Fiona Dourif on Returning to ‘Chucky’s World & That Love Scene With Jennifer Tilly

Chucky is a family affair for Fiona Dourif. The daughter of award-winning Brad Dourif, whose voice and body brought the iconic serial killer turned possessed doll to life, joined dad in the Child’s Play franchise as poor unfortunate soul Nica Pierce in Curse of Chucky, and then was at the center of Cult of Chucky. Freed from the Harrogate psychiatric hospital, Nica was last seen hitting the road with Jennifer Tilly’s Tiffany. 

With the TV series in full swing on Syfy and USA, familiar faces from the films are popping up to continue their respective stories among the new generation of characters. We caught up with Fiona to talk about getting to play in the Chucky world again, that steamy love scene, and what’s to come as we head toward the December 14 season finale. 

When you found out about the television adaptation of Chucky, what was your reaction?

Fiona Dourif: I had known about it from the beginning. I’m close friends with [creator] Don [Mancini]. I knew the potential was out there years ago. The pandemic slowed it down. I was excited to get to dig into characters within eight hours as opposed to two, so there is a lot more you can do. When I first read the scripts, I got really excited.

You and Jennifer got quite the introduction in the series. Things got hot and heavy.

I’ve kissed Jennifer Tilly before in 2018, but it was so cold. It was -45 degrees in Winnipeg. The first time I made out with her I thought, “There is chemistry.” It turns out I like kissing Jennifer Tilly. She is also a very free actress. She adlibs a lot, so it felt like a dance you can get into. That is pretty liberating. There are also such strong choices I had to make because I was doing such large concepts. I wasn’t afraid. It became liberating, pure joy. I feel really lucky to play roles that are this fun, with people I like this much, who I’ve known for so long, and people really like it too. It feels like winning some lottery. 

SYFY

When you’re doing a love scene on set with so many people, that’s not always a comfortable feeling.

Don Mancini is one of my closest friends so I felt protected. I know he gets what he wants and doesn’t move on until he does. It did feel safe. It felt like a family. So making out with my family? I don’t know. 

You go through so many extremes. You are playing Nica, but then also Nica possessed by the spirit of Charles Lee Ray. How challenging is it to take on essentially two roles almost concurrently?

You certainly had to think about what it would feel like to have your personality melt from the top of your head out through your toes and become somebody else. There was a lot of walking around and collapsing as practice. Then you wake up as if you are sleeping and have no idea where you are. To me, it felt like two different scenes cut in between. So it was two different scenes with two different people. It was pure fun. I’m incredibly lucky in my career that I’m offered these characters that are pretty masculine and complicated and out for something. It’s a wonderful, interesting niche I find myself in. 

Your dad has that instantly recognizable voice of the killer doll we know and love. How was it growing up, beginning to understand he was a major part of a big-time horror movie franchise?

Chucky is just my dad. Not scary at all. I have this warm fuzzy feeling when I see Chucky. Chucky sits in my dining room and looks over. I bring him out during Halloween. My birthday is the day before Halloween, so Chucky feels like my uncle I bring out on my birthday. I sit him outside. I then see these kids, especially this last Halloween with so many Chucky trick-or-treaters. They walk up and sometimes they are terrified of the doll. I have a doll from Curse and they can’t touch it or they cry. I have to say I do find joy in it. 

We’re now in the back half of the season. What can you tease about the finale?

Episode 8 is bats–t crazy. We were just allowed to do whatever we wanted. We were sitting behind the monitors at one point giggling gleefully. It’s going to go places I don’t think anyone is going to predict. Who knows if Nica is going to survive? We’ll see.

What does seeing Child’s Play continue to thrive mean to you? 

This whole franchise came into my life at age 7, but me being a part of it started about 10 years ago. It’s made by people I love and who have been an intricate part of my life for a very long time. It’s like I get to make a thing with people I love, and also people really like it, and I get paid for it. The whole thing surprises me constantly, especially the online response we’ve gotten in the past few weeks. It has been really wonderful. It might be lame to say, but I feel grateful. 

Chucky, Tuesdays, 10/9, USA and SyFy