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Danny DeVito’s New Show ‘Little Demon’ Is Based on ‘Positive Relationship’ With Wife, Kids
The perils and pleasures of raising a teenager are at the center of the new animated series Little Demon — but there’s a twist! In the upcoming FX show, 13-year-old Chrissy is shocked to find out that her long absent dad is Satan and he’s eager to make up for lost time with her.
Despite the supernatural premise, Little Demon is a very relatable family comedy starring members of a real-life family. Taxi alum Danny DeVito voices Satan, while his daughter Lucy, 39, plays Chrissy. The actor’s son, Jake, 34, is also an executive producer of the show. “We’ve had all the crazy stuff we went through in the teenage years,” says Danny, 77. “I think our show really hits on [those] family issues.”
‘Fortunately, in their private life, Danny and Lucy have known more good times than bad. “We based the show on [our] positive relationship,” says Lucy. “The thing our show deals with is that kids and their parents can both be demons to each other. It goes both ways.”
Lucy, Jake and their sister, Grace, 37, are all products of Danny’s long marriage to Cheers alum Rhea Perlman, 74, who will also be making an appearance on Little Demon. “In my household g rowing up, there was a lot of fun and love,” says Lucy. “We all got along pretty well.” It’s no surprise that the television stars encouraged their children to appreciate good art. “Our parents raised us watching great movies and going to great concerts,” recalls Jake, who took the celebrities dropping by for granted. “It was always a great group of creative people coming to the house every Sunday. When It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia started, those guys were hanging in my backyard.”
Danny and Rhea, who met in 1971 when he was appearing on stage in The Shrinking Bride, gave their kids freedom, too. “I am trying to think of anything specific that we weren’t allowed to do,” says Lucy with a laugh. “Our mom was always, ‘If you are going to try something, do it at home with a lot of people around. As long as everyone is safe, be a kid and explore.’”
FOREVER FRIENDS
Though Danny and Rhea separated in 2017, they’ve never officially divorced and see each other often. “I’m really, really glad that Danny and I were able to navigate some rough days to be able to have this different kind of relationship,” says Rhea. “I think it’s pretty rare, but we agree on so many things that it makes sense…. We’re still a family.”
That’s why doing Little Demon as a family is so special. “I think you’re gonna find that in the show Satan is really a good guy. The guy was deprived of his spawn — who is a girl — but, of course, I thought it was gonna be a boy,” says Danny. “I don’t blame them for trying to hide from me, because sometimes I can act like a real demon.”
And while Danny, as both a dad and an actor, has rarely played a truly bad guy, the New Jersey-born star knows how to raise hell when necessary. “My dad never got mad,” says Jake. “But when people mess with us, he gets angry.”
— Reporting by Amanda Champagne-Meadows
