All language subtitles for Behind.the.Monsters.S01E03.WEBRip.x264-ION10

- The latest awful example
of pre-Christmas selling hype

to hit America:
Cabbage Patch Dolls.

- In the mid '80s, when
I was in film school at UCLA,

I wanted to write a dark satire

about how marketing
affects children.

- A full-grown
woman taking a doll

out of a child's hand?

- I was very aware of how
cynical that world is.

Animatronic puppetry had gotten
to a level of sophistication

that you could do pretty
much anything with a puppet.

- As a kid, you imagine
them coming to life

or being your friend.

And then to find that in
a film like "Child's Play"

where the doll comes to
life, I can talk to him,

but then he wants to kill you.

- Action.

- Hi, I'm Chucky, want to play?

- It had never been done before.

However, it's such
a fun concept,

but to provide the
audience with any rationale

for it happening in reality,

it was going to be
a hell of a ride.

- Anything you could write,
the puppet could say and emote,

I realized that it
had never been done

on such a big scale before,

where you could
really treat the doll

as a full fledged
leading character.

You give him a character
arc, and pages of dialogue.

- Chucky had never
been done before.

Back then the animatronics
were kind of crude,

but I thought we can
build something better.

- My wife and I had been in
London and I bought a book

called "The Victorian
Dollhouse Murders",

but I just thought the
idea of a talking doll

might be great.

Now I wanted to prove to people

after two animated
television specials

and on my first animated feature
that I could do something

beyond animation.

And so I kind of set
my sights on the idea

of doing something within
the realm of horror.

My development person said
that there had been a script

called "Blood Buddy"
by Don Mancini,

but it had been
out to the studios,

and everybody passed on it.

- One of the features
of the good guy dolls

in my original script was,
you've seen dolls that pee,

these bleed, Andy cuts his
thumb and Chucky's thumb

and mixes it together.

And after that, the
murders start to occur.

My description of Chucky
was extremely specific,

partly because I was
advised to do so.

Thank God, by a lawyer
friend of mine at the time

who worked at the
Writer's Guild,

he told me when I was
working on this script,

"Write that doll with as
much specificity as you can,

"because if it becomes a thing
that becomes merchandisable,

"you want to be the legal
creator of that character".

- Chucky came in a
line of evil doll

TV shows and movies.

The one that really stands
out is the Zuni Fetish doll

in "Trilogy of Terror".

That image always stuck
with me of Karen Black,

trying to grab the knife
while he's stabbing her,

and she's cutting
her fingers up.

- Oh!

- And you're like,
"Stop, Karen, stop".

- Dolls have been a popular
horror antagonist forever.

You know, going back to the
'40s, "The Dead of Night",

you know, Tina from
"Twilight Zone",

the clown doll in
"Poltergeist", you know.

But the great thing
about '80s horror

is that the effects
had finally caught up

to the imagination,
and Chucky was, like,

that perfect
intersection, right?

Because you finally
had the technology

where you could pull off a
killer doll convincingly.

- 1988, I think is
really a great moment

for that character
to be introduced

because for kids who
grew up during that time,

there was a doll called
the My Buddy doll

that was advertised
incessantly on television.

- Those My Buddy dolls
came out and I was like...

Those dolls are weird.

Like, who thought
that was a good idea?

It wasn't, it was just creepy.

And then making it
a cute song, like,

Why are you climbing up a
tree with a life-size doll?

It's just weird.

- If you're a kid,
Chucky is so perfect

because you got your
toys, and you're like,

"I think I got a
bunch of friends",

but they're not your
friends, no, indeed.

- It's a commentary
on capitalism

because it's a toy
that people want.

And then it kills you, which
I think is a really fun angle.

- I came up with the
notion of what I call

that Frankenstein moment
of Charles Lee Ray

passing his soul
onto the Chucky doll.

Now, Tom Holland said
that wasn't enough.

- I needed somebody to
justify Charles Lee Ray

being transposed to
the body of that doll.

And it was such a crazy thing.

I needed something as
fantastical as the concept,

and the thing that
was the catch all

for all weird things
that happened was voodoo.

