This is technically the interview I’ve waited my whole life for. When I was 10 years old, my father took me to see Child’s Play. Even as I grew old enough to watch the sequels without supervision, Chucky held a special place in my family. Now, with the release of the sixth film, Curse of Chucky, Universal is also putting out Chucky: The Complete Collection with all six films on Blu-ray. So to discuss the Chucky legacy, I got to speak by phone with Brad Dourif, voice of Chucky and live-action actor who portrayed Charles Lee Ray, the killer who used voodoo to inhabit the doll.
Crave Online: When you took this job in 1988, did you ever think it would be something you’d still be talking about 25 years later?
Brad Dourif: No, of course not. Absolutely not. I never thought my daughter would be playing the lead in it either.
I loved Fiona in Curse of Chucky.
Oh, you’ve seen it. Great.
The first three movies were in pretty rapid succession, ’88, ’90 and ’91. Were you more surprised when Bride of Chucky and Seed of Chucky came along years later?
I wasn’t really surprised. No, I wasn’t surprised. It did take a turn and actually Bride of Chucky is my favorite of all of them.
It’s mine too, actually. Don Mancini has also said it’s his favorite, and he wrote all six of them.
Yeah, I just think it’s a really, really fun, fun movie.
Can you do all of your Chucky lines in one recording session?
Yes, I can. But, I haven’t, except for this one. This one I was able to do all of them in one sitting, really quickly actually. But this is much scarier. Chucky’s not talking so much like he is in a lot of the other ones. They keep Chucky really, really hidden and more of a threat. He’s scarier. Well, you’ve seen it. Why am I telling you?
I agree and I thought it was a good decision. Do you have the whole Damballah speech memorized by now?
I can’t remember it anymore. From this to that, it was a very, very long time. I think I had to re-remember it.
I think you’ve only gotten to the end of it once.
Yeah.
Back on Child’s Play 1, did you ever read the early draft of the script before it was voodoo?
No.
So the script you signed onto was already the Charles Lee Ray voodoo one.
That I ever saw, yeah.
Were you cast after the doll was already designed?
No, I was cast before it was designed and they were originally going to make it look more like me but then they thought financially it would be not a good idea.
Did you work closely with the animatronics in preproduction?
No.
On any of the films, would you go to the set while they were filming?
No. I did go to watch Fiona work and they were using him and that was the first time I’d ever seen them use the doll. But, there’s no reason for me to be there.
Was it illuminating to see how it worked?
No, I’ve seen animatronics work before. I’ve acted with animatronic puppets.
Sure. By Lord of the Rings, were they still using animatronics?
Most of Lord of the Rings was CGI. There were some things that were puppet-like. They had some, but not a lot.
