PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Alex Vincent may have earned household name status at the age of 6 when he starred as Andy Barclay in the 1988 Child’s Play film, which saw his character terrorized by Chucky, the murderous Good Guys doll. But he didn’t let early fame get to his head. In fact, at 40, Vincent is just your average guy who loves music and boasts of a vast collection of Nine Inch Nails merch.
Well, he’s almost average.
Following a cameo in 2013’s Curse of Chucky and a full return in 2017’s Cult of Chucky (our review), Vincent has once again resumed his role of Andy in creator Don Mancini’s highly-anticipated SYFY series, Chucky. This older, tormented version of Andy rocks a tailored suit as he and Child’s Play 2 foster sister Kyle, played by Christine Elise, track down and destroy every doll possessed by the soul of Charles Lee Ray. Ahead of the season finale on Tuesday, we chatted with Vincent about sharing the screen with Elise after 30 years, the excitement and anxiety felt before filming the show, his gratitude toward the diehard fan base, and how he’s living the best of both worlds as an actor and normal person who can go to the grocery store in peace.
PopHorror: Chucky has been getting really great ratings and reviews by fans. How does that feel from your perspective?
Alex Vincent: It’s incredibly gratifying. This is a long time coming to get this show on the air, a lot of obstacles in our way. Knowing how much work Don [Mancini] and the crew have put into this, it’s incredibly satisfying to see it received so well. Chucky fans are so united in their enjoyment over it, which is nice. The last couple of films were kind of a love/hate thing for the audience. I call them Corned Beef Films. You either love them or hate them, and there was very little in between. With this, everybody is very united. In a world where people can’t even seem to agree that pizza is good food anymore, no matter what the issue is, people seem to want to argue about it. There’s very little arguing about this show, and that feels very good.
PopHorror: When did you learn Don Mancini wanted you to be part of the Chucky series?
Alex Vincent: I knew that this was his plan as we were making Cult of Chucky. We had already talked about it, but there were a few obstacles like COVID and that [2019] MGM film. It was something I certainly hoped would happen after Cult just because it would be fun. It’s fun to go back to this character. It’s fun to spend time with these people that I love. It’s fun to give back to a fanbase that’s been so incredibly kind, generous, and supportive of me for as long as I can remember. I mean literally, as long as I can remember. All of my memories. I was thrilled to know it was going forward.
PopHorror: How did you prepare for production of the show? Was there pressure?
Alex Vincent: As someone who’s not in the business often, I had a lot of anxiety about it. I had some weight to lose for my own sake knowing I was going to watch this. I had some preparation in my mind to be ready for something like this. Just the process of getting through all of it and getting myself there to do it was a lot of stress. The times [filming] in Toronto between cut and action were the most fun parts of all of it. Everything leading into it was a lot of anxiety for me, but a good, healthy anxiety. A motivational one. It’s something that I knew I’d feel really good if I got through it, and I did.
PopHorror: Have you done any other TV before?
Alex Vincent: Last time I was on television was when I was 5-years-old, and I did a couple weeks on As The World Turns. Sometimes, people think that I’ve been trying to get work as an actor for 30 years and just striking out left and right. That’s not true. I haven’t been on an audition since 1993. I didn’t want to. When I was a child, I wanted to be on television. I wanted to do commercials or something like that. I got Child’s Play and it was very exciting. Then getting the sequel was fun, but it came with a bit more stress and responsibility because it was a sequel. I was lead billing in this film. It came out great, and then they did Child’s Play 3 and recast me with an older actor because they wanted the character to be older.
PopHorror: How did you feel when you learned you wouldn’t be returning to the franchise?
Alex Vincent: That was pretty crushing to me at the time. I was a 10-year-old kid who expected to be in this. I continued to audition for a while and then it became not fun to sit in the car in traffic after school and go into New York City and audition. I wasn’t really getting anything for a while. My heart wasn’t really in it. Then you get into those early teenage years, and you develop something called insecurity that you don’t really have as a child. The whole business of it, the rejection, the attention from it, success or failure, both seemed like something I didn’t want. Neither seemed exciting or fun to me. I didn’t think I was being true to myself to do something that I didn’t enjoy doing. I walked away with really little to no regrets.
PopHorror: So after Child’s Play 2, what were your teenage and young adult years like?
