THE DUKE WAXES
CHUCKY WITH
DON MANCINI
CHUCKY WITH
DON MANCINI
I don’t know if you know or not, but The Duke considers himself
something of a fan of the whole Chucky franchise. In fact, The
Duke would go so far as to say that the final two instalments,
being Bride Of Chucky and Seed Of Chucky, are just about the
finest flicks a man could ever wish to encounter, particularly if
the man in question is in pursuit of something about two dolls
have a sex or two and then a kid appears and in between a whole
loada folks get killed. You probably wouldn’t even need to be
told that the wonderful Jennifer Tilly is involved, or the late,
great John Ritter, you’d still go hire them out.
That smile would be on your face long before you ever had to say
“Holy shit, it’s none other than John Ritter, star of Stay Tuned
and Problem Child.” You’d be jumping for joy well in advance of
the yacking about “Jennifer Tilly! Of Woody Allen’s masterpiece
Bullets Over Broadway and also the wonderful Bound and The Cat’s
Meow, about Kirsten Dunst and some stuff with a boat!”
Bride and Seed are masterpieces in the classical sense, is what.
Nowadays everyone wants to slap the old masterpiece tag onto any
piece of shit that manages to have a character overdose and also
stuff about learning things somewhere between the start and the
end. Also, it would help if the start and the end weren’t
necessarily in that order.
Nouvelle-vogue, motherfucker.
Bride Of Chucky and Seed Of Chucky are the real deals, though.
They concern themselves with redemption, rehabilitation, the
nature of love, the search for ones identity, the elusive nature
of sexual fulfilment. It’s Bergman with doll-sex, is what. From
The Life Of The Maniacal Marionettes.
Also, they’re funny as all hell. Witty, snarky, satirical, self-
effacing. What the hell more would a man want, barring some Mary
Jane Watson? Hardly a damn thing.
The whole series, all five of them, from the (comparatively)
straight-faced slaughter of the first Child’s Play, to the cheeky
butchery and wise-cracking of the second and third, to the post-
modern genius of the final two, all of these flicks were penned
by none other than Don Mancini. As if this wasn’t enough, he even
directed Seed.
Imagine The Duke’s shock and delight and insomnia, then, when,
following The Duke’s Incisive Critique Of Seed Of Chucky, I get
an electronical email from none other than Don Motherfucking
Mancini, saying shit along the lines of “Your site rocks” and
“Really, The Duke, even though I wine and dine the cultural
elite, it’s you right there that I most admire” (possible lies on
my part).
What with me being such an enterprising fellow, the next thing
Don Mancini knows is he’s being asked for an interview via this
most convenient of mediums. To his eternal credit, he says shit
along the lines of “Go right ahead”, and the results are
collected and presented for your entertainment and enlightenment
right the hell here.
The Duke: How influential were the likes of Scream in your
decision to adopt a much more ironic, self-referential tone for
Bride Of Chucky?
Don Mancini: Very influential. In fact, it really was the
success of "Scream" in 1997 which prompted Universal to make
another "Chucky" film. That said, I had already flirted with
said ironic tone in several early screenplays. For example, the
first draft of "Child's Play 2," in 1990, included the scene in
the evidence depository, where we glimpse Freddy's glove, Jason's
hockey mask, Leatherface's chainsaw, and Michael Myers's mask.
The scene was never filmed, but I recycled it for "Bride," just
in time to take advantage of the post-"Scream" era's vogue for
self-referential horror flicks.
TD: Was there any hesitance from either production-types or, god
forbid, the “fans”, with regards this radical turnaround, from
the straight-ahead slasher fare of the first three pictures to
the black comedy of the fourth?
DM: Yes, there was. Some genre fans seem adamantly opposed to
mixing comedy with horror, and the studio is wary of alienating
that faction -- justifiably so, since they represent a
significant portion of the audience. But after the first three
"Child's Play" films, I felt that we'd tapped out the concept's
potential for truly disturbing scares, and besides, I didn't want
to go on repeating myself; I wanted to do something different.
