DAVID HOWARD THORNTON has massacred his way through three TERRIFIER movies as the brutal Art the Clown, but his murderous days are far from over! He can now be seen causing havoc as the mischievous mouse who goes on a rampage on a New York City ferry in SCREAMBOAT, based on the now-public domain Disney animation, Steamboat Willie. Thornton joined us recently to tell us all about his latest killing spree…
STARBURST: It looks like you had a blast filming Screamboat!
David Howard Thornton: It was a lot of fun. I’ve worked with a lot of that team before, so it was great to return and work with Steve [LaMorte, director] and Amy [Schumacher, who plays Amber]; I love working with those guys. It’s just like going back to school again… but a fun school! I had a blast doing it, and especially being able to tackle a character like this.
We can imagine that the costume was cumbersome, though…
Yeah, a lot was going on. It didn’t let you breathe very well, it was very hot. But once you’re in the moment, you forget about how uncomfortable you are. You learn to deal with the heat and all that goes along with it, and just have fun with it.
What inspiration did you take on when getting into the role of Screamboat Willie?
First of all, of course, the original animated short. I went back and rewatched it several times just to get the basic gist of the character down. Back then, Willie didn’t really speak, so I focused on his movements. There’s a certain style they had in the old black and white films, where you didn’t have a lot of dialogue, so you had these characters bopping around to the music at all times. That’s what I wanted to add to the character – this peppy, fun nature. And for this version, he had to be feral, like a rat. So I put a little bit of animal in him. For other inspirations, I threw a little bit of Bugs Bunny in there – which is kind of funny when you think about the Disney, Warner Bros rivalry. I threw in a little bit of Chucky and Leprechaun as well, who are both diminutive but very mischievous characters, and have that campiness. Those types of movies that are pure camp! You just lean into the joke and hope the audience understands what you’re trying to do with it.
How does Screamboat Willie differ from other characters you’ve played?
I would say the biggest difference is the size – that changed everything with the kills. I couldn’t throw people around as I do as Art or as Player Two in Stream. That diminutive size changes everything. I’m having to use what looks like huge objects, but to the normal person it’s like a screwdriver, or using a small piece of rebar as a huge sword. I was finding new ways to do fun kills as a three-foot-tall mouse. We focused on forced perspective on set, which was a lot of fun to deal with, but it was definitely different. There were times where I was in the room with an actor, but I was very far away from them, so it made me look tiny, like when I’m sawing off the captain’s head. But I didn’t film with the other actors too much. They filmed everything first, and then I had to act like they were there; they digitally projected everything around me.
When we saw your true size in the film, our jaws dropped! We were bamboozled into thinking you were going to be human height!
It’s such a silly concept when you think about it, and that’s what I loved about it. We just leaned into this preposterous idea that this tiny mouse is going around on a boat and killing people. I love that kind of quirkiness in movies.
I know that you have mime training, but how do you get yourself into the zone of playing these silent characters?
For my whole life, I’ve been watching a lot of silent comedies. I love that style, especially Mr Bean. Rowan Atkinson was a huge, huge inspiration to me. I watched Mr Bean episodes relentlessly, over and over, as a teenager. I always loved that style of acting, those silent, mischievous characters, so it just comes to me naturally.
You’ve recently been cast as the Joker in horror short Jokers Wild, which is a speaking role. Would you want to branch out and try more speaking roles?
Yes, I would love to do more. Though it is nice not having to memorise lines, I will be truthful there! I do love to speak – I am quite the Chatty Cathy in real life – but it just depends on the type of role. Joker is that type of role I would love to play more of, because I love his witticisms. He’s a very witty character, a master wordsmith, I love the monologues he gets. Hopefully someone will give me a chance, specifically James Gunn!
Jokers Wild (2025)
Are there any other stories or characters that you’d like to get involved with?
I know Goofy’s eventually going to become public domain, so that would be a fun one to tackle. And it’s not in the public domain, but I would love to reboot The Mask. I would love to do those old comics, like the original Dark Horse Comics, where they were violent, gory, and over the top. The Mask would actually lend itself very well to a TV series, because different people take on the mask over the course of the comics, so you have different versions of that character. You have the villainous version, the murderous version, the heroic version, and I think that would be a lot of fun to do.
There’s a lot of similarity in your physical performance to Jim Carrey in The Mask, so that sounds like it would be a home run of a role for you!
Oh, thank you. Also, I always like to put this out there, because I know there’s probably gonna be another few seasons before they get to the characters, but I am a big One Piece fan and I would absolutely love to play Brook or Caesar Clown. Maybe one day I could get cast in it. Who knows!
Is there anyone you’d love to work with, alive or dead? That dream collaboration.
Oh, definitely one of my inspirations, Robin Williams. I think he would have been an amazing person to work with and learn from. I like to work with actors I can learn from and build my skillset from. That’s what was wonderful when I toured with How the Grinch Stole Christmas: The Musical. I was Stefan Karl’s understudy as the Grinch, and that was a masterclass in physical comedy for me. I wish he was still with us, because I would love to work with Stefan again. I would love to work with Doug Jones; that would be so much fun as well. There’s a lot of great people out there!
SCREAMBOAT WILLIE will open in selected cinemas on April 2nd in the US and April 4th in the UK, with a digital release coming soon.