- Opening of that
movie, so loose.

And then suddenly
out of nowhere,

it creates this voodoo
ceremony from the skies.

- In this department
store, so you're like,

"Okay, there's
obviously a lot of story

"we don't know about him
from that opening scene".

That's a lot to do very quickly.

And then from then on he's
injected into the body

of this doll, and everything
has to be through voice acting.

And so you just need,

you need a great actor
to be able to carry

that voice performance.

- Tom said, "I'd really
like to try Brad Dourif".

So that was thrilling.

And then when we heard what
he had put down, it was,

oh my God, that was great.

- He was full of energy
and he was way out there.

And so I knew that
would stick with you.

And whenever you saw that
doll, you were thinking,

"Oh my goodness", Charles
Lee Ray, Brad Dourif,

from that one scene,
defined Chucky

throughout the entire movie.

- Oh, God, I'm dying.

You did this, you
son of a bitch!

I'm going to get you for it!

You have to remember when
you do voice for a doll,

all the voice is done first,

then they do the
doll to the voice.

So we had to really lay down
what we felt Chucky was like.

And the only way to do that
was for me to get, like,

on my knees and, you know,
squat down and, you know,

really give a little
Chucky to everybody.

- This isn't groceries.

- A good guy, I knew it!

I knew you would get me one!

- I was a little,
like, "It's not horror.

"This is, like, this is some
drama about a mom and a son".

And then they started saying,
"Well, we go to LA next week.

"Then we, you know,
we'll get the doll".

And I went, "The doll, okay,

"damn it, that makes it horror".

- They get that script,

and David came over
and just had finished

"Nightmare On Elm St 3".

I turned the Freddy's
fake head on for him.

So it was a big, huge
head, it was animatronic.

It had all the cable
movement and had eye movement

and David loved it.

And that's how I got
kind of involved with it.

David had ideas, you know,
that he came in with, you know,

we'd talked about all the
psychology of the doll

and what scared him about
the script and stuff,

And so we had a
really great meeting.

Then I just went
to start sculpting

off of what David
had talked about.

- Corky.

- The voice that was
used for that doll,

they hired him to do
the Good Guy doll.

- Hi pal, my name's Corky!

- Hi, I'm Chucky!

- And, side note, was that
after the "Child's Play" film

came out, mothers were
bringing those dolls

back to the store and
asking for their money back.

And eventually we
put that company

out of business, unfortunately.

But back to the doll,

we used this green clay.

We used to use pink dental
acrylic for the eyes.

So as I brought the sculpture
in to all these meetings,

they would compare
it to the Corky doll,

they would say, "Ah, it's
just not very attractive.

"I mean, look how
cute Corky is".

So I went back to the
shop and I took my Corky

that they'd given me, and
I tore out all its hair,

and I painted it
green, clay green.

And then I put two
pink orbs in it.

And I brought it back
in to them and said,

"Now which one's cuter?"

And then they ended up saying,
"Okay, go ahead and mold it".

- Looking back, I think
I was so young and naive.

I just thought I'll
find somebody to bring
the doll to life.

And Kevin Yagher
was that person.

- I just heard "Kevin
Yagher, Kevin Yagher.

"He made the doll, oh
my God, he's amazing".

And I just developed a crush,

I'd go to set on
days I wasn't working

in a short skirt,
just try my best.

But anyway, it was the wrap
party and Kevin was there

and I just said, "Did we
have a little thing going?"

And he took my hand behind
the Chicago scram, you know,

and he kissed me, just a
little kiss and I went,

"I'm done, oh, my God".

So we've been married 30 years.

- Hi, Catherine.

- Hi, how are you?

I know you're sick
of looking at me.

- I had built, I think,
a total of, like,

seven to nine different
Chuckys or Chucky parts,

but one was a full cable Chucky.

We had a servo Chucky,

then I had a kicking, flailing
one that you could toss

and throw around, and it would,

- Look like it was
upset or whatever,

throwing a tantrum.

- What Kevin Yagher did
with Chucky was remarkable.

The amount of articulation
and facial modulation

that he gave him.

- It's me, Chucky.