So we decided to embrace the inherent absurdity of the concept,
while taking advantage of the opportunity to explore Chucky as a
more fully-rounded character. Some people prefer the earlier,
more straightforwardly scary films; others prefer the black
comedy of "Bride" and "Seed." I like both, and the nice thing
is, by creating and exploring these characters, I've had the
opportunity to make five very different films. I mean, "Child's
Play" and "Seed of Chucky" represent virtually different genres
of filmmaking.
TD: What did you make of all the hoo-hah surrounding Childs Play
3 a decade or so ago over here in the UK, when it was
unofficially banned on account of supposedly being viewed by one
of the two youngsters who went on to murder Jamie Bulger? Surely
that kinda knee-jerk reaction is incredibly frustrating, and
probably insulting?
DM: No one wants to feel even tangentially connected to such a
tragedy, and I was relieved when it was revealed in court that
the two children had not, in fact, seen "Child's Play 3." But
regardless, these films carry "restricted" ratings for a reason:
they are not meant for young children, and it is the parents'
responsibility to exercise discretion in these matters.
TD: Like your good self, Brad Dourif has been part of the series
since way back when. How important is he to the character of
chucky, far as you’re concerned? (I hear he also had something to
do with some hobbit film or other that nobody heard of.)
DM: Brad is indispensable -- a great actor who has made the role
his own. And when it came time to write the sequels, I was
certainly influenced by Brad's performance in the first film.
Like Jennifer Tilly (and now Billy Boyd), Brad doesn't condescend
to the material, as many actors might; he treats the character
very seriously.
TD: Barring an episode of Tales From The Crypt, Seed Of Chucky is
your first directing gig, right? To the eyes of yours truly, it
seemed almost like a gothic fairy-tale at times, particularly the
early scenes where Glen / Glenda is embarking upon his quest.
Like some kind of androgynous Pinocchio. Visually, what were you
aiming for with the flick? It’s a lot more lavish than earlier
entries, I would venture, even though much of the action takes
place in fairly confined environments.
DM: Actually, I didn't direct that "Tales From the Crypt" - I
don't know how that rumor got started. I co-wrote the episode,
and it was directed by Jack Sholder ("The Hidden," "A Nightmare
on Elm Street 2"). I had directed some second-unit stuff on
"Bride of Chucky" (including the birth of the baby at the end),
and that led to my getting the gig on "Seed." I'm glad you saw
it as a "gothic fairy tale"; I was certainly aiming for that sort
of thing. I wanted to create a somewhat stylized world for the
dolls to inhabit, since the dolls themselves are, after all, sort
of stylized distortions of human beings. (For that matter, so is
Jennifer Tilly!) This sort of material wouldn't really work in a
completely naturalistic-looking environment. It's interesting
and gratifying that you saw the film as being "more lavish than
earlier entries," because "Seed" was the least expensive of all
the "Chucky" films, and FAR less expensive than "Bride." With
limited money and resources (we shot in Romania), we had to
figure out a way to turn this liability into an asset. Setting
sixty-to-seventy per-cent of the story inside one house was key,
but given that constraint, it was important to somehow provide
constant visual interest and variety. So, Jennifer's house is a
massive, Spanish Colonial-cum-Gothic space, with huge rooms
looking onto other huge rooms in the background, all with bold,
contrasting colors -- Argento's "Suspiria" was an inspiration
here.
TD: One of the many great things about Seed Of Chucky, and Bride
also, is that, as you yourself have stated, they really aren’t
horror films, but kind of horror takes on particular sub-genres,
i.e., the lovers-on-the-run flick and the family drama, like
Kramer Versus Kramer. Care to elaborate on this?
DM: With both of these movies, I tried to approach the story in
terms of character. The addition of Tiffany in "Bride," and now
Glen in "Seed," allows us to see new sides of Chucky's
character. That was the most important thing. "Bride" could
also be called "Chucky's In Love," and since both characters are
serial killers, it seemed that the best, most FUN way to explore
that dynamic was by spoofing the venerable "criminal lovers-on-
the-run" genre. Since "Seed" is about families, I couldn't
resist the opportunity to parody the prestigious "family drama"
genre, with its extended dialogue scenes, as family members argue
and shout, and stalk around rooms. Doing this sort of thing with
puppets seemed funny and, just as important, original.
TD: Another of the many great things is the presence of Jennifer
Tilly. What was her reaction when she read her “real-life”
character in Seed? And also, has Julia Roberts responded?
