Exclusive Clip: See M3GAN Show Allison Williams Who’s Boss
What better way to drown out wall-to-wall cable news coverage of the Capitol insurrection’s anniversary than with a campy horror flick about a killer-robot doll terrorizing Marnie from Girls?
Yes, M3GAN is almost here. Directed by Gerard Johnstone and produced by horror maestros Jason Blum (Get Out) and James Wan (Saw), the film tells the tale of Gemma (Allison Williams), a visionary roboticist working at a high-end toy company. When her sister and brother-in-law perish in a car accident, Gemma’s niece Cady (Violet McGraw) is placed in her custody — which inspires the inventor to fast-track the creation of M3GAN (Model 3 Generative Android), a lifelike doll using AI technology, in order to give Cady a supportive companion to help guide her through the grieving process. Weta Workshop helped with the initial design of the M3GAN doll, but Adrien Morot and Kathy Tse of Morot FX Studio built her.
“I looked to screen icons from the ‘50s like Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly and Kim Novak for inspiration,” Johnstone tells Rolling Stone of M3GAN’s look. “But I wanted some ‘70s naturalism to counteract her synthetic nature, so the hair is one hundred percent Peggy Lipton.”
Before long, M3GAN’s overprotectiveness toward Cady turns deadly, forcing Gemma to resort to drastic measures in order to save the child and put an end to her monster before it hits the market.
In this clip from M3GAN, which you can watch exclusively at Rolling Stone, the doll attacks Gemma while still playing nice with Cady:
M3GAN was filmed primarily in New Zealand. But the production ran into some trouble when it came time to shoot this climactic showdown.
“We hadn’t finished that scene before New Zealand went into Covid lockdown, and just as we were prepping for additional photography, we received the news that Violet (who played Cady) wouldn’t be able to travel back to New Zealand,” Johnstone explains. “So, we were faced with this logistical puzzle of how to do 85 percent of it in Auckland and the rest in Atlanta once she was available. However, as luck would have it, through that process we actually came up with an idea for a much better ending.”