AEW star and current Ring of Honor World Champion Chris Jericho spoke with ComicBook recently regarding his latest acting role in Terrifier 2 and the recent backstage drama in All Elite Wrestling. Jericho plays the cameo role of Burke in the latest installment of the Art The Clown horror franchise, which he landed after praising the original Terrifier film on his podcast, Talk is Jericho.
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“(I’m) not going to say I’m the first person of merit who discovered it, but I really was a big component for it in telling everybody that I knew that loved horror about Terrifier. And I know I had David Howard Thornton on Talk Is Jericho very early on in the process. So it’s just really a soundboard screaming from the top of the mountain to my fanbase that if you like horror, and you know that I do, that Terrifier is the best horror movie I’ve seen in the last couple of decades,” Jericho said. “And that Art the Clown is the best new killer that we’ve had since Jason Voorhees, and Freddy Krueger, and those icons of the ’80s. So because I was such a big fan, and once again, such a big promoter of the movie, I just got connected with Damien Leone, and we just started talking. It’s like, ‘We should do something in Part 2.’ And I was like, ‘Yes, we should.’ And that’s how it all started.”
Check out the full highlights from the interview below! Terrifier 2 is out in select theaters now. Jericho will defend his Ring of Honor World Championship against Bryan Danielson tonight on AEW Dynamite, beginning at 8 p.m. ET on TBS.
What is it about Art The Clown that makes him stand out as a great slasher character?
I think there’s a bunch of different factors. One, in wrestling, we call it a gimmick. He’s so into his gimmick. He never talks. He’s got a horn. He’s riding a tricycle. It’s just very, very creepy. Clowns are creepy to begin with, but he is even more so, because he’s so ensconced in his character. And yet he’s just a vicious killer. And that’s another thing, too. His kills are not just a decapitation, done. It’s stab — and then a thousand other stabs right afterward. It’s relentless, and he does it with such glee, and such excitement that it makes it very creepy, as well.
So I think just a combination of his look, you see it, you go, “That’s creepy.” The way he just totally is full-on (into his) gimmick, the viciousness of his kills. And the thing I love most is unlike Michael Myers, or Jason, or Freddy, all those ones who you only see in the dead of night, you see Art the Clown in a diner, right? Taking selfies with people. In Terrifier 2, he’s in a costume shop. He’s not just hiding in the shadows, or in the forest, or in the woods. He’s basically walking down the street of your city. And that freaks me out, too.
We’ve seen you pop up in horror films before like Albino Farm. Is there anything about that particular genre that draws you to take those roles?
There’s just some very interesting roles in horror for whatever reason why. And I think because I’m such a fan, I’m more attuned to going up for those types of movies. So yeah, it’s great because, and my horror films, I’m one for three. I got eaten by an alligator in Killroy Was Here. I didn’t die in Albino Farm. And I guess a spoiler alert, I don’t die in Terrifier 2 either. So my ratio is pretty good, but I think the thing about Terrifier that I really enjoyed is just being a part of it. Damien is very talented. I think he’s up there with the Eli Roths of a new generation.
And another thing I was going to say earlier about Art the Clown is that David Howard Thornton, it’s not like Michael Myers once again with us. But there’s been eight Michael Myers…you have to have David Howard Thornton in that character. So working with such a talented cast, and once again, this is not a big-budget movie and they had to film it during the pandemic. When we filmed our scene in this old dilapidated mental health hospital in Staten Island, the lockdown was just loosening up. There were still restrictions and still it was really weird. And this is what these guys had to deal with for the last three years to get this movie done. So there’s a lot of passion involved and that really attracted me to wanting to work with them more, as well.
On the wrestling side, with everything that has happened in the last month or so in AEW, as one of the locker room leaders, what has been your big takeaway?
It’s just that we’re a growing company. You know what I mean? When I worked in WCW, it’d been around for 50 years. When I worked for WWF, it had been around for 60 years. We’ve been around for three years, so there’s always going to be growing pains. And that’s why somebody like myself and Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley, we are the captains of the team. It’s like a football team or a soccer team or a hockey team.
And there’s always going to be little dips and dots in any company, in any locker room of any type of sport. It’s just the way it is. So you just deal with it. And the funny thing is, everyone’s got an opinion when they’re online and the social media and all that stuff. We know what’s really happening and we know, sure there’re things you got to fix, but the positivity in our company is off the charts and the optimism of where we’re going over the next few years is also off the charts. So it’s very exciting and the fact we just had our third year anniversary is huge because we never knew. We never knew if we would have one anniversary. So, there’s growing pains, it’s just the way it is and that’s okay. That’s what I’m here for and we’re taking care of the issues and focusing more on the positives, which are 98% to two.
