Last month, we brought you the frankly underwhelming trailer for the upcoming Child’s Play reboot due later this year. After watching same, and perusing the flick’s IMDb page, one thing became abundantly clear — nobody seemed to be voicing, or even was listed as the voice of Chucky or, er, Buddi as he’s now known. Was this a deliberate choice on the part of the filmmakers? It seems not.
Test screenings are currently taking place, leading to the leakage of some key details about the movie. If you’re not pushed about spoiling the thing, check out YouTubers Jimmy Champagne and 3C Films’ dissections HERE and HERE. We won’t ruin it, but suffice to say the most tantalising detail to be gleaned is that Orion have yet to cast the voice of Buddi.
At the moment, the killer doll is voiced by the head of animatronics. Orion is apparently courting an A-list actor (no word yet on whether they’re looking for an adult or a kid, so Jaeden Liberher or Finn Wolfhard may yet take the mantle) to take the place of series stalwart Brad Dourif who, along with Chucky creator Don Mancini, is not involved with the upcoming movie and not happy about it either.
Separately to the upcoming film, ancini is working on a Chucky TV series for SyFy. Appearing on the Flickering Myth podcast towards the end of last year, Mancini had some choice words for the reboot and those behind it. He admitted to feeling hurt, particularly considering Chucky is still in pretty good health.
You know, I had just done two movies…forgive me if I sound defensive, [they] were both at 83 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Even though they didn’t get theatrical releases, they were well regarded. And I did create the character and nurture the franchise for three f*****g decades
Mancini revealed he did not sign off on the new film, and both he and producer David Kirschner refused to executive produce it themselves, when asked.
We have our ongoing thriving business with Chucky… The producers of that movie are the producers of It. How would they feel if there was some legal loophole that allowed David Kirschner and I to swoop in and make our own It movie with our own version of Pennywise and say, ‘Hey guys, we would love to put your names on it?’ I imagine they wouldn’t like it
Mancini went on to explain that it’s not about the money, but rather how personal Chucky is to him, and how Child’s Play 2019 might negatively affect his ability to revisit the killer doll on the big screen in future. Echoing his sentiments, the legendary Jennifer Tilly, who features in the movies both as herself as well as voicing Chucky’s paramour Tiffany, took to Twitter to express her displeasure.
From Orion Pictures, Child’s Play 2019 is billed as a “contemporary re-imagining” of the original film, whatever the hell that means. It follows Aubrey Plaza’s single mother, who gifts her young son (played by Gabriel Bateman) a Buddi doll, which is basically an A.I. toy with murderous intentions. So no voodoo, no serial killer soul, no Chucky essentially.
The flick is directed by Norwegian filmmaker Lars Klevberg (Polaroid) from a script by Tyler Burton Smith. Bryan Tyree Henry co-stars. Child’s Play boasts some heavy-hitter producers too, in the form of Seth Grahamhe-Smith and David Katzenberg, who produced the brilliant IT movie adaptation.
Child’s Play hits theaters on June 21, 2019. We’ll keep you updated as the date draws closer.
Child’s Play hits theaters on June 21, 2019. We’ll keep you updated as the date draws closer.