Alex Vincent: You work your ass off, wait tables, spend all of your life paycheck to paycheck and kind of broke. You have thoughts in your head like, “If I went a different way, maybe I’d be in a more comfortable life right now.” But the reality is, I don’t think I would’ve been. I don’t think I was ready for anything like that. Even now, I don’t know that I’m ready for anything like that, to be honest. In some ways, I am. I enjoy acting a lot; I enjoy making people happy; I enjoy entertaining people. But if it weren’t for my dedication and gratitude for this fanbase that’s been so supportive, and if it weren’t for my love and incredible gratitude toward Don and a lot of the cast and crew, I probably wouldn’t have done anything like this. But I’m very happy I did, especially after seeing how great the show has turned out and how excited people are.
PopHorror: You seem to be very involved with the fans, doing horror conventions and just interacting with people on social media. Do you enjoy that?
Alex Vincent: That’s one of the more fun things about this, my relationship with the fanbase. I’ve been doing horror conventions, meeting fans for the last 18 years. I meet 20,000 people a year or more that are huge, huge fans of the series. I know a lot of these people. I’ve met these people. If I haven’t met them, I’ve gotten messages from them. Plus, I’m a super fan of things myself. There are shows that I’m just obsessed with. There are actors that I adore. There are musicians that are my idols in this world. To give an example, I wear Nine Inch Nails stuff all the time. I’ve seen that band 70 times in concert. I get there the night before so I’m in the front on barrier, the best seat in the house for the show. I know what it’s like to be a massive fan of things and for it to be important to you. I know from that side of the table what that’s like. It would make no sense to get on a plane, leave my recording studio empty for a couple days and travel, and go out there just to sit there grumpy and try to make money. I’m the guy who’s staying around, drinking, and hanging out with people all night.
PopHorror: Tell me more about your recording studio and what you’re up to when you’re not battling killer dolls.
Alex Vincent: I spent my childhood doing auditions and being an actor, so I didn’t get my 10,000 hours in learning an instrument. I played piano a bit. I suck at guitar but I love guitar. I just love music. I always have. I decided in 2008 that I was going to go to school to become a recording engineer and I did. I went to Full Sail, graduated top of my class, and spent a little bit of time trying to get a job as an audio engineer at a studio, only to find out that people really don’t give up those jobs. Ever. So, I decided to open up my own place in 2014 in Clearwater. It’s a small studio, but it’s efficient. It has everything that I need. I’ve had the place open for seven years now. We’ve recorded well over 300 artists, all different genres. I find it very rewarding to bring out the best in people creatively and to do my part to make their art that means everything to them sound as good as it possibly can.
PopHorror: That’s awesome! Circling back to the horror conventions, do you have a particular fan encounter that stands out?
Alex Vincent: There’s a few every time. There was one this last weekend in Chicago that will stick with me for a really long time. There was a young teenager that was a very, very big fan of Chucky. I had sent him a Cameo video greeting, and I think an autograph. He had Leukemia. Over the last month, he passed, and his mother came to that convention in Chicago and got an autograph signed to him. She broke down from the moment, which was very understandable. It was really a moment to just reflect on the actual impact that we as entertainers have on people.
PopHorror: The fandom was super excited to see you and Christine Elise [PopHorror interview] share a screen again as Andy and Kyle. What was that like?
Alex Vincent: She really is like my sister in real life. She’s one of my best friends. We talk every day. We have for the past decade. She gets the brunt of my neurotic feelings sometimes, and I get the brunt of hers because we’re such close friends. The build up to all of this was a lot, but it was really helpful to have someone in my corner that strongly and to be my actual partner in all of this. The prospect of us being back on screen together, back on set together for the first time in 30 years, was almost too amazing to really process in our brains, in mine in particular. When it all finally came to fruition and we were on set and she was Kyle and I was Andy, it was the most fun thing I’ve done in a very long time. The time in Toronto going out and getting drinks with her, Jennifer [Tilly], Fiona [Dourif] and Don was incredible, especially for someone in my position who doesn’t get to experience things like this all that often.
PopHorror: Were you able to fall back into your role of Andy pretty easily?
Alex Vincent: There are a lot of parallels between me and Andy. For me, getting back into that character is not that difficult. Andy is very disconnected, very empty, has a lot of trauma and PTSD, and doesn’t really feel things maybe like other people do. I can relate to almost all of that. Andy’s earliest memories are of Chucky, and so are mine. Chucky told both of us in 1988 that we’d be friends ’til the end, and I think he was not bullshitting.
PopHorror: After appearing in Curse of Chucky, Cult of Chucky and now the TV series, I’m sure you’ve gotten more attention. As someone who shied away from the spotlight most of your life, how does that feel?
