Don Mancini

Don Mancini
Don Mancini during the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, holding a Chucky doll.
Born
George Donald Mancini

(1963-01-25) January 25, 1963 (age 60)
United States
Other namesKit Du Bois
Donald G. Mancini
EducationSt. Christopher's School
Alma materUniversity of California, Los Angeles
Columbia University
Occupations
  • Screenwriter
  • director
  • producer
Years active1988–present
Known forChild's Play

George Donald Mancini (born January 25, 1963) is an American screenwriter, director, and producer, most notable for the Child's Play franchise.

Career

Having been a horror fan since his childhood, Mancini's inspiration for Child's Play were films like Trilogy of Terror and The Twilight Zone episode "Living Doll"; aware of the "killer doll" as a horror trope, Mancini realized that the concept had never been executed as a feature-length film with animatronic effects work. As a film student at UCLA in the mid-1980s, Mancini was amused by the popularity of the Cabbage Patch Kids line of dolls, and that the ubiquitous dolls were disappearing from toy shelves and prompting physical fights between parents. Mancini's father had worked in the advertising industry all his life, and he knew how effective marketing could result in consumer bedlam. Based on this, Mancini wanted to write a dark satire about how marketing affected children, with his first effort being as the co-writer of Child's Play (1988).

Mancini wrote all seven films in the original Child's Play film series, and was the executive producer of Bride of Chucky and Cult of Chucky. He began directing Child's Play franchise entries with Seed of Chucky (2004), followed by Curse of Chucky (2013) and Cult (2017), and was the creator, writer, and director of the Chucky TV series. He was not involved with the 2019 reboot.

In 2007, he won the EyeGore award for career contributions to the horror genre. He sometimes goes by the pseudonym Kit Dubois. Mancini attended St. Christopher's School in Richmond, Virginia, University of California in Los Angeles, and Columbia University (Brad Dourif was among his teachers) in New York City.

Personal life

Mancini is gay. He has described consciously incorporating queer elements into the Child's Play films; his experiences as a gay man, including receiving bullying and abuse from his father because of it, informed Mancini's creative direction on the Chucky TV series, which features a gay protagonist.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Director Writer Executive
Producer
Notes
1988 Cellar Dweller No Yes No Credited as Kit Du Bois
Child's Play No Yes No Co-writer with Tom Holland and John Lafia
1990 Child's Play 2 No Yes No
1991 Child's Play 3 No Yes No
1998 Bride of Chucky No Yes Yes
2004 Seed of Chucky Yes Yes No Directorial debut
2013 Curse of Chucky Yes Yes No
2017 Cult of Chucky Yes Yes Yes

Television

Year Title Director Writer Producer Notes
1990 Tales from the Crypt No Yes No Episode: "Fitting Punishment"
2015 Hannibal No Yes Yes Writer (2 episodes) / Producer (8 episodes)
2016–2017 Channel Zero No Yes Supervising Writer (3 episodes) / Producer (6 episodes)
2021–present Chucky Yes Yes Executive Creator

Awards

Award Category Nominated work Result
Saturn Awards Best Writing (with Tom Holland and John Lafia) Child's Play (1988) Nominated
Best Writing Bride of Chucky (1998) Nominated
Special Recognition Award Cult of Chucky (2017) and Child's Play franchise Won
Fangoria Chainsaw Awards Best Screenplay Bride of Chucky (1998) Nominated

This page was last updated at 2024-01-19 09:57 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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