What do you think?

The gri gri work?

- The way that Chucky
moves, it feels like a doll,

but at the same time, it
doesn't feel like a doll.

- Chucky doesn't scare
me in the same way

that Michael Myers does.

He doesn't scare me in the
same way that Freddy does,

but he's just cool.

He's funny, he doesn't have
to wait for a kill scene

in order to be a smart-ass.

He's also a complete dick.

- I said, talk to me, damn it,

or else I'm going to
throw you in the fire.

- You stupid bitch,
you filthy slut!

I'll teach you to fuck with me!

- As an adult, it's
funny to see someone

who's so misogynistic actually
have the Napoleonic stature

to match that rude,
terrible, entitled mentality.

And so from a
woman's perspective,

it's actually pretty
fun to watch Chucky now,

just seeing him as a reply
guy in human doll-like form.

- I mean, that's, it's so
ridiculous and offensive,

but it's hilarious, right?

And I love that.

- Some child left
their doll on the elevator.

- You know, in the elevator?

Come on, that's classic.

- Ugly doll.

- Fuck you.

- I love a funny
slasher villain.

And I think Chucky is so funny.

Thought, damn, do
I love that, maybe.

- The basis of horror,
no matter what it is,

you're facing a monster.

And the definition of
a monster is something

that is going to get you
with whom or with which

you cannot negotiate.

- Mommy!

- You are prey.

And that's what Chucky does.

There's nothing innocent,

about "Child's Play".

- You never know the outcome
of what makes a box office,

but United Artists, at the time,

they were having a lot
of problems that year.

They released a couple of films.

The first one that was number
one for them was "Rain Man".

And then, shockingly, to all
of them, we became number two.

I don't think they
expected that in any way.

- It went through the roof.

People went crazy for the movie.

- In terms of horror
icons, Chucky fucks.

- Chucky connected in a way
that other characters don't

because they didn't try and
complicate his backstory.

- What's he been saying?

- All kinds of things.

His real name is
Charles Lee Ray,

and he's been sent down
from heaven by daddy

to play with me.

- Chucky's a serial
killer, and he's a bad guy.

And he just happens to be
in the body of a doll now.

- You have to transfer
your soul out of the doll,

into the first human being you
revealed your true self to.

- Chucky knows, I think, the
ridiculousness of his situation

and is able to come to
terms with it quite quickly

and then go about trying
to deal with that.

- The first person I let
in on my little secret

was a six year old kid.

I'm going to be six
years old again!

- He has very clear goal.

I need to get into
that child's body.

- I can say definitively,

no other slasher has had
the character development

that Chucky has, none,

not a single one
has grown or learned

to accept his position in life.

And honestly, thrived.

- He can get around, he knew
how to manipulate people.

He knew when to shut up
and just act like a doll.

- Come on, Chucky,
say something!

Tell me why you lied
to me about everything.

- He also knew when
to pick his moments

of revealing himself.

- Good night, asshole.

- Chucky was phenomenal.

That one hit hard,

because I had a couple
ventriloquist dummies

at the time, I was
really into ventriloquism

as a kid, also really
popular at the same time,

it made me look at
the Charlie McCarthy

and Groucho Marx dummies
that I had on my shelf,

and be scared.

- What do people always say
when it comes to Chucky?

- Huge dick.

- No, why don't
you just kick it?

- Oh, I hate Chucky.

I just hate Chucky,
it's a doll, okay.

Kick him across the room.

The only reason he kills anybody

is because they're dumb enough

to trip and fall
in front of him.

- I don't really put much stock

into the whole
conceptual complaint.

"Oh, he's just a
doll, just kick him".

From the first movie
on, Chucky demonstrates

he has a strength
of a grown ass man.

He can do whatever he
wants, he can choke people.

He can strangle you with
his tiny little doll arms.

He can do it if he
wants to, and he will.

So when people say like, "Oh,
just kick him, just punt him".

You're not going to do that.

- He had so much resilience
and so much resolve,

that Chucky, I think he
earned all of our respect

by the end of "Child's Play".

- He's the,
- He had to.

- He is the embodiment
of the American spirit.

