Who's that clown? If you think you know the real Art the Clown, think again. Here's the story of how the iconic slasher was recast for his big screen debut.
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00:00Who's that clown?
00:02If you think you know the real Art the Clown, think again.
00:05Here's the story of how the iconic slasher was recast for his big-screen debut.
00:10Ever since Terrifier 2 scared up big wins at the box office, making $15.7 million on
00:16a $250,000 budget, its homicidal antagonist has become somewhat of a slasher star.
00:21Art the Clown, portrayed by the inimitable David Howard Thornton, is a silent, psychopathic
00:26harlequin who becomes positively gleeful in the presence of all-out human carnage.
00:31Director and creator of the Terrifier series, Damian Leone, originally created Art the Clown
00:36after being struck by the idea of a woman being menaced by a creepy clown on a bus.
00:40As Leone told Entertainment Weekly,
00:42She's all alone, coming home from work or whatever in the middle of the night, and then
00:46this clown gets on and sits across from her and starts staring at her and toying with
00:50her.
00:51It's awkward and uncomfortable and maybe even funny, but then it gets progressively
00:55more intimidating and aggressive.
00:57Thus, Art was born.
00:59But while David Howard Thornton has now come to define the character's ghoulishly comedic
01:02presence, back when Leone first decided to realize his vision, he used a completely different
01:07actor.
01:08Art the Clown was inspired by iconic horror killers, combining elements of Michael Myers,
01:13Freddy Krueger, and Jason with an extra sprinkling of twisted, trickster-ish energy.
01:17But before he really came into his own as a burgeoning slasher star, the character was
01:21one of many to feature in Damian Leone's short films.
01:25The first of these was 2008's The Ninth Circle, in which Art appears at an empty train
01:29station on Halloween and chases a young woman.
01:32This version of the character was played by Mike Giannulli, and the actor spoke to the
01:35Square Roundtable podcast about meeting Leone in 2002 and becoming friends with the director.
01:40He explained how Leone always doodled everywhere, and recalled how one day, after sketching
01:45the first idea for Art, the director asked him whether he wanted to play the character
01:49in The Ninth Circle.
01:50Giannulli agreed to what was then a small role, but would actually go on to play the
01:54bloodthirsty clown in two other projects.
01:58Mike Giannulli wasn't simply a stopgap solution before David Howard Thornton could fulfill
02:01the role of Art.
02:03He was there for the inception of the character and the evolution of Art's distinct look,
02:07modeling the various creations that Damian Leone produced.
02:10The actor told the Square Roundtable podcast about the initial look for Art, recalling
02:14how he was originally supposed to have white eyes or red eyes, but the contact lenses kept
02:19popping out, so Leone scrapped the idea.
02:22The original makeup was also supposed to be very different, too.
02:33But after viewers of The Ninth Circle seemed to respond well to Art, Leone began improving
02:37on the look for 2011's short film, Terrifier.
02:40For this second on-screen outing, Art took center stage, butchering yet another poor
02:44woman who happened to witness one of his murders at a gas station.
02:48By this time, Leone had created a mold of Giannulli's face and had been slowly building
02:52on it over time.
02:53Unfortunately, it seems the process of developing, applying, and then removing this extensive
02:58makeup was part of the reason Giannulli eventually left Art behind.
03:02In 2013's All Hallows' Eve, Mike Giannulli once again portrayed Art the Clown, and while
03:07All Hallows' Eve was technically Damian Leone's feature directorial debut, much of it was
03:11just repurposed footage from his previous short films.
03:14His actual feature directorial debut became 2016's Terrifier, in which Art the Clown finally
03:20got the full-length treatment he deserved.
03:22But when Art ventured out for this first feature-length massacre, it wasn't Giannulli behind the makeup,
03:27but David Howard Thornton.
03:28The actor got the gig after a nasty bit of improv during his audition, in which he mimed
03:32salting a severed head to taste, a glimpse of the sadistic humor Howard Thornton would
03:36bring to the role.
03:38But it seems like there was no bad blood between the two Arts.
03:41As Giannulli told The Square Roundtable hosts,
03:43I was offered the role to do Terrifier.
03:46I turned it down.
03:47Yeah, I just, I wasn't a big fan of filming long hours.
03:52Mike Giannulli elaborated on his filming frustrations with The Square Roundtable Boys, revealing
03:56that he would have to spend hours at the end of every day removing the mask that Leone
04:00applied, adding,
04:01It was horrible.
04:03I had fake fingernails.
04:04He was making all these pus-filled holes on my arm.
04:07It was crazy.
04:08I hated every second of it.
04:09Love the outcome.
04:11But I can't sit still, so having to be there for hours, it's not fun.
04:15On top of all that, the actor recalled how Leone always filmed during the winter, so
04:19shooting was always a chilly affair, especially considering the clown suit itself was remarkably
04:24thin.
04:25It might sound as though Mike Giannulli abandoned Damian Leone just as he was preparing to give
04:29Art the Clown the feature-length treatment, but it seems the director holds no ill will
04:33or bitterness towards the erstwhile Art actor.
04:36In 2022, he told The Austin Chronicle that Giannulli is still his buddy before going
04:40on to explain the difference between Giannulli and David Howard Thornton.
04:44Mike may as well have been a guy dressed as a clown, whereas David is a clown.
04:48If you know him in person, he is a walking cartoon.
04:51He is Roger Rabbit in real life, and you'd never believe that he's Art the Clown, but
04:54he knows how to flip the switch and bring it to a dark place.
04:57Meanwhile, Giannulli has all but retired from acting and seems quite comfortable raising
05:01a family and generally staying away from pig guts.
05:04So while Howard Thornton has undeniably put his stamp on Art, Giannulli deserves recognition
05:09for his part in creating the iconic character.