DM: Before I could begin writing "Seed," I of course had to make
sure Jennifer was into this idea. We'd become friends by this
point, so I was pretty sure she'd embrace it. But I was surprised
-- and thrilled -- by how gleeful she was about spoofing herself.
She pushed me to go farther and farther with the character's
outrageousness; at times, we had to pull back, in order to ensure
that the character would remain sympathetic to the audience!
(Jennifer recounts a few details in her hilarious on-set diary,
which will be featured on the DVD.) We haven't heard anything
from Ms. Roberts, although in the scene in which Jennifer accuses
Julia of sleeping with her director, the studio advised us to add
Hannah Spearritt's line "Jennifer, you know that's not true," in
order to avoid truly offending Her Highness.
TD: Seed Of Chucky opens with one of the all-time great (non-
porn) celluloid semen sequences, alongside the likes of Look
Who's Talking (and Look Whos Talking Too. I can’t remember if the
dog one had spunk jokes), Ichi The Killer, and Woody Allen’s
Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex. Is this sequence
biologically accurate? Also, someone posting on the IMDB message
boards seems very confused as to how Tiffany ended up giving
birth so quickly. Please take this opportunity for to clear this
up for everyone.
DM: My standard answer to this question is this: Doll biology
isn't an exact science. Little is known about it at this point,
and experts disagree about even the most fundamental principles.
After doing considerable research, I just had to take my best
guess. I defy anyone to provide hard, real-life evidence which
would contradict the details of Glen's conception and birth as
depicted in these movies. No one can prove that dolls don't
procreate like this.
TD: Seed seems to offer a conclusion to the saga, of sorts. Is
this the end of the line for Chucky and Tiffany?
DM: God, I hope not. I want to remodel my house.
TD: Far as I can see, the reaction to the character of Tiffany
since Bride has been pretty damn ecstatic (my own reaction
included. Tiffany rules, is what, thanks also to the brilliant,
sublime Ms Tilly). Did you envision the character being so
popular, or was it initially just a kinda gimmick for that
installment, and then probably things would revert to just Chucky?
DM: I wrote the part of Tiffany with Jennifer in mind. I knew
that if she played the role, Tiffany could become Gracie Allen to
Chucky's George Burns. I hope that they'll remain a venerable
demonic duo.
TD: Far as I can tell, Bride Of Chucky got off with a PG rating
in Singapore, yet Seed has been rated M18. Something of an
achievement, right there. You succeeded where Ronny Yu failed.
DM: The violence in "Bride" was intentionally stylized and
aestheticized in a De Palma-esque manner. (Example: Tiffany's
electrocution in the bathtub, with the soap bubbles wafting
through the air. I originally wrote that scene in my first draft
of "Child's Play." It took me over a decade to get it on-screen,
and Ronny did a great job with it.) With "Seed," in my quest to
do something new with the series, I wanted to make a movie in the
tradition of "Evil Dead II" and "Dead Alive" -- something so gory
and splatterific, it makes you laugh.
TD: How do you feel about those Team America folks going ahead
and getting all this praise for having the puppet sexing, when
come the hell on, man, Chucky and Tiff were getting it on back in
98!?
DM: I saw that scene in "Team America" (which I loved) as an
homage to my own classic work.
TD: As Kit Du Bois, you penned the seminal Cellar Dweller. What
about a sequel to that right there? Maybe something about all
these comic book movies getting made, and someone makes a Cellar
Dweller flick and holy shit, man, all hell breaks loose?
DM: Keep it quiet, man! I used a pseudonym on that flick for a
reason!
TD: You’ve yet to wander from the horror movie field of things.
Do you think you’ll maybe pen or direct, say, a romantic comedy
in the future? (a non-doll based one, I mean). Or would you
rather carry on like you’ve been doing, subverting the genre by
introducing the traits of other genres?
DM: I'd like to do both, actually. But the script I'm writing
now, which I hope to direct, is another horror movie, though one
very different in tone from "Chucky." It's neither camp nor a
slasher flick; it's more in the tradition of "Poltergeist."
