Original Child’s Play Star Had No Interest in Joining the Reboot

While actor Chris Sarandon might have taken a cameo role in the remake of Fright Night after starring in the original, when it came to this year’s Child’s Play, the performer admits that, while the studio never approached him about an appearance, he wouldn’t have been interested in getting involved anyway. The film marked for a confusing entry into the franchise, as the original writer, Don Mancini, continues to make sequels to the original film, with this new take meant to be a reimagining of the premise, all while Mancini continues to develop new films and a TV series. It’s unclear if this latest installment will be getting a follow-up film.

“I was never approached, I don’t think [original director] Tom [Holland] was approached. Tom may have been approached, in terms of the rights of the film, but other than that, no. Nobody said a word to me,” Sarandon recently shared with ComicBook.com. “But when it comes to that, because there had been so many follow-ups to the original that had little or nothing to do with Tom’s original conception, but used the characters, or at least some of the characters, there was no reason to do it. Nobody said anything to me about it, and if they had, I wouldn’t have been interested.”

Sarandon wasn’t the only one involved in the original film who had no interest in the reboot, with Mancini himself previously revealing that the studio had reached out to him about getting involved, but because he was already so invested in the ways he was continuing the series’ legacy, he wanted to stick with his own narrative.

“MGM retained the rights to the first movie, so they’re rebooting that,” Mancini previously explained. “They asked David Kirschner and I if we wanted to be executive producers. We said no thank you, because we have our ongoing thriving business with Chucky. Obviously my feelings were hurt. Ya know, I had just done two movies… forgive me if I sound defensive, [they] were both at 83% on Rotten Tomatoes. Even though they didn’t get theatrical releases, they were well regarded. And I did create the character and nurture the franchise for three f-cking decades.”

He added, “So when someone says, ‘Oh yeah, we would love to have your name on the film’… it was hard not to feel like I was being patronized. They just wanted our approval. Which I strenuously denied them. I hesitate to say too much about it because I don’t want to sound like I’m belly-aching too much. But the producers of that movie are the producers of IT. How would they feel if there was some legal loophole that allowed David Kirschner and I to swoop in and make our own IT movie with our own version of Pennywise and say, ‘Hey guys, we would love to put your names on it,’? I imagine they wouldn’t like it. That’s how I feel.”

Stay tuned for details on the future of the Child’s Play franchise. Sarandon is currently working on his memoir, which fans can keep their eyes out for in the future.

Would you have liked to see Sarandon in the reboot? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!