Terrifier 3's Art The Clown Actor Reveals The First Ending Was 'Much Darker' - Exclusive Interview

From the late 1970s throughout the '80s, slasher movies were in their golden era. Plenty of great horror movies and icons made their mark during this time, like Michael Myers, who stalked their victims and killed them off in brutal fashion. Horror goes through ebbs and flows with different subgenres taking prominence, although there's always been room for slashers to make their mark over the years, as evidenced by Ghostface in the Scream franchise coming around in the '90s. But today, there's a new face in the slasher subgenre, and it's Art the Clown, expertly brought to life by David Howard Thornton since 2016's "Terrifier."

In three feature-length movies so far, Thornton has brought a devilishly hilarious yet sinister tone to the character. He'll demand Halloween candy one minute and torture a girl ad nauseam the next. Even when he's in the middle of a kill, he finds the time to play with his food, and Art proves he still has what it takes in the franchise's latest offering, "Terrifier 3," from director and writer Damien Leone. He offers arguably some of his greatest kills to date, only this time, he's usually dressed as Santa Claus to deliver whimsical doom. 

Looper had an exclusive interview with Thornton to talk about his latest film and to look toward the future about another slasher he'll play soon — Steamboat Willie in the upcoming public domain-approved horror flick, "Screamboat." And while Art the Clown is terrifying, Thornton is an utter delight to chat with. 

Earlier this year, there was a story about how, I think you almost vomited while filming a scene for "Terrifier 3." I think I have an idea of what scene it was, but do you ever have that feeling like you've seen it all from the Terrifier franchise and then Damien Leone and the crew throw something so wild at you?

David Howard Thornton: Yeah, I'm always constantly wondering, 'What else is he going to come up with?' Because that's a challenge this day and age because so much has already been done with kill scenes. We have decades of great slashers and great kill scenes, so we're always like, "Okay, what can we do that's going to be new?" And sometimes it's not necessarily something new. It's like sometimes we just have a new take on something that someone's done before us and see if we can evolve that further. 

I'm constantly amazed with the genius of Damien Leone. He's like, you would think this man is the most sick perverted man in real life, and it couldn't be further from the truth. He's such an ordinary dude, bro. He's just like, you never know that that stuff is living up in his mind because he is the sweetest, coolest guy in real life.

Was there anything in the "Terrifier 3" script specifically that surprised you? Or do you just kind of go in with an open mind?

Oh yeah. I mean it was actually the scene that made me [mimics hurling sound], that kind of surprised. I was like, "Dang you, Damien." Because he put something into that that makes me just nauseous anyway. And it's just like, "I know you deliberately did this, just you're really trying me here. You're really trying to see what you can do to me." There's actually some things that were in the script that we actually never got to bring to life on screen because we just didn't have time. And you think the finale was dark? It was much darker in the script. The stuff we had to cut, it's unfortunate we had to cut it, but ... we probably would've gotten a lot of hate for some of the stuff we were going to do in that because it got dark. And I was like, "My God, Damien, where is this coming from?"

But also the part I was really happy about with the script was the ending. That was the part I liked the best because I liked where it ends with those characters and the possibilities where it's going to take them in the future because it ends with them both in a very interesting place. It's almost like an "Empire Strikes Back"-type of ending. And I loved that. I love that. I love especially seeing Art in such a vulnerable state for once. And that's when I read that, I was like, "Please, if you change anything, do not change this part of the script. This needs to stay. This is perfect. This is perfect. It is a great trajectory going forward. Just leave this." And thankfully, he did.

Do you have any deleted scenes we might see on the Blu-ray that you're excited for people to check out?

Oh, I hope so. I mean, I know he deleted a lot of things that we did because he lets me play around a lot, so we do different takes on different things, and so I'm hoping a lot of that makes it to the deleted scenes. I'm hoping also he brings in the whole thing where you actually do see me almost vomiting on set because that was a very, very real thing. And as gross as it was for me, it was very funny too. I was like, everybody was hamming it up and just trying to get me to lose my lunch there. They're just like, "Come on, Dave." I'm like, "Oh guys." And I think it also just shows how much fun we have on set with each other that that's how we are. And so I hope that makes it into those extras.

How much are you able to improvise with these movies and was there anything in "Terrifier 3" that you improvised? Especially just considering that Art doesn't talk.

Oh yeah. When Damien wrote the first script, he didn't know me at the time, so he didn't know my style and how I like to just play around on set. And so when he wrote both '2' and '3,' he wrote a lot of scenes with that in mind that, "Okay, these are scenes where I'm just going to say the bare bones of what's happening." So it's kind of like what they do with "Curb Your Enthusiasm," but like, "Okay, here's the situation and here's what's around him and go." Art just plays.

And so that's what he does with a lot of these scenes and he just lets me play. The mall scene's a great example of that where I was just playing a lot with the kids and that was a lot of fun. I had so much fun doing that. And also the bar scene, he had that and he has me in there with some great film legends and he was like, "This is what I wrote, but you guys are the masters. Feel free to embellish as much as you want to, and we'll just roll film and see what happens." And that's what we did. So the four of us for two or three days just played and it was so much fun, especially Daniel Roebuck, he's a veteran stage actor as well, and he's such a great scene partner, especially with his background in comedy.