TD: Childs Play and Cellar Dweller were released in 1988. It’s
taken until 2004 for you to step up behind the cameras and wear
the big baseball-cap and stuff (ie, direct). Why the delay? Was
it a case of folks not willing to take chances with a first-time
director, or were you just waiting until you felt comfortable?
Did you pick up any tricks from the likes of Ronny Yu or John
Lafia?
DM: I learned a lot from all the directors I've worked with. I
owe a lot to David Kirschner, the producer of all the "Chucky"
films. He allowed me to participate in the making of these
movies to a degree that not a lot of screenwriters experience.
It was a great training ground. I've wanted to direct all my
life, but as you suggest, studios don't trust their millions to
just anyone; you have to prove yourself, as I did, I guess, with
my work on "Bride."
TD: When you settle down in the Mancini home of an evening, what
flicks tend to get you all enraptured?
DM: I like a lot of different kinds of movies, though my tastes
tend to run toward stuff that's "bigger-than-life" -- horror,
thrillers, adventure, stylized comedy, animation (I'm a huge
"Simpsons" fan). My favorite recent movies are "Kill Bill" (I and
II), "The Aviator," "The Incredibles," "The Bourne Supremacy,"
"Shrek 2," and "The Manchurian Candidate." My favorite directors:
De Palma; Spielberg; Fincher; Burton; Jackson; Ridley Scott;
Shyamalan (I thought "The Village" was over-maligned).
And with that, barring a question he already answered, he’s gone,
like in that flick with Kevin Spacey about Gabriel Byrne has
killed everyone, but no, wait, it wasn’t him after all, or maybe
it was, but it doesn’t matter cause he turns out to be Satan and
then Arnold Schwarzenegger drinks some booze and shoots him
fuckless with an Uzi 9-mm.
So what can we learn from all this right here? Probably that Don
Mancini is the coolest fella a man could ever hope to interrogate
ever even once. That no-one but The Duke shares The Duke’s love
of Cellar Dweller. That not only is Seed Of Chucky a work of
glorious wonder, but also, it wasn’t a fluke, it turns out. And,
most of all, that when it boils down to it, Kirsten Dunst only
hangs around with that Darko motherfucker cause he claims to know
The Duke.
Not one hair does he know, is the harrowing truth of the matter.
Thanks folks.
Drop The Duke A Line
something of a fan of the whole Chucky franchise. In fact, The
Duke would go so far as to say that the final two instalments,
being Bride Of Chucky and Seed Of Chucky, are just about the
finest flicks a man could ever wish to encounter, particularly if
the man in question is in pursuit of something about two dolls
have a sex or two and then a kid appears and in between a whole
loada folks get killed. You probably wouldn’t even need to be
told that the wonderful Jennifer Tilly is involved, or the late,
great John Ritter, you’d still go hire them out.
That smile would be on your face long before you ever had to say
“Holy shit, it’s none other than John Ritter, star of Stay Tuned
and Problem Child.” You’d be jumping for joy well in advance of
the yacking about “Jennifer Tilly! Of Woody Allen’s masterpiece
Bullets Over Broadway and also the wonderful Bound and The Cat’s
Meow, about Kirsten Dunst and some stuff with a boat!”
Bride and Seed are masterpieces in the classical sense, is what.
Nowadays everyone wants to slap the old masterpiece tag onto any
piece of shit that manages to have a character overdose and also
stuff about learning things somewhere between the start and the
end. Also, it would help if the start and the end weren’t
necessarily in that order.
Nouvelle-vogue, motherfucker.
Bride Of Chucky and Seed Of Chucky are the real deals, though.
They concern themselves with redemption, rehabilitation, the
nature of love, the search for ones identity, the elusive nature
of sexual fulfilment. It’s Bergman with doll-sex, is what. From
The Life Of The Maniacal Marionettes.
Also, they’re funny as all hell. Witty, snarky, satirical, self-
effacing. What the hell more would a man want, barring some Mary
Jane Watson? Hardly a damn thing.
The whole series, all five of them, from the (comparatively)
straight-faced slaughter of the first Child’s Play, to the cheeky
butchery and wise-cracking of the second and third, to the post-
modern genius of the final two, all of these flicks were penned
by none other than Don Mancini. As if this wasn’t enough, he even
directed Seed.
