Power is a State of Mind: For the Love of Horror '23 Part 2

Friday, 17 November 2023

For the Love of Horror '23 Part 2

For the Love of Horror is ran by Manchester based events company Monopoly Events, and today we have a Monopoly first: a father/daughter duo panel. Brad Dourif, star of such hit movies One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Dune, Mississippi Burning and Alien Resurrection takes the stage with his daughter Fiona Dourif, Nina Pierce in Curse of Chucky, Cult of Chucky and the Chucky TV series.

I’ve only seen Bride of Chucky myself, so a lot of it was lost on me, but my ears perked up when Brad discussed kissing Jennifer Tilly “through the glass,” before his won daughter took it to the next level:

@fantastictillyofficial Brad Dourif sitting there like 👀 #jennifertilly #actress #pokerplayer #poker #pokerstars #jtillathekilla #jennifertillyfans #brideofchucky #tiffanyvalentine #news #media #entertainment #celebrities #characteractor #voiceactor #fantastictilly #megtilly #megtillyfans #megscozyteatime #author #writer #tillysisters #news #breaking #foryoupage #fyp #funny #fortheloveofhorror #manchester #england #braddourif #fionadourif #nicapierce #charlesleeray #panel #💋 #horrorconvention #uk #unitedkingdom ♬ original sound - Fantastic Tilly

“I’m your dad,” despairs Brad.

Fiona goes on to describe Jennifer as ‘kind, generous and humble, really cool.”

Brad agrees. “She’s great at improv. She’ll come up to me and say, Hey, Chucky, do you have a rubber?”

The mic goes out to the audience, where the first question is about the actor Christopher Lee, who Brad says “talks a lot.” (He died in 2015. The two had worked on the Lord of the Rings franchise, Brad as Grimwald, Christopher as Sauramon.) “Lee’s a great swordsman. A friend of mine was working with him, trying to learn to throw a knife. Chris, who of course had been in the SAS, told us, ‘I can hit anything.’ He got a knife and threw it into the bullseye of a dartboard. When he was being interviewed, Chris would introduce himself in the interviewer’s language.”

AQ: Who would you see Chucky go up against?

BD: Chucky vs Freddy. But Chucky’s plastic! I’d watch Chucky vs Leprechaun. Chucky is crazy but very sly.

FD: What advice would you give for people starting?

BD: Don’t. It’s not glamorous.

A child in the audience asks Brad, what was your favourite killing as Chucky?

BD: You might not have seen it here.

FD: Don’t, not in the UK. Don’t do it, Dad!

BD: I’m not gonna tell you as it’ll ruin it.

FD: Cuckoo’s Nest is my favourite film of Dad’s. It’s the hardest to watch. (His character Billy attempts suicide at the end. Spoiler.)

BD: On Exorcist 3 I shot the thing, then got a call saying they were gonna cut me out of the movie and get Jason Miller to do it. But he was an alcoholic. They went, ‘well, we’d better go back to Brad.’ I had 24 hours to get ready. I did the best I could. It’s a many-layered story. I fucked up. They made me watch myself, and it was horrible. We had to throw a lot away.

After the first Child’s Play movie came out, things got a little hectic in the Dourif household. “He’d keep the voice,” Fiona tells. “People calling would be like, ‘What the fuck is is going on with your dad?’ It was like a horrible metal family!”

Later, for the last Q&A of the day, William Forsythe takes to the stage, and invites Costas Mandaylor to do a double panel with him. The two had actually worked on Virtuosity, a 1995 sci fi film that just about broke even at the box office. Here they are discussing their acting processes.

The Q+A weaves on to The Devil’s Rejects set, (“really, really dirty,” tells William) and onto the Hammer Horror legend Christopher Lee, whom he describes as “one of the sweetest guys in the world,” and ”so intense. He stood close to me and said, ‘Always do better.’”

AQ: Boat drinks, by the way. (This is a greeting from 90s gangster flick Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead.) What was Raising Arizona like?

WF: I don’t think (directors Joel and Ethan Coen) liked me as I didn’t work with them again. I loved the time on that set. Ethan would circle Joel, then they would say the same thing. I could see the kid in them. John Goodman and I were trying outdo each other.

Costas described working with the team that made TV war comedy MASH. “We’d talk about life. Share life stories. Working with legendary people makes you care a bit more, gives you longevity. Here we are talking to you.”

“I was a big Sean Connery fan,” tells William. “I got to work with him on The Rock. I tapped him on the head. He could have kicked off. Instead, he went with it. He looked at me with these dead eyes.”

AQ: You were a DILF in Devil’s Rejects.

WF: I had a lot of great lines in Devil’s Rejects. I liked the diving scene with the Film critic. I can’t let this guy knock Elvis. I had no idea what I was going to do. The best acting is freedom. When a director gives you freedom, it’s the best thing you can do. Director Rob Zombie was saying, “More, mess with him, be dirty!” And I did.

I think I need to see this film.

Just before the panel ends, I manage to get my question in. I don’t seem to have any notes on this as I was a bit preoccupied, but I asked William about Once Upon a Time in America, my favourite film, and the scene in which they do a favour for Joe, played by Burt Young, who died recently. Also in the scene was Robert DeNiro, James Woods, Joe Pesci and James Hayden. The scene was directed by Sergio Leone. What stands out in William’s memory of filming this scene?

I seem not to have written down his answer, and the entire show basically ended after this so I must have got distracted by people leaving. I seem to recall him saying that they all knew they were making something really good, and that he wanted to make the scene memorable, so he was looking for something to make it unique. He found the toothpick and started to flip it around in his mouth, and Leone liked it, so they kept it in.

The footage of these panels should be steadily uploaded to the Monopoly Events Youtube channel; at the time of writing there are a few backstage interviews and a couple of panels live. They’re well worth watching. This was my third For the Love of Horror, and the best I’ve been to of this brand.

All eyes are on For the Love of Sci Fi on 2nd-3rd December!