Jennifer Tilly Talks Keeping It Sexy For ‘Chucky’

Chucky has slayed in the ratings. One of the highest-rated cable television premieres of the year, over 4.4 million people tuned in when the show premiered on the Syfy and USA networks on Tuesday, October 12, 2021.

With solid reviews from critics and fans, creator, writer, director, and showrunner Don Mancini’s killer doll has got legs. Chucky serves as a sequel to the seventh and most recent film in the series, Cult of Chucky. It’s part of a franchise that has generated over $250 million, including $182 million at the box office.

Chucky sees Jennifer Tilly return to the fray as Tiffany, a role that has gained both her and the character icon status in the worlds of horror and pop culture. I caught up with her to talk about her midseason arrival, what she was willing to do to titillate fans, and social media’s role in the show’s success.

Simon Thompson: The cast and crew seem to have all been genuinely excited about being a part of Chucky.

Jennifer Tilly: I was so happy when Don said that he was going to create a Chucky series. He’s my very dear friend, and I was like, ‘Oh, I really hope he writes a part for Tiffany.’ I knew I would come on as a cameo, but when I got the script, I was so thrilled Don wrote me such a great story arc. I wanted to call him right away and say thank you. What I love is that everybody is a team player. Everyone’s working so hard to promote it. 

Thompson: One of your co-stars, Devon Sawa, has been particularly supportive on social media.

Tilly: Devon is super funny, and he is such a hard worker with Twitter. He’s not like, ‘I’m doing a Chucky show for a paycheck.’ He loves Chucky. He loves promoting Chucky, he loves all the actors, and he’s very generous when it comes to other people’s stories on the show that don’t even have anything to do with him. We were really like a family. I also think everybody was so happy to be working again after the pandemic. I guess Tiffany is an icon and so when I showed up on the set, everybody, especially Zachary Arthur, was excited. I figured the kids wouldn’t be as interested and might think I was old, but he was so thrilled to meet me. The kids are amazing, they’re such great actors, but they are so respectful towards the OGs like me and Alex Vincent and Christine Elise. It came together. On my first day on the set, I did a scene, and when I finished doing it, all of the crew clapped. I was like, ‘Oh, I miss getting this kind of validation” It was so fun to revisit Tiffany after all these years, but we’re all real friends. If we go on seven seasons, maybe we’ll be like Laverne and Shirley and hate each other, but right now, we all love each other. It’s a big love fest.

Thompson: You return as Tiffany and arrive on the scene in a particularly dramatic way. Did you have any say in how you appeared in the show? 

Tilly: I did not. I swear to God, I got to a certain age, and all of a sudden, all the kissing scenes disappeared. That was always my favorite part. I opened the script, and it’s like, “Page seven. Jennifer Tilly and Fiona Dourif are in bed having sex” I was like, ‘Yes!’ I got so excited. I even called up Don and said, ‘You know, I can even do some nudity if you want. You could show the side of my breasts.’ I was telling him the parts that he could show, and he said, ‘You’d do that for me?’ He was very touched. I was like,” Yes, I would do it for you and the Chucky fans” We talked about it, and he said,” The thing is that this is television. You say f**k ten times in each episode, but you can’t show any side breast. It’s a family show.’ I decided I’d just wear a see-through nightie, but it was so fun to be Tiffany again. Don has known me for 23 years. Tiffany is always been kind of the same age that she was 23 years ago. He has tremendous faith in my ability to act and be the same. He called me up about the series and explained that it takes place three weeks after the end of Cult of Chucky, which was four years ago. I’m four years older. I’m so happy when Don brings me back, and it never occurs to him to have Tiffany in an old folks home; she’s always young and hot. That is what’s so fun about her. She’s got the push-up bra, high heels, sexy outfits, and she’s killing people and making out with people. It’s so much fun.

Thompson: The reaction to Chucky has been tremendously positive from fans and critics. It has also brought many new people into the Chuckyverse, some of whom might have previously missed or dismissed the Chucky and Childs Play movies.

Tilly: Absolutely. It’s a vindication to me for Don Mancini because I’ve always maintained that he’s such a brilliant, talented person in the care and meticulous crafting he’s put into the movies and now the series. Sometimes people don’t appreciate it because they’re like, ‘Well, it’s a movie about a plastic doll.’ For example, in Seed of Chucky, he flew to Italy to convince Pino Donaggio to do the score because he did the scores for Brian DePalma’s movies. About 15 years ago, I remember that I said to Don, ‘Ten years from now, you’re going to get nominated for an Academy Award because you’re so f**king talented. If that doesn’t happen, because I’m a gambling girl, I’m going to give you a piece of jewelry.’ He reminded me about that when we were on the set of Chucky. I said, ‘Well, I didn’t realize you were going to stay in the Chucky oeuvre.’ I made Don a little gold necklace that says Chucky Daddy because that’s my nickname for him. Chucky could be a Coen Brothers or Quentin Tarantino film in terms of the cinematography, and the set direction is so beautiful. The stories and the characters are so well-drawn; there’s a really touching main story with one of the characters, Jake, and his first high school crush, and with all these kids just starting to make their way in the world. What I love about it is that nobody’s really good, and nobody’s really evil, not even Chucky and Tiffany. You have characters like Lexy, played by Alyvia Alyn Lind, a fantastic actress, and you really hate her, but then you realize that she’s human and has this messed up childhood. I love that Don doesn’t go for the obvious stuff like, ‘Oh, this kid’s a bully, let’s kill him.’ The kids are all fully drawn out. He’s such an excellent writer.

Thompson: I’m going to assume that Chucky will get a second season. What would you like that to look like? 

Tilly: When Don called me up and told me he’d written this part, I told my boyfriend that I just didn’t want to disappoint the fans. I thought I would go out in a blaze of glory, and it was a limited series. When I started hearing rumblings of season two, because I haven’t really done television, I thought, ‘Season two? I could hold it together for four episodes, no problem, but a second season?’ (laughs) Of course, I don’t want them to do Chucky without me, so I would love to do another season of Chucky. Firstly, we have so much more money than we ever did on the other Chucky movies, the networks love us, and they treat us really well. We have beautiful sets and cinematography and a great team up in Toronto, and I love all the actors I’m working with. Don has been able to, in the eight one-hour episodes, really flesh out the characters. I also think he loves the medium of television. Honestly, on some of the movies we’ve done, it was a lot more rushed, and on much lower budgets, so I think he’s now able to do everything he has wanted. We have a huge following now, and it’s a crossover audience, not just the hardcore Chucky fans. A lot of people are being introduced to Chucky. Tiffany and Chucky keep trending on TikTok. The last time I had this feeling was when I was in Liar Liar with Jim Carrey. When the ratings for the first episode came in, even though I hadn’t appeared on screen at that point, I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m in a hit. We’re a hit show!’ It’s just such a good feeling. And we’re all really happy, and everybody is supporting everybody else. I said to Don that this is a once-in-a-lifetime feeling. We’re Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with 90 percent, and the critics and the fans love us. It’s a good feeling. I feel like we should all hold it closer and remember this feeling because these moments are few and far between.

Chucky airs on USA and Syfy on Tuesday nights.