John Lafia, a veteran writer, director, and film producer known for films such as Child’s Play and The Blue Iguana, died Wednesday, April 29th at the age of 63. His death was ruled by suicide.
In 1988, Lafia wrote and directed his first feature film The Blue Iguana, a crime thriller starring Dylan McDermott and Jessica Harper, and which screened at the Cannes Film Festival. That same year, he co-wrote the screenplay for Child’s Play and was credited for giving the villainous doll his name of “Chucky”. He then directed Child’s Play 2 in 1990.
Lafia eventually shifted his focus to television, directing episodes of Babylon 5 and Dead Zone, as well as the popular mini-series 10.5. He was also an early advocate of new media, which led him to direct the 1994 live-action video game Corpse Killer.
Aside from film and television, Lafia was an experimental musician who released records under the name of John J. Lafia.
Editors’ Picks
Don Mancini, who co-wrote Child’s Play with Lafia said in a statement: “We’re devastated to hear of the passing of our friend John Lafia. He was a crucial part of the Chucky family from the very beginning. He co-wrote the original Child’s Play script along with director Tom Holland and myself, and John directed Child’s Play 2 — the consensus favorite film among Chucky fans.”
“John was an incredibly generous artist,” Mancini added. “He let me tag along with him to every meeting, and shadow him on set; he taught me more about filmmaking during the production of that movie than several semesters in film school. John was also one of the most naturally curious and constantly creative people I ever met, someone who was always taking pictures, and jotting down ideas. We’ll miss him terribly.”