Does evil reside in a ventriloquist’s dummy?

That’s the suspenseful scenario in Kristoffer Polaha’s “Mimics,” in theaters Friday.

Polaha, 48, has had a successful acting career in a variety of roles that play off his good looks but “Mimics” came when Mark Oakley – “A friend of mind since first grade” – contacted him with his original screenplay.

“Mark kicked me this idea about Fergus, the dummy, and a ventriloquist, with the dummy taking over,” Polaha who directed and stars recalled in a virtual interview. “It intrigued me. So, he wrote the script on spec and we started working. It took about three years to get it where we felt ready to film.

“There’s a Hollywood trope of movies that involve a dummy, and it hasn’t been explored in a while, about 20-25 years. The last one was Anthony Hopkins in (1978’s) ‘Magic.’

“So when Mark kicked me this idea, I thought, ‘You know what? It’s crazy enough, it might just work.’ And I think it did.”

“Mimics” classically mimics the Faust legend where, in this case, Polaha’s Sam Reinhold, a struggling actor trying and failing as a standup, is offered Fergus, a dummy, and immediately becomes a sensation.

“What’s interesting is this idea that there’s a demon inside the puppet,” Polaha said, “and the demon is the thing that wants control. Wants to be worshiped! It just wants to take over.”

That’s why Polaha believes there can never be a “nice” puppet movie.

“Like AI, I guess. Like a friendly thing that’s a companion? We have that right now. We can just open our phones and get all the love we want.

“That’s not a good movie. You need some dynamic, a challenge. You need an obstacle to overcome if you want a good movie

“I also wanted to explore something which is at the heart of man: This desire to be loved by either the world or by a community.

“There’s a family of people that know and love Sam. He’s got his grandfather. He’s got this girl, Virginia. He’s got this friend named MC Tony. They really love Sam genuinely — and he chooses the love of this other thing because he wants more.

“That’s I think a really interesting conversation to be having, especially now with what’s going on. You hear about secret societies and closed doors and files and names — and you wonder, What goes on? How do people achieve the highest levels of success and wealth and fame? And is there a cost? Is there?

“Is there a soul that’s being sold? And this film questions that in a very entertaining and safe way.”