Jennifer Tilly explains how ‘Chucky’ became the queerest program on television
Who said an old doll can’t learn new tricks? Chucky, the half-liter plastic star Childish franchise, has been a beloved horror movie boogeyman for two decades and it counts. But his latest role in the TV series Chucky – which continues the story and the extensive continuity that began in the original 1988 film – is perhaps his most unexpected: LGBTQ allies. Since the premiere of Syfy and the US last month, Chucky has proven to be the most queer series on mainstream television, with several storylines featuring gay and sexist characters.
For example, the series’ teenage hero, Jake (Zackary Arthur), is seriously in love with another boy at school, Devon (Björgvin Arnarson) – feelings that turn out to be reciprocated. So in the second episode, Chucky – whose little body is possessed by the spirit of serial killer Charles Lee Ray – reveals to Jake that he is the father of a sexually fluid child, Glen / Glenda, confirming a piece of mythology originally mentioned in the 2004 installment, Seeds of Chucky. “I have a queer child,” Chucky revealed to Jake in a clip that immediately went viral on Twitter. And when the teenager in love asked the doll if he was “cool” with it, the killer doll replied with absolute seriousness: “I’m not a monster, Jake.”
Meanwhile, Chucky’s longtime lover and Glen / Glenda’s mother, Tiffany Valentine (Jennifer Tilly) – who joined the franchise in the 1998s The bride of Chucky – has his own hot and heavy sex-fluid romance going on. In the fifth episode just released, Tiffany is revealed to be with Nica Pierce, played by Fiona Dourif, daughter of actress Brad Dourif, who has voiced Chucky since the original Childish. At the end of 2017 The Chucky Cult, Nica was obsessed with part of the doll’s spirit, and he still inhabits her body for make-out sessions / murder rituals with Tiffany, even though the wheelchair-bound heroine is trying to expel the demon doll.
For her part, Tilly could not be happier that the franchise has taken such a progressive turn. “I think it’s a gift to the gay community,” she told Yahoo Entertainment, noting Childish the creator, Don Mancini, is a gay screenwriter. “Don wanted to write something that was about his experience of growing up, so Jake is based on Don. And viewers love Jake and the relationship between him and Devon. It’s amazing how accepting children are: there is no backlash.”
In the case of Tiffany’s cross-border romance with Nica / Chucky, Mancini also pays tribute Hardcover, Lana and Lily Wachowski’s 1996 robbery film, which featured Tilly and Gina Gershon as lesbian lovers outsmarting a group of misogynistic gangsters. “Hardcover was not it Urinary instinct, “says the actress about the groundbreaking film, which celebrated its 25th anniversary last month.” Back then, lesbians were going to die, or they were going to be schizophrenics or something else weird. But i Hardcover, no one was punished. It was about two people who ripped the mob off and who were in love, and both happened to be women. “
Looking forward to future episodes of Chucky, Tilly teases that Tiffany might start to feel true love for Nica, even when Chucky’s does not has control over his body. “She loves Chucky, but she also falls in love with Nica because it’s a perfect fusion of the feminine and the masculine. Chucky can also be very abrupt, where Nica is kind of sweet. It’s really interesting for Tiffany! And Fiona’s like that. a great actress and a great kiss. It’s so much fun to do steamy scenes with her. ”
Glen / Glenda’s proud mother is just as excited that her offspring are finally back Childish canon after Universal banished them to the back of the closet after Seeds of Chucky. Chucky and Tiffany’s child was originally seen in the closing moments of The bride of Chucky, but the next film officially established them as gender fluid – one of the many elements that led the studio to dismiss Mancini’s script as “too gay.” (The film was later made by Universal’s special arm, Focus Features, and distributed by the genre brand Rogue Pictures, which Universal owned until 2008.)
“Universal was like, ‘We must never see that kid again,’ so they disappeared,” Tilly says of Glen / Glenda, narrated by Lord of the Rings star, Billy Boyd. (The name is a tribute to Ed Wood’s 1953 cult film, Glen or Glenda.) “At the time, Seeds of Chucky was the worst received film [in the franchise]. I love it by chance, but it was so campy and so gay; I mean, we had John Waters play a pervy paparazzi! I said to Don, ‘It’s ahead of its time,’ and that was it. Now everyone is crying out for Glen / Glenda to come back! “
Even Chucky’s longtime enemies on screen – Alex Vincent and Christine Elise, who have been part of the franchise since Childish and Childish respectively – are pleased that the doll’s views have evolved since 2004, when he expressed preference for having a son. “There’s not much redeemable about Charles Lee Ray, other than perhaps certainly his sense of humor,” says Vincent, whose alter ego, Andy Barclay, was a child when he first met Chucky 23 years ago. “But it’s refreshing to have this little tinge of decency, even if it’s fleeting. It’s a reference that fans were also really waiting to hear.”
“I’m constantly told if Glen / Glenda wants to be on the show,” the actor continues. For all that shit Seeds of Chucky got from part of the fan base, I think Don knew to go into the series [most fans] really connect to that character, and would very much like them to be a part of the show. “And Mancini has added additional fuel to that fire by teasing the impending return of Tiffany and Chucky’s child.” All I can say is … stay tuned! “he remarked in a recent interview.
Even without a Glen / Glenda cameo (yet), Elise – who plays Andy’s foster sister, Kyle – says she’s already been seen Chuckyinfluence on the young audience. “I have a friend with twin boys who goes to eighth grade, and one of them is gay,” she says. “He thinks I’m the best person on earth because I’m in a show where the main character is gay! And it’s just being treated as a fact: the whole show is not about Jake being gay. I think it’s very useful to society, especially to children who are struggling now. ”
Has been a part of both Hardcover and the increasingly progressive Childish franchise, Tilly has similarly had first-hand experience with the way movies and TV shows can change public perception. “This is where media can be very helpful,” she notes. “Chucky has a large gay audience, a huge heterosexual audience and a large children’s audience … it crosses all boundaries. So it’s really nice that we can reflect the world as it is and everyone is happy with that. I also love that we can say 10 ‘F ****’ per. section! I watched the show last night and one of the kids said, “Oh f ***.” It’s great to hear kids talk like kids. ”
Chucky airs Tuesdays at 10pm on Syfy and USA.
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