| Don Mancini | |
| Birth Name: | George Donald Mancini[1] |
| Birth Date: | 25 January 1963 |
| Other Names: | Kit Du Bois Donald G. Mancini[2] |
| Education: | St. Christopher's School |
| Alma Mater: | University of California, Los Angeles Columbia University |
| Years Active: | 1988–present |
George Donald Mancini (born January 25, 1963)[2] is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. He is best known for creating and writing the Child's Play franchise (1988–present).
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.[3] He was not involved with the 2019 reboot.[4]
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[5]) in New York City.[6] [7] [8]
Mancini is gay.[9] [10] [11] 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.
Film
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Executive Producer | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Cellar Dweller | Credited as "Kit Du Bois" | ||||
| Child's Play | ||||||
| 1990 | Child's Play 2 | |||||
| 1991 | Child's Play 3 | |||||
| 1998 | Bride of Chucky | |||||
| 2004 | Seed of Chucky | Directorial debut | ||||
| 2013 | Curse of Chucky | |||||
| 2017 | Cult of Chucky |
Television
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Tales from the Crypt | Episode "Fitting Punishment" | ||||
| 2015 | Hannibal | 2 episodes (writer); 8 episodes (producer) | ||||
| 2016–2017 | Channel Zero | 3 episodes (writer); 6 episodes (producer) | ||||
| 2021–present | Chucky | Creator |
| Award | Category | Nominated work | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturn Awards | Best Writing (with Tom Holland and John Lafia) | Child's Play (1988) | ||
| Best Writing | Bride of Chucky (1998) | |||
| Special Recognition Award | Cult of Chucky (2017) and Child's Play franchise[12] | |||
| Fangoria Chainsaw Awards | Best Screenplay | Bride of Chucky (1998) |