Fantastic Fest 2022: Dispatch 2

Herrrrrrre’s Chucky!

Well, not exactly. But Kyra Elise Gardner, director of the new documentary, Living with Chucky — which takes a near-comprehensive look at the iconic murderous doll, the people who’ve kept the Child’s Play film series going for 30-plus years, and its famous fans — is an excellent (and safer) alternative. The daughter of longtime series makeup designer, special effects designer, and puppeteer Tony Gardner has a distinct perspective on the world of Chucky, and brings those connections to light in fascinating ways.

Prior to her film’s screening at Fantastic Fest, Gardner spoke with Asheville Movies about a range of topics, including securing interviews, knowing where to draw a narrative line, and John Waters’ creepy memento.

Edwin Arnaudin: Thanks for taking time out today. I'm based on Asheville. North Carolina — do you have any history with our city?

Kyra Elise Gardner: No, but my grandparents visit North Carolina a lot.

EA: That counts! [laughs]

KEG: Yeah! [laughs] It’s something.

EA: Yeah! Well, I’ll give you a little Asheville connection to your film as well. Don Mancini was a really good friend of my late film critic mentor, Ken Hanke. Ken wrote a positive review of Bride of Chucky when it came out, and Don sought him out and they became friends. And then Don ended up working with Ken on the Asheville Film Festival for a few years, was a judge, and then brought Jennifer Tilly in for a career achievement award. And Brad Dourif was another honoree here for that, but he couldn't attend.

So, anyway, Ken’s the one who turned me into a Chucky fan, and it's actually…it was…it would be his birthday today. He passed away about six years ago, so it’s kind of fitting that this is happening today.

KEG: Aww…I’m sorry that he's passed, but that's so lovely that it's this thing that has connected you guys.

EA: Absolutely, yeah. Well, I was really happy to check out the film. I’m a big fan of the series and I love the insights that that you gave. It seemed like you got to talk to a lot of the major players. Were there any interviews that you were hoping would happen that just didn't work out for whatever reason?

KEG: Yeah. I had reached out to [Child’s Play director] Tom Holland. Obviously, [Child’s Play 2 director] John Lafia passed away recently [in April 2020], so that was no longer an option. And Tom Holland I reached out to, but I don't know if it was maybe the wording in my email or anything, but it just didn't work out. And then I did reach out to Kevin Yagher because I thought that was really important to get the first puppeteer’s perspective on everything, because he's still very much involved in terms of being friends with Don Mancini and Christine Elise [the actor who plays Kyle], but I just never got a response back.

And also, it was COVID as well at the same time, so I'm wondering if that was maybe a factor. Vaccines weren't available when I was first reaching out, so I could totally understand being uncomfortable meeting somebody new while a pandemic is happening. And then once vaccines came out, I tried reaching out a few more times. But those were some people that I would have loved to have involved but it just didn't pan out. But that's why I tried to at least have pictures of Tom Holland, as well as as much behind-the-scenes interviews with Kevin as I could so that it still felt like he was being included and we weren't neglecting his history and impact on the franchise.

EA: I noticed, too, one of the things I liked about many of the interviews that you do have is the framing, and how the Chucky or Tiffany dolls are in the background. They seem very strategically placed. Were those things that you brought along or did some of the people have those in their own homes?

KEG: I’m trying to remember who’s…well, Jennifer — actually, her interview was before Halloween Horror Nights [at Universal Studios theme park] that evening. So, she brought her her own Chucky dolls. The Tiffany doll that you see behind her is actually her own, and she was bringing it so that my dad could touch up her nose and stuff. [laughs] Everybody always comes back to my dad and is like, “His hair…could you fix this and clean up that thing,” to keep it going for as long as it can.

So that was Jennifer's dolls behind her. And if there’s ever a Good Guy doll, it's mine — from Cult of Chucky, it's mine now. Who has another one? Oh, the one in [original Andy actor] Alex Vincent's interview was a gift from my dad to him, so that he finally had his own Good Guy doll, which was lovely. But yeah, it was either mine or theirs.

Jennifer Tilly

EA: Very cool.

KEG: Oh yeah! John Waters’ Glen doll is literally from Seed [of Chucky]. That thing is so old and kind of creepy. But yeah, it's crazy. That thing is still going.

EA: That’s awesome. I was curious, too, along the way of making this film, were there any standout revelations that you had no idea about until you were conducting these interviews?

KEG: Yes, and some of it was maybe a bit too personal to include in the documentary. But really listening to Brad and Fiona [Dourif]’s relationship, I just very much saw myself and my own dad in them, which was really lovely to talk about. It's interesting because Brad really has the same history of being gone for so long at several times, but with the Chucky films, it's a bit different because voiceover is much shorter than actually leaving for a project. So when he was speaking about actually leaving and just being an actor, that was a really big revelation that I wasn't alone in my childhood, so to speak.

And don't get me wrong: people have much harder childhoods, but it felt very isolating. I came from a small town where my family was one of, like, two people who worked in films, so it just wasn't relatable to friends of mine growing up. So, it was really nice to have that conversation — that Fiona just seems like me in 10 years, you know? [laughs]

And the biggest revelations were honestly the conversations that I have with my dad throughout it. We got very personal on camera to each other, and there were some things that I didn't even know — how much he really missed us as well, and we never really sat down and had those conversations, so I'm very grateful for that.

Brad and Fiona Dourif

EA: Very nice! And I'm guessing it was a timing factor, but since the Chucky TV series has come out since then and the second season is about to debut, was it just just a matter of the scheduling not lining up that that you couldn't really touch on that in the film?

KEG: Yeah, and legalities. I was filming the end when they were all setting out to go do season one, and I really couldn't since I didn't know when the documentary was gonna come out. And then we had some hiccups, so I couldn't really touch on it. Also, it was during COVID, it was strict lockdown, so I wouldn’t have been able to get any interviews with the new cast [in Toronto] because the [Canadian] border was completely shut for a very long time.

And then also, I just felt to go into the series at the very end of the documentary just felt like a whole other chapter we were adding on. It was kind of just a way to end it, and hopefully maybe that can be its own thing — going into the TV series. Because that was also the other thing: it was introducing brand new people, new actors…although it's the same core of Don and [producer] David [Kirschner] and my dad and Fiona and Brad, it's introducing all these new people and I just felt like the documentary could have been, like, three hours at that point if we touched on the series. And I was like, “You know, maybe we won’t get up to that running time, and let it be.” It's a thing for maybe somebody else to tackle in the future.

EA: You’d almost have to make it a docu-series at that point and have three or four chapters.

KEG: [laughs] I know! That’ll be episode two.

EA: [laughs] And one of the other appeals of Chucky and Child's Play that you touch on is the tactile nature of the special effects. And, you know, I don't really want to see a full CGI Chucky movie, but I do like his appearance in Ready Player One. Do you have any thoughts on that cameo?

KEG: I actually didn't see Ready Player One! I saw whatever he was in in the trailers but it looked decent. And the difference there is that it was motivated to be digital. So that makes sense. That’s OK. [laughs]

EA: Yeah, I think it's it's a good use. It’s an acceptable use, but it definitely makes you appreciate [tactile Chucky].

KEG: We’ll allow it. The court will allow it.

(Photos: Yellow Veil Pictures)