Imagine The Duke’s shock and delight and insomnia, then, when,
following The Duke’s Incisive Critique Of Seed Of Chucky, I get
an electronical email from none other than Don Motherfucking
Mancini, saying shit along the lines of “Your site rocks” and
“Really, The Duke, even though I wine and dine the cultural
elite, it’s you right there that I most admire” (possible lies on
my part).
What with me being such an enterprising fellow, the next thing
Don Mancini knows is he’s being asked for an interview via this
most convenient of mediums. To his eternal credit, he says shit
along the lines of “Go right ahead”, and the results are
collected and presented for your entertainment and enlightenment
right the hell here.
The Duke: How influential were the likes of Scream in your
decision to adopt a much more ironic, self-referential tone for
Bride Of Chucky?
Don Mancini: Very influential. In fact, it really was the
success of "Scream" in 1997 which prompted Universal to make
another "Chucky" film. That said, I had already flirted with
said ironic tone in several early screenplays. For example, the
first draft of "Child's Play 2," in 1990, included the scene in
the evidence depository, where we glimpse Freddy's glove, Jason's
hockey mask, Leatherface's chainsaw, and Michael Myers's mask.
The scene was never filmed, but I recycled it for "Bride," just
in time to take advantage of the post-"Scream" era's vogue for
self-referential horror flicks.
TD: Was there any hesitance from either production-types or, god
forbid, the “fans”, with regards this radical turnaround, from
the straight-ahead slasher fare of the first three pictures to
the black comedy of the fourth?
DM: Yes, there was. Some genre fans seem adamantly opposed to
mixing comedy with horror, and the studio is wary of alienating
that faction -- justifiably so, since they represent a
significant portion of the audience. But after the first three
"Child's Play" films, I felt that we'd tapped out the concept's
potential for truly disturbing scares, and besides, I didn't want
to go on repeating myself; I wanted to do something different.
So we decided to embrace the inherent absurdity of the concept,
while taking advantage of the opportunity to explore Chucky as a
more fully-rounded character. Some people prefer the earlier,
more straightforwardly scary films; others prefer the black
comedy of "Bride" and "Seed." I like both, and the nice thing
is, by creating and exploring these characters, I've had the
opportunity to make five very different films. I mean, "Child's
Play" and "Seed of Chucky" represent virtually different genres
of filmmaking.
TD: What did you make of all the hoo-hah surrounding Childs Play
3 a decade or so ago over here in the UK, when it was
unofficially banned on account of supposedly being viewed by one
of the two youngsters who went on to murder Jamie Bulger? Surely
that kinda knee-jerk reaction is incredibly frustrating, and
probably insulting?
DM: No one wants to feel even tangentially connected to such a
tragedy, and I was relieved when it was revealed in court that
the two children had not, in fact, seen "Child's Play 3." But
regardless, these films carry "restricted" ratings for a reason:
they are not meant for young children, and it is the parents'
responsibility to exercise discretion in these matters.
TD: Like your good self, Brad Dourif has been part of the series
since way back when. How important is he to the character of
chucky, far as you’re concerned? (I hear he also had something to
do with some hobbit film or other that nobody heard of.)
DM: Brad is indispensable -- a great actor who has made the role
his own. And when it came time to write the sequels, I was
certainly influenced by Brad's performance in the first film.
Like Jennifer Tilly (and now Billy Boyd), Brad doesn't condescend
to the material, as many actors might; he treats the character
very seriously.
TD: Barring an episode of Tales From The Crypt, Seed Of Chucky is
your first directing gig, right? To the eyes of yours truly, it
seemed almost like a gothic fairy-tale at times, particularly the
early scenes where Glen / Glenda is embarking upon his quest.
Like some kind of androgynous Pinocchio. Visually, what were you
aiming for with the flick? It’s a lot more lavish than earlier
entries, I would venture, even though much of the action takes
place in fairly confined environments.
