Well this is a pleasant surprise.
Orion Pictures announced over the weekend that Mark Hamill (“Star Wars,” “Knightfall”) has been cast as the voice of Chucky in “Child’s Play.” The legendary actor stars alongside Aubrey Plaza, Gabriel Bateman and Brian Tyree Henry in a contemporary re-imagining of the 1988 horror classic that follows Karen (Plaza), a single mother who gifts her son Andy (Bateman) a Buddi doll, unaware of its more sinister nature.
Rising filmmaker Lars Klevberg (“Polaroid”) directs from a script by Tyler Burton Smith (“Sleeping Dogs,” “Quantum Break” video games) based on the original motion picture. David Katzenberg and Seth Grahame-Smith produce under their KatzSmith Productions banner (“It”). Aaron Schmidt and Chris Ferguson executive produced the project.
“We feel incredibly lucky to have an icon creating a new take on an iconic character,” said Katzenberg. “Mark is a gifted actor and celebrated vocal performer, and he’s approached this challenge with incredible energy and commitment.”
Hamill is known for portraying one of the most iconic characters in film, ‘Luke Skywalker’ in George Lucas’ original “Star Wars” trilogy. Audiences can currently watch Hamill in the second season of History’s “Knightfall” and he will appear in Disney’s “Star Wars: Episode IX” which will be released this December. Hamill is a prolific voice-over actor and has lent his voice as the ‘Joker’ in “Batman: The Animated Series,” the “Arkham Aslyum” video game series, and several Batman animated films.
Child’s Play, the 1988 film, grossed over $44 million worldwide on a $9 million budget and spawned one of the most recognizable and successful horror characters of all time with its psychotic killer doll, Chucky.
Personally, I like this move. As someone who’s loyal to the (still relevant) Don Mancini “Child’s Play” franchise voiced by Brad Dourif, I was tepid to the original announcement of the new film, especially considering Mancini and company have a Chucky television show currently in development at the SyFy network. When I think of Chucky I think of Mr. Dourif’s voice of the demonic doll, but if you are going to re-cast the voice you can’t get much better than Mark Hamill.
We’ll find out when Orion Pictures’s releases “Child’s Play” through their United Artists banner on June 21, 2019.
Watch Mark’s announcement below:
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