In the original Child’s Play, Chucky is a serial killer possessing a doll through the power of, like, friendly neighbourhood dark magicks. In the new version, he’s a bit different.
He is, in fact, according to promotional materials around the new film, which stars Aubrey Plaza and Mark Hamill as the voice of the killer doll, a malfunctioning AI doll. Like Alexa, with more limbs, and a lot knife-ier.
Talking with Collider, director Lars Klevberg offers some insight into that change, calling it a “refreshing idea.”
According to Klevberg, this change allows for a more sympathetic and dynamic villain, one who changes and develops through his interactions with the people around him.
“When I read the script, one of the first things I recognised was that Chucky was a great character in terms of that he changed. He had his motivations, and it came through his interaction with humans. His way of becoming sympathetic – that was something I really wanted to look into. I viewed the story as a Greek tragedy [for] Chucky…”
He went on to explain, “That’s why Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein is one of my key inspirations…[How Chucky questions] his purpose once he starts to understand from us human beings.”
Yes, isn’t tragedy what we all love about Chucky? Jokes aside, it’ll be interesting to see if this film manages to make a change like that, which could easily fall into clamoring-for-topicality territory, work in a compelling way. It has the cast. Either way, we’ll find out when the film opens on June 20.