Gerard Johnstone on ‘M3GAN’ being compared to ‘Child’s Play’
Gerard Johnstone, the mind behind the upcoming horror movie M3GAN, has discussed the comparisons drawn between his title and the classic Child’s Play series.
M3GAN tells the story of roboticist Gemma (Allison Williams), who develops the eponymous A.I. doll. Programmed to be the best companion a child can have whilst also aiding parents, the prototype of the doll somehow gains custody of her orphaned niece, to who she develops a frightening attachment.
The character of M3GAN has gone viral on TikTok recently for her strange dance moves, which prompted comparisons to Chucky from Child’s Play. Interestingly, when the trailer for the film was released in October, Chucky’s Twitter account posted: “everybody’s tryna be me”.
Now, Gerard Johnstone has responded to the comparisons. He told Digital Spy: “Obviously, we didn’t know that Child’s Play was going to get a remake when we were developing this, so that was definitely a factor. It’s like, ‘Oh, OK, shit. And he’s also got AI. OK, shit’. [However] our allegory was so much more about parenting in the 21st century, and I see M3GAN as a co-parent more than a friend. I felt like the theme of the movie was really strong, so that was our North Star.”
He continued: “We knew we had something say, and I myself as a new dad, I just really wanted to get this off my chest, a bit about the struggles I was having as a parent. … If [viewers] also take away the message that we are relying on devices too much, that would be amazing.”
“My wife and I are constantly having these conversations in our kitchen about raising our kids in this time and just how stressful it is, and how it sucks that they can’t have the same upbringing that we can, how they can’t be sheltered from that,” Johnstone concluded. “And if this promotes a little bit more of a conversation about that, that would be awesome.”
M3GAN hits UK cinemas on January 13th.
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