Child's Play Redux!!

Quint over at AICN recently sat down with Child's Play creator Dan Mancini and producer David Kirschner to talk about the 20 year Anniversary of "Child's Play" and the possibility of a remake. Word is that Mancini and Kirschner are both psyched about doing a reboot of the series and it will definately happen! Don Mancini will be writing and directing the reboot and it will most likely be hitting theaters fall 2010. Dan and David are in final negotiations with Universal and David Kirschner will again produce the remake of Child's Play.

Quint asked the two if they were at all hesitant about remaking the franchise considering, alot of fans have been more than vocal about the other remakes that we have been bombarded with as of late. Mancini replied, "I see what you are saying, it’s never going to mean as much to the new people coming in as it does to the people who created it and in our case kind of tended it lovingly over the course of twenty years...I think what we are mainly responding to, David and I, is the will of the fans, which is really telling us that they want to see a scary Chucky movie again. They want to go back to the straightforward horror rather than the horror comedy." Mancini added, "I think, unless we completely screw it up, it has the potential to be scarier than the original based on the stuff we are talking about, which I know sounds very mysterious and abstract, but anyone in our position would say that at this point, but as you pointed out we do have the advantage of being the people who created the franchise in the first place." They do make a great point, most of the remakes, the original creators are only used in a small manner. Hideo Nakata comes to mind as one of the only directors or creators of an original to helm a reboot with the Ring series, but he was only brought in on the sequel and not the original remake of his first film "Ringu."

Quint asked how much of a remake it would be and Mancini replied, "it’s a reboot, we are telling the origin story again, but beyond certain broad stroke details, it’s really quite a reinvention I would say." Obvisouly they don't want to give much away, and for hardcore Chucky fans they may even be surprised. David Kirschner added, "I think Don has really created some really clever twists and expectations that a fan of the first CHILD’S PLAY film, you will be surprised and shocked by, but it will follow I think very closely a lot of the first film against twists and turns that Don has put into it that an audience thinks it is going to go one way and we will go another." Nice, so some new surprises for us die-hard's! (I loved the first Child's Play, but by Part 3 I was over the campy Chucky and wanted scary again, so this has me very excited!)

The best tidbit is that Brad Dourif will once again play Chucky! Quint had asked if they would be doing what Platinum Dunes and Rob Zombie has done with casting new actors as they famous villains. Kirschner quickly replied, "No, no, it’s going to be Brad." Mancini added, "It’s not like we would ever…who would you get that’s better? I mean with Chucky so much of it…because he’s a puppet, there’s an aspect of him that feels like he’s an animated character, so his voice is such an immense part of it as well as what he looks like." Thank god, I could not imagine someone else playing the role. (I regards with Platinum Dunes and the rumor that Robert Englund wont be in the remake as Freddy, I think that will work just fine, but Chucky would really be a hard sell)

The last bit of news that comes as a relief and a sorta a shock is that they will keep puppets! So much of horror now days seems to be cgi and it really takes away from the film, and it is nice to hear that they will continue with a puppet chucky! Mancini answered when asked if their would be puppets, "Definitely! They are these tangible, imperfect things and the actors need to have it to bounce off of and it always bothers me particularly in the horror genre, you can so tell when people are responding to the green tennis ball that is being held in front of them."

Read full interview here


Thoughts on a Child's Play remake? Is it positive that the original team are all back? Will you be seeing the remake of Child's Play? More to come....