‘Chucky’: Fiona Dourif Regrets First Kiss With Jennifer Tilly Was so Awkward
The Chucky TV series isn’t just a triumphant return of the horror icon. It’s also a second chance for Fiona Dourif and Jennifer Tilly. The end of Cult of Chucky gave them a moment, but circumstances compromised it. This time, Dourif says, they got to really focus on their on screen chemistry.
[Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers for the Chucky films and TV series.]
Tilly and Dourif spoke with Showbiz Cheat Sheet in Zoom calls on Nov. 3 and Nov. 15 respectively. Discussing their love scenes in Chucky, Tilly reflected on their awkward first kiss in Cult of Chucky. The Chucky season finale airs Nov. 30 at 10 p.m. on Syfy and USA.
Fiona Dourif and Jennifer Tilly’s ‘Cult of Chucky’ kiss
At the end of Cult of Chucky, Chucky was able to possess Nica (Dourif). The film ended with Nica and Tiffany (Tilly) sharing a kiss before they drove off. Filming in the winter in Canada made that kiss challenging.
“I guess the first time I kissed her was in 2018 but it was negative 45 degrees outside,” Dourif said. “I remember it as a freezing cold blur. But this time, I remember we were on the bed and we were like well, this is it. We’re going to go for it. It’s happening now. Then we made out for the first time and we were like oh, or at least me in my head, I was like oh, I have chemistry. Turns out I like kissing Jennifer Tilly which is lucky because that doesn’t always happen, right?”
Jennifer Tilly and Fiona Dourif got it right on ‘Chucky’
Tiffany and Nica have more than just a kiss in Chucky. By episode 5, viewers find out they’ve been living together and forcing their victims to watch them have sex. At least they got to be inside where it’s warm.
“It was intimidating at first,” Dourif said. “I knew it was going to happen for about a year. So I had a lot of time to get comfortable and understand what I was going to do, including the switching back and forth, what that was going to look like. Imagining what it’s like to have your soul drip from the top of your head out of your toes and fall to the flow. So there was a lot of practicing collapsing in my Toronto apartment. It was fun. I think there’s not a lot of opportunity in your life to get to let your imagination stretch that far. It’s pure theater, pure fun, pure imagination. Jennifer and I ended up having real chemistry.”
Tilly elaborated on how she and Dourif figured out Tiffany and Nica’s relationship, now that she’s the living embodiment of Chucky.
“We had this thing because she’s Chucky in Nica’s body and I’m Tiffany in Jennifer Tilly’s body,” Tilly said. “I said, ‘I think we have a relationship like who’s the top and who’s the bottom?’ So we did sort of a physical thing. I said, ‘Let’s start out with me on the bottom. Then we roll over and now I’ve got you pinned down and I’m on top. Then you roll over again and get me on top.’ We sort of did that. It wasn’t Don [Mancini]’s idea. I don’t know if anyone will notice but we came up with that idea.
Now Tiffany loves Nica more
Tiffany eventually figured out that Nica was returning to consciousness, and she liked it. Dourif suggested that the relationship may have awakened something in both Nica and Tiffany, even if it started under supernatural pretenses.
“How often does Chucky’s soul leave and it’s Nica?” Dourif said. “I think in the end, a lot of that relationship is the two women and Nica in this very peculiar position where not only is she trying to survive but there is this completely deranged, totally vulnerable woman who is attached to her. Jennifer’s performance had so much heart to it also. I think that’s why people love Tiffany so much is she’s deranged but she’s so vulnerable and also likable. She’s a woman who wants to be loved. I like Tiffany. I want to get the f*** away from her but I wish her well.”
