To bring M3GAN, featured in Universal's latest feature of the same name, to life, production utilized a combination of animatronics, puppetry, VFX and a real child actor, Amie Donald. “It was decided early on that almost every medium shot would be done with a puppet,” Morot explains.
Which is why M3GAN director Gerard Johnstone crafted M3GAN the robot through a mix of VFX, a life-sized physical prop, the voice of Jenna Davis and the physical movement of child actor, Amie Donald. The result is spine-chilling, and often hilarious.
And while M3GAN looks very robotic, she is fully played by a person. Actually, two people. Amie Donald played M3GAN when it came to physical movements, while Jenna Davis did her voice work.
Sweet Amie Donald Plays the Creepy Role of Megan in the Horror Film 'M3GAN' Get to know Amie Donald from the 'M3GAN' movie. With the help of animatronics and CG, Amie brings M3GAN to life in the thriller film.
A quick summary, with light spoilers: M3gan is a robot doll who can do just about anything (walk, talk, twerk, murder). She's created by Gemma (Allison Williams), a work-obsessed roboticist who suddenly has to care for her orphaned niece Cady.
M3GAN is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for violent content and terror, some strong language and a suggestive reference. Violence: There are two fatal car accidents: injuries and a body bag are shown on screen. A dog attacks a child: injuries on her arm are seen and she is bandaged.
The story is essentially an A.I. cautionary tale: Gemma (Allison Williams), a robotics engineer, enlists her orphaned niece, Cady (Violet McGraw), to be a test-subject companion for a robot prototype named M3gan, short for Model 3 Generative Android.
United, Gemma and Cady overcome M3GAN and stab her processor, destroying the AI once and for all. At least, until a sequel comes out, because the film's last shot indicates M3GAN transferred her binary mind to some wireless equipment in Gemma's house.
Good news for everyone that watched and loved M3GAN: a sequel is confirmed to be on the way. M3GAN 2 — or, sorry — M3GAN 2.0 has been confirmed and is scheduled to hit theaters on January 17, 2025, as reported by Variety on Wednesday evening. Get all those appropriate alarms and calendar reminders ready!
There's a distinction between M3GAN and Chucky that must be made; M3GAN is a child's companion, whereas Chucky is a doll that children play with. By her very nature and makeup, M3GAN has more agency than Chucky built into her system and more in common with the robots in The Peripheral or Westworld.
"It definitely was a challenge to bring M3GAN to life," says Wan. "Listen, at the end of the day, she's not real, she's a doll. [It is a] testament to Gerard and his team for bringing so much personality to this inanimate object to the point where she is so fun.
In M3GAN, the starring doll is not just a small plaything either—she's a four-foot-tall figurine whose movements were modeled by an actual 12-year-old, actor Amie Donald.
A veiwer of the film, who was younger than 10, reviewed the film for @2KidReviews1, writing: “#M3GAN, with its PG-13 rating, is going to become a cult classic for people my age as it finally allows us to see an in-theatre horror movie.
NO, it is not as scary as "Smile" or recent movie "the barbarian" and it's not as scary as"IT" in my opinion. It's very light jumps-scares and the gore/blood is VERY minimal. Finally, wanted to throw in I took my best friend who HATES horror movies and he said it was the funniest thing he has ever seen.
If there's any creepy doll on the block who can compete with Chucky for pure name recognition at this point, it's Annabelle, the terrifying, braid-wearing antique who's proven popular enough to get her own sub-franchise within the world of The Conjuring.
Movie goers have crowned a new 'terror icon' of the big screen while waxing lyrical about Hollywood's latest horror release, M3GAN, a sinister and 'sneering' film about a terrifying robot doll who wreaks havoc on her family.
The film doesn't seem to specify any external influences which led to M3GAN becoming a violent murder doll — instead, it all seems to be a result of her nature as a learning machine with a core directive: Keep Cady safe, no matter what the cost. In M3GAN's eyes, she's just doing what she was programmed to do.
“There's no question that M3GAN would definitely win. She's much smarter than Chucky,” says Jason Blum, the powerhouse horror producer behind M3GAN and many other Blumhouse Productions. The other big-name producer of the movie, co-writer James Wan of The Conjuring and Malignant fame, was inclined to cut Chucky a break.
It's this learning quality that M3GAN exhibits that helped lead to her dancing moment. “The story is about an A.I. android that learns, and the more time she spends with the little girl, the more human qualities she picks up. Dancing is just one of the things that Cady teaches M3GAN to do,” Wan says.
M3GAN, a life-sized animatronic doll designed by ambitious toymaker Gemma (Allison Williams) is a stunning creation. Her facial expressions are human enough to provoke discomfort, especially when her penetrating eyes narrow into a glare and her lips purse downward with disgust.
M3GAN, a thriller movie starring Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, and Ronny Chieng is available to stream now. Watch it on Peacock TV, Prime Video, ROW8, Vudu or Redbox.