- The first film did very well.

And the studio said, "We
want to make a second one".

And I was thrilled.

And I called Don and I
said, "Will you write this?"

And, you know, he
was thrilled as well.

- Sorry, Jack.

Chucky's back.

"Child's Play 2".

- When we see part two,

it still feels a lot
like the original,

but you're seeing a little
bit of Mancini come through.

- What the hell is that?

- You've seen dolls that
pee, this one bleeds.

- He's this little shit
running around causing mayhem.

And I think people really
like those characters.

Chucky was not in the
initial advertising.

You just saw his eyes, you
didn't see him as a doll.

By the time of the second one,

Chucky was front and
center in the advertising.

- Amazing, isn't it?

- I dreamed of the sequel
potential, but, you know,

didn't think it would
ever really happen.

I had those pipe dreams,

and I feel like I
won the lottery.

The movie got made, the
movie was successful.

They decided to do a third one.

- Hey, long time, no see, pal.

- No, you're dead,
we killed you.

- You know what they say?

You just can't keep
a good guy down.

- "Child's Play 3"
did not do well.

And I had felt even
when making that movie

that I was in a rut,
and that I was starting

to repeat myself and that it
was starting to feel formulaic.

- Don't you blame the movies,
movies don't create psychos.

Movies make psychos
more creative.

- One of the doors that
got opened up by "Scream"

was humor and wit
and self-awareness,

it allowed me to really
focus in on Chucky

as a character, and really start

to get into more about
what makes this guy,

what makes Chucky tick.

It was just really an
opportunity to do something

with our slasher icon that
no one else had really done.

- "Child's Play" moved
from MGM to Universal.

And so from there,

they could no longer use
the title "Child's Play".

But what happened was they
used the title "Chucky",

and that's because
he was that character

that everyone latched on to.

- Tiff?

- Hmm?

- Those dishes aren't going
to wash themselves, you know.

What are you doing?

- Ah!

- It's been fun to watch
Chucky evolve over those years,

but evolve with consistency.

It wasn't evolving
because new people came in

and wanted to do
something different.

- Here's the first one.

Oh, look, it's Donnie.

- It was evolving
because Don came back,

knowing all the stuff in his
head and knowing what worked,

and what didn't, allowed
him to thread that needle.

- You not only see
Chucky's evolution

where we see Chucky
be the movie slasher,

but then sort of be
a symbol of camp,

and embrace his place as
an icon in pop culture.

- Here's Chucky,
the murderous doll

from the new movie
"The Bride of Chucky".

- Well, hello, everyone.

As we all know, the
Clinton White House

has been busy this week,

preparing its
anti-impeachment strategy.

From where I sit, the best
way to solve this whole thing

is to stab Kenneth Starr in
the forehead with scissors.

- That series, I think,
is just something

that is masterwork and how
to handle an iconic villain.

- This has been coming
for a long, long time, G.

We get to fall,

- What?

- What the devil?

Get that dummy out of here!

We're trying to
conduct an interview.

- I'm doing love scenes
with Jennifer Tilly,

and you're calling me a dummy?

- And this is, is there
some sort of resemblance?

- I don't see it.

- You don't see it?

- That's not,

- Subscribers of the
Texas Alert System

received a strange Amber
alert this morning,

in the search of a Chucky doll.

- It found a new groove,

because of the strange
journeys it's taken.

- When they had
sex, I was shocked.

I said,

they can't, you know,

it was like, it was
like, no, no, no, no, no.

This is so right and so wrong.

- Wait, wait.

- What, what, what?

- Have you got a rubber?

- That's amazing, I
mean, at one point,

Jennifer says, "Wait,
wait, stop, stop.

"Don't we need a rubber?"

- Have I got a rubber?

- Yeah.

- Tiff!

- What?

- Look at me, I'm all rubber!

- Brad Dourif is incredible.

And the alpha brain
genius of what actor

can hold a candle to Brad Dourif

being Jennifer Tilly, good God.

- I just love the fact
that the two would sit back

in a van in "Bride of Chucky",

and they would exchange,
they'd be laughing

and talking about
their relationship.