Alex Vincent: I’m still not recognized by anyone unless they’re a big horror fan. But in general, I’m not. At my studio, I might have an artist that’s been recording with me for three or four months before I tell them that and then to see them be kind of blown away by it is a lot of fun. The times where it’s not so fun is when I’m just trying to be myself to people and that’s what they want to talk about. Some people are a little too excited by that information and don’t realize that it’s just a thing I did in my life. What was your first job out of college?
PopHorror: I worked in a call center for a university. It wasn’t ideal.
Alex Vincent: Imagine that’s all people want to talk about with you for the next 30 years.
PopHorror: So I guess you don’t walk around in public wearing Chucky merch carrying a Good Guys doll?
Alex Vincent: I do wear Chucky stuff a lot! There was a time in high school where it was pretty much known that I was not going to talk about this. I would not be all that kind if you insisted. I’ve changed my feelings on that over the years. I’ve learned to embrace this. I’ve learned to appreciate it. I’ve grown more fond of Chucky than I was for a while. Now I wear Chucky shit all the time. I’m a lot more proud about it than I used to be. I don’t want it to be all that people care about me for. I don’t want it to be the only thing about me that people find interesting. But I don’t reject their interest on the irritability of having dealt with this my whole life anymore. Every now and then, it’s like enough is enough. But for the most part, I’ve learned to embrace it through my own gratitude for all of this.
PopHorror: It sounds like you’re living the best of both worlds. You’re part of a major franchise but can still pursue your passion of music and live a somewhat normal life.
Alex Vincent: And go into a supermarket and not be recognized. Be drunk at a bar somewhere, which I don’t do too often, but if I were, it’s not all eyes on me. At conventions, it is all eyes on me, but I gear myself up for that for when I’m there. It is in many ways the best of both worlds. I mean, I’m still broke. People still think, “Oh, you’re in a TV show. You must be loaded.” That’s not the case at all. But to be able to slide under the radar for the majority of my life is something that I don’t think I could ever give up. That has limited my interest in pursuing this business as a full-time thing. I would not want that kind of attention and I don’t think I could handle it. This is about the most that I could enjoy. People say to me all the time, ‘You’re so down to earth.’ Well, I live on earth, don’t you? I don’t spend any time thinking that I’m more special than other people because of an experience that I’ve had, a job no less.
PopHorror: I saw on Instagram that you have your own Good Guys doll. Has he come alive yet?
Alex Vincent: I have a Trick or Treat Studios one and some fan-made ones that people have sent me. None of them have come alive yet. But I’m becoming a super fan. People ask me all the time if I still have things from the movie. The truth is, I had the wardrobe and stuff, but I sold that stuff because I’m not gonna display it in my house. I’m not gonna have a shrine to myself. I figured fans would appreciate that more. The only thing I ever really wanted was a Chucky doll, an actual Chucky doll from the film, and I got one from Cult and now that fans offer incredibly cool custom ones, I have a hard time saying, “No,” because I want them. Now my house is turning into a bit of a Chucky museum. Luckily, I’ve made peace with that fucker.
PopHorror: The season finale of Chucky is right around the corner. In one or two words, what can viewers expect?
Alex Vincent: Intense. Surprising. Incredibly exciting. This episode is really gonna blow people away. I honestly think that this show has gotten better and better each episode. I haven’t seen the episode. A lot of these have been surprises to me, also. We do our part, I know the scripts, but until you see it, you can’t picture in your mind how it’s all going to come together. Every step of the way, Don has exceeded everything that I hoped for. I personally cannot wait to see this. There’s some really great stuff in it that I think fans are gonna flip out. I think the fans will be very gratified by it, and we’ll see what they do after that. For now, this is the culmination of a whole lot of work and a whole lot of build up and excitement from our perspective and the fans’ perspective, and it all comes together on Tuesday. It’s very exciting. I’m thrilled to be a part of it. I will be overwhelmingly grateful for all of this for the rest of my life.
PopHorror: Is it hard not to give away spoilers on social media?
Alex Vincent: I’m pretty used to it. With Curse of Chucky, I had to lie to everybody and keep it a secret for a year and I got very good at it. I’m like the anti-spoiler. I like keeping things a surprise. I’m the kind of guy, when I’m watching my favorite shows and it comes to that, ‘On the next episode of,’ I turn it off immediately because I don’t want to know what’s coming. I enjoy the teasing side of promotion. I don’t like giving too much away, but I like giving enough away to keep people excited and interested about it. That’s been a fun game to play with the fans over the last several months of anticipation for this show, and then week to week for these episodes.
PopHorror: The fans have some wild theories about what’s going to happen. Do you enjoy reading them on social media?
Alex Vincent: People have some pretty interesting ideas about it, but I let them have them. Let them have them until they don’t fit anymore. For now, they can think anything they want.