He understands how to be a great straight man and how to throw the joke to your scene partner. So he just kept on throwing things to me for me to just react off of and play around with, and it was pure magic for me. I had the most fun. That's my favorite week I've ever had on a set in my whole entire career. And Damien just trusts. He knows how to trust people, but he also knows what he wants too from the actors and what he wants from the scene. So he'll steer you back to where he needs to go. He knows how to rein me back when he needs to.

That's awesome, and that is such a great scene. Do you have any rituals for coming down a few notches after doing a particularly bloody sequence?

No. I can easily snap in and out of it. It's no big deal for me. I think that comes from my stage days because I would sometimes play multiple characters in the same production, and so sometimes I would have to argue with myself on stage, so I had to be able to switch back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, and so I have no problem just coming off of it. I'm usually, when I'm coming off of a kill, I'm usually checking in with my co-stars to make sure that they're okay. I want to make sure both physically and mentally that they are okay.

I want to talk about how you played a Grinchy character in "The Mean One," and "Terrifier 3" kind of opens with a Grinch homage with the little girl coming down the stairs and Art's dressed as Santa, kind of being like the Cindy Lou Who. Was that intentional, or were there other Christmas movies you used as a reference as a performer or Damien and the team used as reference points?

Oh, definitely. I mean, of course "Grinch" was a big influence, especially for that opening scene because I have a long history with that character, not just in "The Mean One." I toured with the production of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical" for five years, and I was the understudy for the Grinch. Our Grinch was the wonderfully talented Stefán Karl [Stefánsson] who was Robbie Rotten from "LazyTown," and he had a very big impact on my acting abilities. It was like a masterclass of comedy with him for five years. So a lot of what I've done with Art I got from Stefán, and so I like doing, in a way that was a little homage to him in some ways. But also there are so many other references in this movie. This movie is chock full of references, especially "Black Christmas" and also the "Tales from the Crypt" Christmas story.

Both versions they did of the home invasion was Santa Claus. That's actually something Damien sent me. He sent me both versions of those. Because he wanted me to watch those to get an idea of what he wanted for that scene. And I loved it. I was like, "This is fantastic. Oh God, it gives me so great ideas for where to go for it." And that scene's one of my favorite scenes in the movie. That's actually one of my favorite openings to a horror movie I've seen, and I'm trying not to be biased. I mean, I sat there just in the audience going, "Oh my God," because I'd seen rough cuts to it, but it shows the power of good editing and good sound design, what that can do. And I was like, "That's how you start a movie." I was like, "This is great." So I was very happy with that.

Aside from the scene that almost made you hurl, were there any particularly challenging scenes to film just because of the physicality?

Definitely the shower scene. That was definitely a very tough scene to film, and that took about a week to film. And especially considering how exposed the actors were in that. That was not a lot of fun for them, I think. And especially being in a shower for days on end is just water on you constantly. Also, the finale, that was a big, big, big set piece to film, and that took over probably about two weeks to film all of that.

That was fun but tough, especially not as tough for me, but really tough for Lauren [LaVera, who plays Sienna] to go through because I'm physically abusing her during that scene. I'm literally having to hit her constantly and I was constantly apologizing to her. I'm like, "I am so sorry." Because I knew she was so mentally and physically exhausted, and now she's getting hurt because I'm knocking her in the head or knocking her with a mallet and stuff like that, I'm like, "I am so, so sorry." But we knew how epic that scene was going to be, so we went full hog with it, and that's a big part of the film I'm very happy with. I was very excited to see on screen because I love that fight between the two of us.

You're playing Steamboat Willie in the upcoming "Screamboat" movie. Can we expect to see any of Art's mannerisms, or did you have to find ways to make Steamboat Willie a little different? To make him his own horror movie icon?

There might be some Art mannerisms in there, but I definitely had to do some different things. It was just the limitations of the costume I was wearing. It definitely changed the way I moved a lot, but he's kind of, he's not really a silent character. I do make a lot of [does Mickey Mouse laugh] and stuff like that. He doesn't really talk though. 

But yeah, there's definitely some variations with him there, and that was a lot of fun. That was a different experience for me because it was my first time actually not filming with other actors because Willie is small in this movie, so we did the old-school forced perspective and "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids"-type of LED screen magic with them where I had oversized props and we filmed everything else first on the Staten Island Ferry in New York, and then we filmed all my stuff on the soundstage here in Burbank. And I was able to actually see the playback of the footage and just interact with what was going on. That was a lot of fun, it was definitely a different experience though.

I can't wait to see "Screamboat."

Oh, you're going to have fun. It's a comedy. It's a great horror comedy, and especially if you're a Disney fan, you're going to love it. There are so many great Disney references and jokes in there. It's so much fun. I had so much fun doing that film.

"Terrifier 3" will release in theaters nationwide on October 11.