- Sucker.

- I think they
make a cute couple.

- I heard back from somebody
that was over at Universal.

And they said that they
were blown away by it

because they had never seen
two puppets interact like that.

They forgot they were
watching puppets.

- And if you ask me, it would
be a shame to break them up,

if you know what I mean.

- Chucky's cool.

- Chucky's the dude I
want to hang out with.

There's just something
about like, you know,

being out with your buddies,
like, it's like, 1:00 AM,

maybe the party is
kind of dying down.

You get, like, a
text from Chucky.

It's like, it looks like
Chucky's going to roll through.

Everybody wants to show back up.

You're ordering pizza.

You know Chucky's coming.

That's a fun part
of the entourage.

- He is the coolest guy ever.

- He's fucking hanging out.

- Mommy's tired,
time to go to sleep.

- Okay, I get it.

You're still hung up
on the domestic thing.

No problem, we'll get hitched.

- Chucky wasn't always killing.

He was only killing
people who really,

for all intents and purposes,

were trying to
keep him enslaved.

They had him captured, he
didn't want to be a doll.

- He was a serial killer.

But then he made his
own life later on,

which is also makes
Chucky so cool.

- Chucky is the coolest.

- The second he realized,

like, he can get a
lot done being a doll.

He starts a family.

- Oh, my.

- What, no, we, you
didn't, we didn't.

- Oh, sweet face.

Come to mommy.

- Oh.

- Chucky had a very
fun, witty, clever,

biting, gay vibe to it.

And Don brought that to it.

- Is it true that you
and Redman are in talks

about you starring
in his new movie?

- We have a John Waters cameo

and it immediately sets the
expectations for what this is,

who is behind it, and what
lens it's looking through.

Right down to the
names that are given

to Tiffany and Chucky's child,
which is Glen and Glenda,

which is a reference to Ed Wood,

honestly, I spent a long
time thinking about it.

I think "Glen and
Glenda" might be

the first conversation in
movies that I'd ever seen

that doesn't equate
genitalia with gender.

- I'm gratified by
the fact that it seems

to have really found its
place in pop culture.

The whole LBGTQ aspect of it.

I always hear from
young people who tell me

that the character of Glen
Glenda meant a lot to them

to see a new kind
of representation

in a mainstream horror movie.

- What am I?

- It's just truly
remarkable and is so rare

in this industry
to allow a creator

the opportunity to grow with
their character in that way

and have the autonomy to
let their character go

in the places that Don
was able to take Chucky.

- He's the most promising
killer I have ever seen.

You should have
been there, Tiff.

You would have been
so proud of him.

- I want a girl.

- I want a boy.

- You're tearing me apart!

- The film winks at
the audience saying,

we know what this is,

and now we're on the
rollercoaster ride.

This is the Chucky that Don
always wanted to show us

and Chucky's living out loud.

And he is now on that adventure.

- Glen?

- Guess again, Daddy.

- Glenda?

- That's my name,
don't you wear it out.

- Oh, shit.

- "Bride" was a huge turn,
"Seed" was a huge turn,

and then "Curse" was as well.

- Chucky's my
friend till the end.

- It's a doll, what's the
worst that can happen, huh?

- You can't help
but root for Chucky

because he's the most
charismatic person in the room.

Your eye goes to
him immediately.

He's who you want to
spend time with in this.

You don't want Chucky
to be out of frame,

because he is the
most entertaining
thing in that frame.

- There was this revival
of trying to go back

to the roots of
horror, and of course,

that was "Curse" and "Cult".

- When Chucky returns
in "Curse" and "Cult",

it centers around
this idea that Chucky

has sort of become
an urban legend.

This creature that's
like even larger in myth

than he is in fact.

- Ow!

Dr. Foley, it's true.

He's alive.

- What have
you done to yourself now?

- It was him!

- Chucky is still Chucky,
and I love that about him.

I love how he has to
explain himself to a woman

who is borderline psychotic,

who doesn't quite believe
what she's seeing.

He has to say the words, "Let
me explain something to you".

- I am a vintage mass
marketed children's toy

from the '80s, holding
a very sharp scalpel.

