Released in Brazilian theaters on January 19 of this year, M3GAN has conquered the public fond of terrifying productions. With a realistic tone and a simple plot, filmmaker Gerard Johnstone’s film flirts with the evils of technology and, at the same time, refers to projects that made history in the genre.
In this sense, there is no denying that there is a lot of curiosity to know how the killer doll was conceived. In general terms, the character developed from various technological devices, in addition to a ten-year-old ballerina.
Jed Brophy trained M3GAN’s moves with Amie Donald. (Geoffrey Short/Universal Pictures/Playback)Source: Geoffrey Short/Universal Pictures
M3GAN: learn how the fictional doll came to life in the movie
In the horror feature film, the Model 3 Generative Android (M3GAN) consists of a robot doll integrated with artificial intelligence and that has very human characteristics. However, because it is a horror film, it is not difficult to know what will happen from this creation, is not it?
Gradually, moved by her obsession with Katie, the doll starts to show her controversial behaviors, leaving Gemma completely distressed. According to Gerard Johnstone, in an interview with indiewire and the Variety, it was necessary to combine different cinematographic techniques for the composition of the doll.
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“From the beginning, we wanted to do something practical that didn’t rely entirely on computer graphics,” he said. “Also, I wanted the actors to have something real they could interact with on set,” he explained.
(Universal Pictures/Playback)Source: Universal Pictures
Among these techniques, it is possible to mention computer graphics visual effects, in addition to animatronics, puppets and the performance of child actress Amie Donald in the practical effects. Voiced by Jenna Davis, M3GAN was structured from all these elements, gaining more realism in each scene precisely to show the sick progression of the doll.
In this way, the film’s team relied on the skills of puppeteer Adrien Morot, who thought about the character’s every move. According to him, in an interview with Variety, his materials were used in almost all medium planes. “We had six or seven puppets that were able to do different things,” he said, emphasizing that each puppet had countless possibilities for movement.
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“For every scene where she would be seen walking or dancing down a hallway, it would be Amie. [Donald] wearing a mask which, if necessary, would then be animated to have the lips move or the eyes move,” he added.
Johnstone also argued that finding Amie Donald was pure luck, as it was only possible to cast the young actress due to the delays imposed by the covid-19 pandemic. Donald, just ten years old, is also a dancer, which made her performance as M3GAN lighter.
With this set of plastic and visual effects, the killer doll started to provoke much more fear in all spectators, which guaranteed success on the big screen. Shortly after the premiere, the feature film already had a sequel confirmed.