DM: Actually, I didn't direct that "Tales From the Crypt" - I
don't know how that rumor got started. I co-wrote the episode,
and it was directed by Jack Sholder ("The Hidden," "A Nightmare
on Elm Street 2"). I had directed some second-unit stuff on
"Bride of Chucky" (including the birth of the baby at the end),
and that led to my getting the gig on "Seed." I'm glad you saw
it as a "gothic fairy tale"; I was certainly aiming for that sort
of thing. I wanted to create a somewhat stylized world for the
dolls to inhabit, since the dolls themselves are, after all, sort
of stylized distortions of human beings. (For that matter, so is
Jennifer Tilly!) This sort of material wouldn't really work in a
completely naturalistic-looking environment. It's interesting
and gratifying that you saw the film as being "more lavish than
earlier entries," because "Seed" was the least expensive of all
the "Chucky" films, and FAR less expensive than "Bride." With
limited money and resources (we shot in Romania), we had to
figure out a way to turn this liability into an asset. Setting
sixty-to-seventy per-cent of the story inside one house was key,
but given that constraint, it was important to somehow provide
constant visual interest and variety. So, Jennifer's house is a
massive, Spanish Colonial-cum-Gothic space, with huge rooms
looking onto other huge rooms in the background, all with bold,
contrasting colors -- Argento's "Suspiria" was an inspiration
here.
TD: One of the many great things about Seed Of Chucky, and Bride
also, is that, as you yourself have stated, they really aren’t
horror films, but kind of horror takes on particular sub-genres,
i.e., the lovers-on-the-run flick and the family drama, like
Kramer Versus Kramer. Care to elaborate on this?
DM: With both of these movies, I tried to approach the story in
terms of character. The addition of Tiffany in "Bride," and now
Glen in "Seed," allows us to see new sides of Chucky's
character. That was the most important thing. "Bride" could
also be called "Chucky's In Love," and since both characters are
serial killers, it seemed that the best, most FUN way to explore
that dynamic was by spoofing the venerable "criminal lovers-on-
the-run" genre. Since "Seed" is about families, I couldn't
resist the opportunity to parody the prestigious "family drama"
genre, with its extended dialogue scenes, as family members argue
and shout, and stalk around rooms. Doing this sort of thing with
puppets seemed funny and, just as important, original.
TD: Another of the many great things is the presence of Jennifer
Tilly. What was her reaction when she read her “real-life”
character in Seed? And also, has Julia Roberts responded?
DM: Before I could begin writing "Seed," I of course had to make
sure Jennifer was into this idea. We'd become friends by this
point, so I was pretty sure she'd embrace it. But I was surprised
-- and thrilled -- by how gleeful she was about spoofing herself.
She pushed me to go farther and farther with the character's
outrageousness; at times, we had to pull back, in order to ensure
that the character would remain sympathetic to the audience!
(Jennifer recounts a few details in her hilarious on-set diary,
which will be featured on the DVD.) We haven't heard anything
from Ms. Roberts, although in the scene in which Jennifer accuses
Julia of sleeping with her director, the studio advised us to add
Hannah Spearritt's line "Jennifer, you know that's not true," in
order to avoid truly offending Her Highness.
TD: Seed Of Chucky opens with one of the all-time great (non-
porn) celluloid semen sequences, alongside the likes of Look
Who's Talking (and Look Whos Talking Too. I can’t remember if the
dog one had spunk jokes), Ichi The Killer, and Woody Allen’s
Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex. Is this sequence
biologically accurate? Also, someone posting on the IMDB message
boards seems very confused as to how Tiffany ended up giving
birth so quickly. Please take this opportunity for to clear this
up for everyone.
DM: My standard answer to this question is this: Doll biology
isn't an exact science. Little is known about it at this point,
and experts disagree about even the most fundamental principles.
After doing considerable research, I just had to take my best
guess. I defy anyone to provide hard, real-life evidence which
would contradict the details of Glen's conception and birth as
depicted in these movies. No one can prove that dolls don't
procreate like this.
TD: Seed seems to offer a conclusion to the saga, of sorts. Is
this the end of the line for Chucky and Tiffany?
DM: God, I hope not. I want to remodel my house.
TD: Far as I can see, the reaction to the character of Tiffany
since Bride has been pretty damn ecstatic (my own reaction
included. Tiffany rules, is what, thanks also to the brilliant,
sublime Ms Tilly). Did you envision the character being so
popular, or was it initially just a kinda gimmick for that
installment, and then probably things would revert to just Chucky?
