How David Howard Thornton’s Art the Clown Made ‘Terrifier 3’ a Box Office Hit

The actor was working as a waiter when the opportunity for the role came up, but he had to convince his agent to let him audition: "This is such a small, independent project. You really don’t need to do something like this."

A new star is dominating the box office, and his name is Art the Clown.
The lead in *Terrifier 3*, David Howard Thornton, remains surprisingly positive for someone known for portraying some of the most disturbing and outrageous scenes in recent film history. The $2 million-budget horror movie recently outperformed *Joker: Folie à Deux* at the weekend box office, bringing in $18.9 million. It’s an ironic twist since the Joker is Thornton’s favorite villain, and he even portrayed him in a fan-made YouTube series before *Terrifier* gained popularity in 2018.

From brutal scenes like splitting a college student in two with a chainsaw to the unsettling image of force-feeding live rats, only one of these disturbing moments in *Terrifier 3* truly pushed Thornton to his limit. Despite the discomfort, he pushed through, choosing not to use his stunt double.

“I couldn’t switch out for my double because my face was fully visible in the scene, and that moment always makes me feel sick when I see it," Thornton said. "I feel like the director, Damien, added that particular detail just to see if I’d crack, and it almost worked. I was close to losing it, but I managed to hold it together because I didn’t want to mess up my makeup. My makeup artist was standing by, telling me, ‘Don’t you dare, David!’”