Posted in: Exclusive, Horror, Interview, Movies | Tagged: Chris Jericho, Cineverse, damien leone, David Howard Thornton, exclusive, interview, Terrifier 3

Terrifier 3 Star Chris Jericho on Making Most of Acting Opportunities

Chris Jericho (AEW) spoke with Bleeding Cool about how he went from skeptic to a fan to a gig on Damien Leone's Terrifier franchise.

There's no question about Chris Jericho's standing as an entertainer. Whether it's celebrating his 34 years in the ring, performing with his rock band Fozzy, hosting his podcast Talk Is Jericho, or taking the occasional role, the professional wrestler and actor takes on all challenges. What might be surprising is that it isn't his connections to the ring that got him his gig on Damien Leone's Terrifier franchise films but his love of horror on his podcast that presented that opportunity. Terrifier 3 takes place years after the 2022 sequel where Sienna Ward (Lauren LaVera) attempts to come to terms with her mental health following her traumatic experience with Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton), who returns and finds an unlikely ally. The AEW star, who reprised his role as Burke, spoke to Bleeding Cool about how he was cast, how Thornton playing Art as mute adds layers making his slasher unique, how he approaches his roles, and if he considered making a concentrated effort like his former WWE peers like Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Dave Bautista, and John Cena.

How the Terrifier Franchise Made Chris Jericho a Fan and Led to a Role

BC: How did you get involved with the Terrifier franchise?

CJ: We were on tour with Fozzy, about six years ago or so. My partner Rich Ward told me, "You got to watch this movie called Terrifier." I was like, "Okay, it's about a killer clown." I'm like, "Eh, killer clowns, big deal!" He showed me the infamous saw scene on Catherine [Corcoran's character Dawn], and I couldn't believe how visceral and brutal it was. I started trumpeting everybody to see this movie, Terrifier. I have this popular podcast, and I cover horror movies. That's where it started, and then as weeks and months went on, people saw Terrifier on my recommendation. That's how I met David [Howard Thornton] and Damien [Leone]. It spiraled from there to when they were about to make Terrifier 2. Damien offered me a part [of Burke] in the movie, and the rest is history as the biggest fan but also the biggest promoter of the movie when it first came out. That led to where we are today with Terrifier 3 getting ready to become one of the biggest horror movies of all time and one of the biggest horror movie franchises of the modern era.

What was it about Damien's vision and how Howard plays Art the Clown that makes the franchise so unique?

You almost answered your question. The reason why it works so well is…I mean, I've seen a lot of horror movies, more than my share of gory ones, which are cool. [Terrifier] goes above and beyond the gore and shock factor, but it works because of Damien's vision and the way David plays Art, which creeped me out watching the first Terrifier, and the fact Art never talks. He's descriptive of his body movements and facials.
It was interesting how art can come into our world. You don't have to go into the forest to find Art the Clown, go to sleep in a dream, or be on a remote Texas highway. You could be at a diner, costume shop, or bar. Here comes this fucked up creature, person, entity, demon, whatever he is, and it's our world. That was interesting. I had never seen that before, and the way David plays Art, it's so elastic. Maybe the way he plays him and the fact he doesn't talk makes it much creepier and scarier. There were a lot of different elements that blended to make Terrifier, two such special movies.

Between your work AEW in wrestling, music with Fozzy, your podcast, and occasional acting role, how do you approach these acting opportunities when they come? Do they ask you to participate or do you audition like everyone else?

You always have to be asked. You can't show up on set and say, "Hey, guys, I'm here." I've been doing a lot of stuff recently, and being a part of the Terrifier franchise has been a big reason. It's a mixed and hidden blessing in disguise for Two was the film's epilogue, where I appear in a longer scene originally with a completely different ending. The problem is we were filming it during Covid. There were a lot of stops and starts with Terrifier 2. In the meantime, a movie called Malignant (2021) came out, which had the same ending, coincidentally as the original Terrifier 2 ending. We had to reshoot everything, which gave me a pass to being in Terrifier 3. It was, like I said, "Messed up at the time in a big scramble to try and figure out what we're going to do with this ending that was the same as the ending of 'Malignant.' In a roundabout way, it almost ended up with me getting an extra movie from it. I'm one of the rare few to make multiple appearances in 'Terrifier' films unless you're Lauren LaVera, Eliott [Fullam]. David or Samantha [Scaffidi], not many survive these movies. I was able to get two appearances out of it.

Have you considered taking the extra step into acting as your contemporaries, maybe a regular TV show, like a sitcom or drama? Perhaps, making a concentrated effort like Dwayne, Bautista, and Cena have done.

That's the goal, right? It's like, "Yeah, sure, I'm here, guys, hire me!" It doesn't work that way. You work your way up the ladder and over the last couple of years, I've done a lot of cool stuff besides the Terrifier films. I did another horror movie called 'Dark Match' (2024), which came out simultaneously. Both appeared at the Sitges Film Festival in Spain, which is a big deal. I did a couple of movies for the Hallmark Channel, which was completely different than movies you might do for Damian Leone. I mean the idea is to do more, and like I said, "You work your way up the ladder and take the opportunities as you get them." When you're in show business, there's no gig too big or small. You do them and see how they go because once again, Terrifier 2, nobody knew how big it would be and it's all the rage. Here we are with 'Terrifying 3', getting ready to go on 2000 screens so all that helps. If John Woo is looking for a Chris Jericho-style character, here I am!

Terrifier 3, which also stars Daniel Roebuck, Tom Savini, Jason Patric, Antonella Rose, Margaret Anne Florence, Bryce Johnson, Clint Howard, and Krsy Fox is available in theaters.

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