Jennifer Tilly Says She's Fine with “Chucky” Fans Leaving Dolls on Her Grave When She Dies

Jennifer Tilly has fully embraced her status as a fabulous camp icon thanks to her role in the long-running Chucky franchise.

In a Q&A with Interview published on Dec. 4, the actress looked back fondly at the films and spin-off TV series, in which she voiced the titular demon doll’s partner in mayhem, Tiffany Valentine. But she also explained her initial reservations about appearing in 1998’s Bride of Chucky.

“I had an idea that a horror movie is something you do in the beginning of your career or at the end,” Tilly, 66, said. “Like [Jennifer] Aniston was in Leprechaun, and then Bette Davis in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, which, by the way, is a phenomenal classic film. But I felt like it wasn’t something you do in your prime.”

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As Tilly noted, before she took on the role of Tiffany, she’d reached a career high, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in 1994’s Bullets Over Broadway.

“I wanted to be a really important movie star, like a major motion picture star,” she said. “The fact of the matter is that Chucky is literally a foul-mouthed little doll that kills people. You’re never going to get Emmy nominations from Chucky, or the kind of acclaim that I craved when I was younger.”

Tilly said she gets “chills” when she thinks about “brilliant actors” who are only remembered for campy or particularly commercial roles after they die, and cited Gene Wilder as an example.

“He had such a career, but he’s known as Willy Wonka,” she said. “But I’ve come to terms with the fact that when I pass away, people are going to leave Chucky dolls on my grave, and I’m fine with that.”

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The newly minted Real Housewives of Beverly Hills player said she only realized what a phenomenon the Chucky movies were “when the Internet happened.”

“The Chucky fans are the greatest fans in the whole world,” she said. “They’re very fanatical, but they’re very, very loyal, and they’re really smart. I’ve done four movies and three seasons of the TV series, and I have a feeling I’m going to be doing Chucky probably until the day before I finally pass into spirit, as Sally Kirkland would say.”

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Tilly also praised the franchise for being ahead of its time with its inclusion of Chucky and Tiffany’s genderfluid child, Glen/Glenda, in 2004’s Seed of Chucky, and for casting non-binary performer Lachlan Watson to play the character in the Chucky TV series.

“We realized that Glen/Glenda was so celebrated in the trans community because they’d never seen themselves up on screen before,” she said. “And Glen/Glenda is a very sympathetic character. But also, [Chucky creator] Don Mancini is a proud gay man, so even in Bride of Chucky, the most sympathetic character was the gay best friend.”

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