Terrifier icon “grossed out” Screamboat cast with Mickey Mouse prank

David Howard Thornton is known for his hilarious antics on the set of the Terrifier movies, and the same can be said for Screamboat. Taking on the role of Steamboat Willie in the new horror film gave him the perfect opportunity to pull a Mickey Mouse-inspired prank.

Thornton is best known for playing Art the Clown in Damien Leone’s Terrifier films. But now he’s swapping the bald cap for giant ears in the Disney-themed comedy horror, Screamboat. The new movie centers on a group of New Yorkers who are terrorized by Steamboat Willie on the ferry back to Staten Island. 

Now, you might be wondering how the creators aren’t getting buried by lawsuits from the House of Mouse. Well, as of January 2024, Steamboat Willie – the 1928 cartoon that introduced Mickey Mouse for the first time – is in the public domain. 

So, this iteration of the mouse is fair game, and so Screamboat was born. Dexerto was lucky enough to catch up with Thornton ahead of its release, where we asked him if he pulled any pranks, Art the Clown style. 

David Howard Thornton pulled Mickey Mouse prank on Screamboat set 

“I wouldn’t say I spooked anyone, but I did prank Steven [LaMorte, Screamboat’s director] really good one day,” Thornton told us. 

“ I teamed up with my makeup artist ’cause she had some Milk Duds in the dressing room one day that she had bought.  I’m like, ‘Oh, those look like mouse droppings,’ and I’m like, ‘Oh, I got an idea.’ 

“And so I had her in on the joke so she could come up and act like she was trying to fix my makeup, and she just passed me the Milk Duds. I put them in my hand and Steven’s giving me direction.”

At this point, Thornton pretended to *ahem* strain, and dropped the candies on the floor behind him. “So it looked like I was pooping all over the place,” he added. 

Not only did it crack the team up, but the lighthearted gag came at the perfect time. “It was a well-needed joke at the time because it was a very intense part of the day,” Thornton continued. 

“We were down to the wire on things and we needed a little bit of levity there. I had to break the tension somehow.” And, well, what better way to do so than with a little poop joke?

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As said, this is far from the first on-set prank Thornton has pulled. Ahead of the release of Terrifier 3 last year, Dexerto caught up with Sienna actress Lauren LaVera, who told us about the first time she saw him as Art the Clown.

“My first day on set [for Terrifier 2], I think I worked with Dave on my first day, and he scared me from behind,” she said.

“I was getting my hair and makeup done and we were in this little room – it was barely a room – and there was a door with a little window in the door and he was just looking through it with this really terrifying glare.

“I’m just talking to the girls in the room who were doing my hair and makeup, and I turned and I jumped. It was such a jump scare. And he was just snickering like a little s**t. (Laughs.) It was a nice welcome to the franchise.”

Screamboat dropped in US cinemas on April 2, 2025, and arrived exclusively at Vue in the UK the same day.

You can also check out our ranking of the best horror movies ever made, the scariest horrors based on true stories, and find out what we know about Terrifier 4.