Jennifer Tilly’s relationship with Chucky has lasted longer than most celebrity marriages. She was the Bride of Chucky in 1998. Thanks to 2004’s Seed of Chucky, Tilly has been playing herself in the series, too. And I’ve been talking to her since before Seed, and even moderated a Bride screening Q&A she attended.
So when I saw Tilly at the NBC Universal party for the Television Critics Association, Tilly saw my badge and said, “Oh, it’s Fred Topel, I have to talk to him.” Season three of Chucky left off with Tiffany (Tilly) in prison for the murders she committed in Jennifer Tilly’s body. Spoiler warning for past episodes of Chucky, and the twist of Fight Club if you’ve never seen that.
Chucky returns Wednesday at 10 p.m. on Syfy and USA.
Did you think anything would ever get crazier than Seed of Chucky?
Jennifer Tilly: “I did not and I actually thought Seed of Chucky might be the end of the road. I’m very fond of Seed of Chucky. It was much reviled in the Chucky fandom because everybody just thought it was too cray cray. But they’re all coming around and now people are like, ‘Oh my God, we really love that. We love Glen/Glenda.’ And a lot of the things that happened in Seed of Chucky got incorporated into the Chucky television series. So, I think Seed of Chucky gave me longevity within the Chucky universe because there were so many crazy tendrils and storylines in that.”
When they did your trial and prison episode this season, was that even crazier than Seed?
Jennifer Tilly: “Oh my gosh, I think so. I think the last three seasons of Chucky have been crazier than anything that came before. Don is insanely inventive and he tends to go particularly over the top when it comes to Tiffany. I think, in a weird way, Tiffany is his alter ego. You know, like in Fight Club where Brad Pitt is the alter ego of the lead character. I think that Don, when he looks at Tiffany, he’s like, ‘Ooh, what can I make Tiffany do now?’ This year’s sort of a parody of women behind bars, which is so much fun for me and for Don.
The second half is going to be even more insane. John Waters is making an appearance as a crazy dealmaker who created Chucky. There’s a voodoo element. I voodooed Nia Vardalos to death in the first half. That was crazy. I think the second half of season three is going to be crazier than anything you’ve seen before.”
Does Tiffany have her own prison gang?
Jennifer Tilly: “It seems like she would have a girl gang. It seems like she would have her squad, her own Pink Ladies, but unfortunately, Tiffany is a big threat and they put her in solitary. So, she didn’t make any friends in prison except for all the prison guards that she enchanted with voodoo.”
Was the line about Austin Butler staying in the Elvis accent in the script or something you improvised?
Jennifer Tilly: “Oh yeah, that was in the script. Don Mancini wrote that. I thought that was very clever.”
Is Chucky blurring the lines for you of who Jennifer Tilly is and who Tiffany is?
Jennifer Tilly: “Not really, but last season we had a crazy episode where all my real friends came to visit. So, Sutton Strack and my sister came playing my actual sister, and I got to kill her [which] was a dream come true. But now Tiffany is being Tiffany again. Jennifer Tilly is gone. Jennifer Tilly perished, unfortunately, in season two so she’s just Tiffany.”
That was quite an arc for the fake Jennifer Tilly.
Jennifer Tilly: “Yes, it was. Lots of drama. I always get annoyed when I open up the script and Don has written in a very dramatic scene where I have to cry. So, I’m like, ‘Don, I don’t like to work that hard.’ But I have lots of very dramatic scenes in the second half.”
Chucky Season 3 Interviews
- Interview with Alyvia Alyn Lind on Lexy’s Arc
- Zackary Arthur on Jake and Devon’s Relationship
- Exclusive Interview with Brad Dourif
