Art The Clown’s Actor Has A Secret Trick To Help Him Play The Character [Exclusive]

Back when Art the Clown was just one of many twisted killers in director Damien Leone’s short films, he was portrayed by actor and friend of the filmmaker, Mike Giannelli. But when it came time for the character to become the star of his own movie, Art was recast for 2016’s “Terrifier,” with actor David Howard Thornton taking on the role and defining the character as an unhinged killer with a cheeky side. Thornton’s darkly comedic take on the sadistic clown gave Art a perversely memorable personality that, across “Terrifier” and its 2022 sequel, turned him into a burgeoning slasher star.

Now, threequel “Terrifier 3” is bringing Thornton and his delightfully deranged version of Art back to run amok for the festive season, and it seems Leone has delivered on his promise to go even more extreme than his previous film, which horror director extraordinaire Mike Flannagan dubbed a “MegaSlasher.” Indeed, the opening scene of “Terrifier 3” already caused walkouts at its UK premiere, with one person reportedly losing the contents of their stomach in the process.

It seems, then, that when Thornton claimed one scene in “Terrifier 3” almost made him vomit, it wasn’t just a shrewd marketing ploy. Prior to this admission, the actor remained remarkably unphased by the horrific acts he’s carried out in the “Terrifier” films, and it seems that might have to do with a subtle trick he uses when in character.

You might think that playing Art the Clown is a deeply upsetting experience. But David Howard Thornton has thus far taken the relentless brutality in his stride. The actor previously told Dread Central:

“As soon as I understand the character I can become the character, so it really doesn’t do anything to me mentally, except it’s made me a little bit more creative in life. When people upset me and stuff like that I’m like, ‘I wonder how I could turn this into a kill.'”

Beyond just understanding his character’s motivations, however, Thornton quite clearly has a good time playing Art. He landed the gig after a nasty bit of improv during his audition, which saw him salting an imaginary decapitated head and instantly winning over Damien Leone. Since then, the actor has brought that grim comedic sensibility to the role of Art, who remains silent throughout his various killing sprees, representing a kind of twisted mime figure as he causes untold devastation across the “Terrifier” trilogy.

But it turns out there’s more to portraying the character than compartmentalizing the brutality and being a bit cheeky about it all. /Film’s Jacob Hall sat down with Leone and Thornton ahead of the “Terrifier 3” Fantastic Fest premiere and asked the star about his approach to the character. “Even though I don’t have lines per se, I’m always making up my own dialogue in my head,” said Thornton. “Just so I have something to go off of motivation-wise and also beat-wise.” The actor likened the experience to performing comedy, adding:

“Especially when you’re trying to do certain comedy bits, you have to have those certain beats that you have to hit there so the joke lands the right way. And I’m constantly just making up my own dialogue and it helps me out a whole lot on set and everything. If people only heard the things I’m thinking in my head.”

Prior to becoming a slasher star, David Howard Thornton actually earned his degree in elementary education, before pivoting to acting. You can see videos of an early-career Thornton doing impressions and voices on his YouTube channel, with the actor clearly aiming for voiceover work. Indeed, between portraying Art the Clown, Thornton has actually landed a few VO roles in film and TV. But when it comes to Art, the typically loquacious actor is unable to utter a single word. Still, Thornton has thus far made it work, telling /Film that he enjoys “doing silly voices and stuff like that” between takes on the “Terrifier” movies. He continued:

“Definitely one thing that was a definite challenge for me for playing Art was that was something I had to change about how I approach a character. Because beforehand, especially when I did all my stage work, everything I would do when I first got the character so I can understand the character, I would try to find the character’s voice. And it seemed like once I found how that character talked, everything else would fall into place, my posture, everything like that.”

For Art, Thornton described how he had to think of the character’s voice as his “face and his body,” explaining how he built the character “off of his physicality.” He added, “It was a fun challenge to undertake, but now it’s become so second nature to me after three films.”

Thornton clearly contributed greatly to the surprise box office success of “Terrifier 2,” and his performance has helped bring Art and his despicable antics to the attention of a wider audience. With “Terrifier 3,” dubbed one of the nastiest horror movies ever made by /Film’s Jacob Hall, set to arrive on October 11, 2024, he might just make the silent killer into one of the most talked-about figures in horror.