- There's a character
who's laying on the table,

and Chucky engineers it

so that the glass
shatters above her.

As the shards come down,

she can see her
own death coming.

And that is one of the scariest
things in the world to me,

to be able to see it coming,

and not be able to do
anything but scream.

- Sometimes I scare myself.

- The idea that he
can take human form,

the multiple Chuckys
running around in "Cult",

like, heck yeah.

- Welcome to the cult, pal.

- I love also what they're
doing with the new Chucky,

bringing in technologies.

Now, Chucky is all new tech,

big tech giants
destroying our lives.

- Right, totally
not weird at all.

- There's such a fear as our
kids get into the cyber world

of what are they
going to get into?

What are the threats out there?

And by imbuing that into Chucky,

I thought it kind of made
it a little more provocative

than I expected for a remake.

I liked that they actually
did sort of bring it

into the 21st century.

- I didn't ever
think in my mind,

there'd be Halloween
costumes or all the licensing

that there is, and some of
these things go for $500 a piece

and they blow off the shelves.

- I think those characters,
you know, specifically,

if you're talking
about, like, Chucky,

they're always going to be able
to be referenced in fashion

and pop culture because they
are so developed, you know,

we know their entire history,
we know their wardrobe.

And I think that that's
something that you can't escape.

You got Nicki Minaj dressing
as the Bride of Chucky.

And, you know, she may or
may not have seen the movie,

but she knows that Jennifer
Tilly is fucking rad.

- The reason why
"Chucky" has survived

in the way it's survived

and how important it
still is in our culture

is because of Don Mancini.

His ability to adjust to the
time has been extraordinary.

- Don always wants to
do something different

with the character.

That's why I'm really looking
forward to the TV series.

That's going to see all these
different shades of Chucky

that Don has brought to the
series since the beginning.

- Hi, I'm Chucky, want to play?

- So, of course they named
the TV series "Chucky"

because that's what
everyone knows,

that's what everyone loves.

And that's what, you know,
audiences latch onto.

- Don't forget your boy toy.

- With the TV series, we
use Chucky as a metaphor

for the culture of bullying
that we see happening

in the world today.

The lead character is a gay boy.

He's a gay 14 year
old boy who's bullied.

And he has a homophobic father.

And I think that the show
has a bit of real life pain.

That's what we're getting
into with the TV series.

So that it seems like
it's valuable to do that,

to address that
through the prism

of a well-known horror icon.

- Mommy says real
killing is bad.

- Yeah, well mommy's full of sh-

- I'm very curious to see
where the television show goes.

But it's really
interesting how families

full-on embraced
Chucky as a character.

When you go to Halloween horror
nights and you see, like,

a Chucky running around, there's
always a kid that's like,

"I love you, Chucky".

- We have to remember.

We are very selfish as audiences

that we think everything's
being made for us,

but there's a whole
'nother generation

who have never seen a
"Child's Play" movie.

So it's really
important to remember

when these things come out.

It's not just about
somebody who's been there

for the whole journey, you know,

sometimes this is a
moment of reinvention.

- I travel around
the world to conventions

or film festivals.

- Let me introduce,
the man, the legend,

the creator of the "Chucky"
franchise, Don Mancini.

- I meet people who
tell me that Chucky

meant something to them.

It's just not every day
that you get so lucky

that something that you write
is embraced to the extent

that "Chucky" has been embraced.

It's something I am
grateful for every day.

- So, I have a
problem with Chucky.

- Cue the sigh.

- So I personally feel
that if you're terrified

by a stuffed animal
that's, like, this big,

you got problems.

I mean, really, like,
I don't understand

why they didn't just pick it up

and like beat it
against the wall.

I mean, it's cotton.

What could it do to you, even
if it's possessed, so what?

- There was something
kind of creepy though

that he could hide
in plain sight,

like in a child's room or
in the scape of a house.

He could live in that
space and be kind of like

this present threat.

- One time.

Then once you get
your hands on him,

it should be over, right?

- Yes, girl, rip his arms off

and throw him down the stairs.

- Problem solved.