Jennifer Tilly: ‘How frightening can Chucky be? He smokes a doobie’

Hi Jennifer. What does that say on your necklace?

“Chucky’s Back.” I had it made for Seed of Chucky, when I had no idea how many times Chucky would come back. At the end of every movie he’s burned or decapitated, but I’d say the only thing that could kill him is bad box office.

Were you aware of the negative associations of the Child’s Play series when you made your first Chucky film? (1)

The studio said: “We think we should warn you, some people blame this Chucky movie for this terrible murder.” I’m trying to think when they told me. Let me see, who was my boyfriend back then? Oh, I know! I was dating an Essex boy named Peter. Or [assumes Essex accent] Pee’ah. We were over here a lot because he was a big Chelsea fan. We went to the games. He knew all the songs.

Should children be allowed to watch horror films?

I don’t know, but any time I have fans under eight, it’s always because of Chucky. Someone asked me: “What movies have you made that are good for kids?” And I said: “None of ’em!” Only ones where you can’t see my face: Stuart Little, Monsters Inc. Maybe kids could see Liar, Liar, though there’s strong language and sexual situations. My sister Meg took her boy to see it – Colin Firth’s kid (2), Will – when he was six or seven. Jim Carrey is yelling: “You stuffed her like a Thanksgiving turkey!” And Will said: “Did he really, Mummy? Did he really stuff her?”

What sets Cult of Chucky apart from the other Chucky films?

Universal decided they wanted Chucky to be scary again. It’s like Trump – “Make America great again!”

But didn’t the series get more comical with your arrival? (3)

They’re romps. How frightening can Chucky be? He smokes a doobie.

You’ve starred as yourself in some of the Chucky films. What’s the secret to playing Jennifer Tilly?

You can’t be precious about it. I wanted to be a selfish, narcissistic diva. The studio said: “Why does she have to be a spoilt movie star? Why can’t she be a nice girl whose friends are being killed?” We had to reshoot the scene in Seed of Chucky where I’m caught up in the murders and I’m just so thrilled to be in the spotlight again after a long, dry period. They said I was too dislikable.

You were Oscar-nominated for Bullets Over Broadway and Woody Allen called you a great improviser.

Woody loves it when things get fucked up. You just have to keep going even if a chandelier falls from the ceiling. Chazz [Palminteri] and I improvised a lot. “It’s called improvising!” “You can’t say that, it’s not in the script.” That was ours. He told me afterwards that when he raised his fist, he thought it would shut me up. Then he said: “But nothing shuts you up, does it?”

Surely the Wachowskis didn’t put up with improvising on Bound?

No, they were the opposite. So precise. I told them: “You didn’t let me ad-lib anything.” They said: “Yes, we did. When the cop came in, you said ‘Hi’. That wasn’t in the script.”

You’re a hugely successful poker champion. (4) Do you have any tells?

I’m fortunate because I’ve been able to eradicate them. I did a seminar with an FBI profiler who said I’m one of the most tell-free people he’s ever met. But he said: “You do have one tell, Jennifer. You swallow.” I said: “Everyone swallows.” He said with me, it’s more of a gulp.

Does acting make you a better poker player or vice versa?

They’re both about reacting to nuances. If I want to bluff, I just pretend like I have the hand. I can slow down my heartbeat, convince myself I’ve got aces even when I don’t. There’s this psychic energy involved. If I’m looking at someone and I’m super tuned in to them, I can tell exactly what hand they’ve got. You know when they (5) say: “Use the Force, Luke”? That’s what it’s like.

Cult of Chucky is released on DVD and Blu-ray on 23 October.

Footnotes

1) Child’s Play 3 was believed at first to have been watched by one of the killers of three-year-old James Bulger in 1993, though no direct link was ever established.

2) Firth was in a relationship with Tilly’s younger sister, Meg, star of Psycho II and The Big Chill, between 1989 and 1994.

3) Tilly starred as devil-doll Tiffany in Bride of Chucky in 1999, followed by appearances as herself and/or Tiffany in Seed of Chucky (where she uttered the immortal line: “I’m an Oscar-nominated actress, for God’s sake. Now look at me, I’m fucking a puppet!”), Curse of Chucky and Cult of Chucky.

4) She won a World Series of Poker Bracelet, and the accompanying $158,625 pot, in the $1,000 Ladies’ No Limit Hold’em, as well as the third World Poker Tour Ladies Invitational Tournament. Her poker winnings are estimated at more than $900,000.

5) “They” being Jedis, presumably.