DM: I wrote the part of Tiffany with Jennifer in mind. I knew
that if she played the role, Tiffany could become Gracie Allen to
Chucky's George Burns. I hope that they'll remain a venerable
demonic duo.
TD: Far as I can tell, Bride Of Chucky got off with a PG rating
in Singapore, yet Seed has been rated M18. Something of an
achievement, right there. You succeeded where Ronny Yu failed.
DM: The violence in "Bride" was intentionally stylized and
aestheticized in a De Palma-esque manner. (Example: Tiffany's
electrocution in the bathtub, with the soap bubbles wafting
through the air. I originally wrote that scene in my first draft
of "Child's Play." It took me over a decade to get it on-screen,
and Ronny did a great job with it.) With "Seed," in my quest to
do something new with the series, I wanted to make a movie in the
tradition of "Evil Dead II" and "Dead Alive" -- something so gory
and splatterific, it makes you laugh.
TD: How do you feel about those Team America folks going ahead
and getting all this praise for having the puppet sexing, when
come the hell on, man, Chucky and Tiff were getting it on back in
98!?
DM: I saw that scene in "Team America" (which I loved) as an
homage to my own classic work.
TD: As Kit Du Bois, you penned the seminal Cellar Dweller. What
about a sequel to that right there? Maybe something about all
these comic book movies getting made, and someone makes a Cellar
Dweller flick and holy shit, man, all hell breaks loose?
DM: Keep it quiet, man! I used a pseudonym on that flick for a
reason!
TD: You’ve yet to wander from the horror movie field of things.
Do you think you’ll maybe pen or direct, say, a romantic comedy
in the future? (a non-doll based one, I mean). Or would you
rather carry on like you’ve been doing, subverting the genre by
introducing the traits of other genres?
DM: I'd like to do both, actually. But the script I'm writing
now, which I hope to direct, is another horror movie, though one
very different in tone from "Chucky." It's neither camp nor a
slasher flick; it's more in the tradition of "Poltergeist."
TD: Childs Play and Cellar Dweller were released in 1988. It’s
taken until 2004 for you to step up behind the cameras and wear
the big baseball-cap and stuff (ie, direct). Why the delay? Was
it a case of folks not willing to take chances with a first-time
director, or were you just waiting until you felt comfortable?
Did you pick up any tricks from the likes of Ronny Yu or John
Lafia?
DM: I learned a lot from all the directors I've worked with. I
owe a lot to David Kirschner, the producer of all the "Chucky"
films. He allowed me to participate in the making of these
movies to a degree that not a lot of screenwriters experience.
It was a great training ground. I've wanted to direct all my
life, but as you suggest, studios don't trust their millions to
just anyone; you have to prove yourself, as I did, I guess, with
my work on "Bride."
TD: When you settle down in the Mancini home of an evening, what
flicks tend to get you all enraptured?
DM: I like a lot of different kinds of movies, though my tastes
tend to run toward stuff that's "bigger-than-life" -- horror,
thrillers, adventure, stylized comedy, animation (I'm a huge
"Simpsons" fan). My favorite recent movies are "Kill Bill" (I and
II), "The Aviator," "The Incredibles," "The Bourne Supremacy,"
"Shrek 2," and "The Manchurian Candidate." My favorite directors:
De Palma; Spielberg; Fincher; Burton; Jackson; Ridley Scott;
Shyamalan (I thought "The Village" was over-maligned).
And with that, barring a question he already answered, he’s gone,
like in that flick with Kevin Spacey about Gabriel Byrne has
killed everyone, but no, wait, it wasn’t him after all, or maybe
it was, but it doesn’t matter cause he turns out to be Satan and
then Arnold Schwarzenegger drinks some booze and shoots him
fuckless with an Uzi 9-mm.
So what can we learn from all this right here? Probably that Don
Mancini is the coolest fella a man could ever hope to interrogate
ever even once. That no-one but The Duke shares The Duke’s love
of Cellar Dweller. That not only is Seed Of Chucky a work of
glorious wonder, but also, it wasn’t a fluke, it turns out. And,
most of all, that when it boils down to it, Kirsten Dunst only
hangs around with that Darko motherfucker cause he claims to know
The Duke.
Not one hair does he know, is the harrowing truth of the matter.
Thanks folks.
Drop The Duke A Line
