex with a woman and then killing them in the prosthetics of my father is that what you’re asking me? [Laughs]

Courtesy of Syfy; MGM

Yeah, how much of that was unpacked in therapy later?

F: It was so surreal I actually kind of couldn’t think about it. It became just this wild joke between me and my friends, which then I had to sort of take seriously on set. The truth is, I think it’s a very funny aspect of my life. If I can be at a dinner party and tell that story, I will. But then I think of Charles Lee Ray as a character. So that’s how I was able to separate him from the wildly uncomfortable... let’s move on. [laughs]

Brad, how did you feel the first time you saw Fiona in the Charles Lee Ray makeup? I know he’s a character but one with your face.

B: I was doing ADR, which you do in a studio and you’re replacing dialogue. We went by [that scene and I was said], ‘Wait a minute, hold on, could you go back and want to see that just for a sec?’ They wound it back and I was leaning against the bar, and I said, ‘I don’t remember shooting that.’ And they said, ‘It’s not you Brad, it’s your daughter.’ So that was my first reaction, that she was Charles Lee Ray.

F: Can I say the heavy lifting of this is done by a company called MindWarp FX in Toronto, it’s Tenille Shockey and Francois Dagenais. They did an incredible job.

Courtesy of Syfy

I love it! So, Brad, we get to see you on screen this season, which is so exciting. How was it for you to get to step back into a Chucky in live action?

B: As far as the series goes, I wasn’t there until then. There were all these people who by the second year they all knew each other. I was sort of left out of it. I could have done Chucky in my pajamas. Now I even do the ADR in my house, so I don’t have to go anywhere. So it was really nice to get to act with everybody, particularly with Fiona. I had a great time.

Courtesy of Syfy

That’s awesome! So my last question is to you, Fiona. Nica has given the audience the queer representation we love as well as much-needed disability representation. Is that meaningful for you to get to do?

F: I think of Nica as not defined by a wheelchair, not a victim, but a fully-fledged final girl who happened to be in a wheelchair. Don made it a point to make her a sexual being. She likes to flirt and have sex, so that was wonderful. I’ve met a lot of people over the years who said that they really appreciated that which was really cool that I got to be a part of it. And then the LGBTQ+ stuff is part of the heart of the franchise. Was Don the first out character horror creator? I think so. He has a great time with it! We’re inclusive, and we don’t take ourselves too seriously. We’re having a ball so I hope we get to do it forever.

B: I gotta tell you, if we do season four, it will definitely be the best yet. Oh yeah, no question about it.

F: [Don] told me on my birthday, he took me to dinner and we were like, howling in a restaurant. I really hope we get to do it. It’d be a travesty.

Well, I'm manifesting!

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