Mark Hamill Is the New Voice of Chucky in ‘Child’s Play’ Remake
The force is indeed strong with this one. Orion Pictures announced today that Mark Hamill has been cast as the voice of Chucky in the forthcoming “Child’s Play” reboot. The legendary actor stars alongside Aubrey Plaza, Gabriel Bateman, and Brian Tyree Henry in a contemporary re-imagining of the 1988 horror classic that follows Karen (Plaza), a single mother who gifts her son Andy (Bateman) a Buddi doll, unaware of its more sinister nature.
“We feel incredibly lucky to have an icon creating a new take on an iconic character,” said executive producer David Katzenberg. “Mark is a gifted actor and celebrated vocal performer, and he’s approached this challenge with incredible energy and commitment.”
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Norwegian filmmaker Lars Klevberg (“Polaroid”) will helm the adaptation, from a script by Tyler Burton Smith (“Quantum Break”).
The original “Child’s Play” grossed over $44 million worldwide on a $9 million budget and created one of the most recognizable and successful horror characters of all time with its psychotic killer doll, Chucky. It was so successful that it spawned a seven-movie franchise, in the days before every movie spawned a franchise, each from the sick mind of screenwriter Don Mancini. MGM is handling the remake, as it did with the original “Child’s Play.” The six intervening films are Universal properties.
Hamill is of course best known for playing Luke Skywalker in “Star Wars,” the most legendary franchise property of all time. Following the success of the original “Star Wars” trilogy, he struggled to find meaningful acting work until recently. Throughout the mid-1980s and ’90s, he mainly took on a string of TV roles and voiceover work. Perhaps his best known voice role is as The Joker in Warner Bros.’ “Batman: The Animated Series,” which ran for four years from 1992-1995 and was adapted into a critically hailed film version, “Batman: Mask of the Phantasm.”
Apparently, once you’ve voiced one sadistic, lunatic, joke-cracking psychopath with a crazy face, you’ve voiced ’em all.
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