‘Child’s Play’ Creator Isn’t Happy About the Reboot: ‘My Feelings Were F—king Hurt’
Don Mancini, who created the creepy-doll franchise that introduced us to Chucky, is angry about the upcoming “Child’s Play” reboot. Despite writing all seven films to date and directing the last three, Mancini has no involvement with the remake starring Aubrey Plaza and Brian Tyree Henry.
“Obviously my feelings were hurt,” he said during an appearance on the Post Mortem podcast, per Flickering Myth. “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 fucking decades.”
Making the situation more difficult for him is the fact that his own version of the series hasn’t actually ended. “It was hard not to feel like I was being patronized. They just wanted our approval, which I strenuously denied them,” said Mancini.
The studio asked if he and producer David Kirschner wanted to be executive producers on the film: “We said, ‘No thank you,’ because we have our ongoing thriving business with Chucky… I hesitate to say too much about it because I don’t want to sound like I’m belly-aching too much. But 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.”
With that in mind, it’s about more than just money for Mancini. “That’s how I feel. The people who are making that movie, they don’t know how that’s going to affect my livelihood. It’s not just a paycheck. It’s very personal. MGM’s screwing with that…potentially.”
