January is traditionally and infamously a dumping ground — a time for the studios to get rid of movies in which they have no confidence, all while most viewers catch up with 2022 releases. Instead the new year is kicking off with a bang, at least for the multiplexes. Not only are people seeing Avatar: The Way of Water in droves, but a silly-looking horror film has scored better reviews than most of 2022’s offerings: M3GAN, about a killer high-tech doll. This isn’t a toy like Annabelle, Chucky or The Boy. (Remember The Boy?) The titular murderer looks pretty real. But is she played by a real person or is it some CGI-person-animatronic hybrid or what?
The answer is…well, we’d tell you but then we’d have to kill you. Also we don’t know. What’s more, the cast and crew are prohibited from revealing exactly how they brought the homicidal doll to life. In a new interview with Total Film (as caught by CBR), director Gerard Johnstone was asked whether she/it was a mix of CGI, animatronics, and a real actor. Johnstone could only say that they took a “multi-tiered approach.”
The film’s IMDb page does credit someone — child actor Amie Donald — as playing M3GAN, which suggests that she’s at least partly real, or perhaps she was just did mo-cap like most of the cast of Avatar 2. At some point the secret of M3GAN will be revealed. But for now, embrace the mystery.
M3GAN hits theaters on Jan. 6.
(Via CBR)