Don Mancini


George Donald Mancini is an American screenwriter and film director, 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 "Talky Tina" episode of The Twilight Zone, stating that he knew the killer doll trope, but realized it had never been done as a feature-length film in the age of animatronics. As a film student at UCLA in the mid-1980s, Mancini was amused by the hysteria surrounding the Cabbage Patch Kids, and that the ubiquitous, slightly homely 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.
Mancini was the executive producer of Bride of Chucky and Cult of Chucky, the latter in which he directed along with Seed of Chucky, as well as Curse of Chucky, all in the Child's Play franchise. Along with Kevin Williamson and Clive Barker, Mancini is one of the few openly gay writers in the slasher film genre. 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, Columbia University in New York City, and the University of California in Los Angeles.
Mancini wrote all seven films in the Child's Play series, and directed the last three. He is not involved in the 2019 reboot.

Filmography

Film

Television