SyFy’s Chucky sequence is a number of issues: A daring continuation for a franchise with a excessive hit fee, one of many funniest exhibits on TV, and a sequence that constantly takes large, outrageous swings. A spot the place one of the crucial gifted father-daughter duos in Hollywood can work collectively like they by no means have earlier than.
Brad Dourif has been the voice of Chucky because the unique Little one’s Play, the place he additionally performed serial killer Charles Lee Ray, whose soul is transferred into the enduring Good Man doll. His daughter Fiona first joined the franchise in 2013’s Curse of Chucky as protagonist Nica Pierce, a task she reprises within the TV present. However in contrast to their earlier collaborations in Curse of Chucky, Cult of Chucky, and even Deadwood (the place Fiona made her performing debut in 2005), the Dourifs bought a novel alternative in “Remaining Vacation spot,” the finale of the third season of Chucky: Truly performing throughout from one another.
All of it occurs when Jake (Zackary Arthur) manufactures his short-term demise to go to the Spirit Realm, hoping he can persuade Good Chucky to sacrifice himself to be able to destroy Chucky endlessly. (Simply one other day on the earth of Chucky!). Whereas within the Spirit Realm, Jake encounters all of the completely different Chuckys we’ve seen throughout the present — a number of completely different dolls, but in addition the completely different variations of Charles Lee Ray which have appeared, together with the younger grownup model performed by Fiona Dourif (and voiced by her father) and an older model of the serial killer embodied by Brad Dourif. This season of Chucky marks Dourif’s first on-screen look within the franchise since a flashback in 2013’s Curse of Chucky — one thing the legendary actor joked had its downsides.
Picture: SyFy
“I needed to go to make-up and hair,” he instructed Polygon in a video interview. “Shaving my beard off and so forth. I might have finished this factor in my pajamas up until then. However I used to be alone. So it was good to abruptly really feel like I used to be actually part of the franchise, which I oddly didn’t earlier than then.”
The conferences of the Charles Lee Rays results in a confrontation and disagreement, permitting the Dourifs their first ever alternative to essentially share a scene, one thing Fiona says she “at all times wished to do.”
“The scene was a very long time coming,” she says. “I used to be nervous at first after which as quickly as we really began filming it, all of it went away as a result of I used to be head to head with the person who I belief essentially the most on the earth. It felt like [showrunner] Don Mancini handed the Dourifs a present. Six weeks of hanging out every single day attending to make one thing that’s actually enjoyable. And we ate dinner each evening collectively. Who will get to do this as an grownup?”
Picture: SyFy
Picture: Syfy
Their argument occurs in a movie show, the place all the assorted Chucky iterations are watching a montage of their best hits (learn: kills) over the course of the franchise. As Brad’s older Charles Lee Ray cracks up at a very grotesque homicide, Fiona’s youthful Charles lays into him to remain on activity — regaining favor with the evil spirit Dambala to cease Chucky’s fast growing old and pending demise.
It’s enjoyable to see their direct distinction on the identical character up shut — Fiona’s a extra spirited and indignant Charles, whereas Brad’s extra drained and world weary. (“Once you get to be my age, you see it’s not all stabby stabby and onto the subsequent.”) Their banter in regards to the older Charles’ age is especially humorous and pure Chucky — Fiona’s character asks “Have you learnt the place we’re? Have you learnt who the president is?” and Brad’s retorts: “In fact I do know who the president is. We simply fucking killed him.”
Whereas the Dourifs hadn’t had the chance to behave throughout from one another on display earlier than this sequence, taking pictures it nonetheless introduced again recollections: The pair used to run traces for auditions collectively. “It form of felt just a little bit like I used to be again in my lounge,” Brad says. And the proud dad jokes in regards to the affect his historical past of enjoying murderers had on his daughter, particularly in his favourite efficiency of hers — as “holistic murderer” Bart Curlish within the BBC America present Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Company.
“Her entrance into that TV sequence was most likely the most effective entrances I’ve ever seen,” he says. “She was so delighted to get to kill this man. As she ran at him, I went, That’s the way you do it, darlin!” (“Thanks, pop!” Fiona chimed in on the decision).
Picture: SyFy
The elder Dourif has been inseparable from the franchise from the start – simply ask Mark Hamill, an uber-talented voice actor in his personal proper whose iteration of the killer doll within the 2019 reboot Little one’s Play was largely rejected by critics and followers alike. And now Fiona has develop into simply as entrenched within the sequence, enjoying a number of roles and really making Chucky a “household enterprise,” each agreed.
“Since I might kind recollections, I’ve been the seed of Chucky. It was the best factor about me in highschool,” Fiona says. “So it feels very, very, very private. And like profitable a lottery.”
That connection is what retains Brad going within the franchise — the one place he continues to work as an actor.
“However for this, I’m retired,” he says. “And there’s no approach that I might not do that. As a result of it’s household.”
Chucky is streaming on Peacock.
