INTERVIEW: Chucky is back, and these teenage actors needed to do some homework
Photo: Chuck stars Zackary Arthur as Jake Wheeler. Of course, Chucky stars in the TV series as well. Photo courtesy of Steve Wilkie / SYFY / Provided by press site with permission.
Nostalgia has returned to Syfy and USA this Halloween season. In addition to the much-anticipated premiere of the Day of the Dead TV series, tonight, Oct. 12 at 10 p.m., fans of scary movies can also enjoy the new Chucky series. That’s right, everyone’s favorite killer doll is back, ready to demonize a local town and send residents shrieking for their lives. They should have known better than to buy this nice-seeming doll at a local yard sale.
Among the cast members is a quartet of teenage actors: Zackary Arthur as Jake Wheeler, billed as a loner trying to find his place in the world; Björgivn Arnarson as Devon Evans, a true-crime junkie; Alyvia Alyn Lind as Lexy Cross, described as the “princess” of the school; and Teo Briones as Junior Wheeler, an overachieving jock who is the opposite of his cousin, Jake, according to press notes. Fans should know Arthur from Kidding and the movie Mom and Dad, while Arnarson has appeared in Pen15 and The Seventh Day. Lind’s credits include playing Dolly Parton in Coat of Many Colors and Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love, while Briones has been in Wind River and Ratched, among other projects.
Joining the actors is Brad Dourif, who returns as the voice of Chucky, and Jennifer Tilly, reprising her role as Tiffany Valentine. Devon Sawa also appears, and so does Fiona Dourif.
When the original Child’s Play was released by Don Mancini in the late-1980s, the four teenage actors weren’t even alive, so they needed to conduct some research on the Chucky franchise, which consists of Child’s Play, Child’s Play 2, Child’s Play 3, Bride of Chucky, Seed of Chucky, Curse of Chucky, Cult of Chucky and a remake of the original.
“I had never actually watched the films before getting the job, but then when I was hired, I was like I might as well go back and watch those movies,” Briones said in a recent interview. “[I] then realized just how great the movies are. I love them so much. They’re funny, scary. They’re great.”
When Arthur was growing up, he was not allowed to watch super-scary movies because his parents didn’t allow him. “The kids at my school who watched the Chucky movies, they were the cool kids,” Arthur said. “I remember I really wanted to watch them, and then when I found that I was auditioning for the role, I binged actually all the Child’s Play movies in like two days. So, yeah, that’s my experience with it at least.”
Lind may be the biggest horror movie fanatic of the cast. She definitely knew who Chucky was before taking the role and was delighted to enter the knife-wielding franchise. “I definitely am a big fan of Chucky,” she said. “I’ve seen all the movies. I’m very into horror, so any horror movie ever out there I’ve probably seen. So, yeah, I’d seen all of them. We had a two-week quarantine when we got to Toronto [to film the series], so in that quarantine I also rewatched all of them. They were just as good the second time.”
For Arnarson, Chucky and the Child’s Play films were a new cinematic phenomenon for him. “I had never seen the movies, but I obviously know Chucky, who doesn’t?” the actor said. “But after booking it, I watched all the movies from beginning to end, and they’re awesome. I enjoyed all of them. They are a little bit of fun, a little bit of scary. It’s a great mix of the both.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Chucky will premiere Tuesday, Oct. 12 at 10 p.m. on Syfy and USA. Click here for more information.
