‘M3GAN’ director addresses film’s comparisons to ‘Child’s Play’

Gerard Johnstone, director of upcoming horror flick M3GAN, has discussed the comparisons made between his film and the Child’s Play franchise.

• READ MORE: ‘M3GAN’: inside the creation of horror’s viral new villain 

The film’s eponymous character, whose sassy yet unhinged dance moves have gone viral on TikTok in recent weeks, has invited comparisons to Child’s Play‘s Chucky online, particularly in light of the latter film being remade in 2019. Indeed, when the trailer for the film dropped in October, Chucky’s Twitter account tweeted: “everybody’s tryna be me”.

“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’,” he told Digital Spy.

“[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.

“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.”

He added: “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.

“And if this promotes a little bit more of a conversation about that, that would be awesome.”

The film’s plot follows roboticist Gemma (Allison Williams), who works at a toy company which develops the titular artificially intelligent doll, “programmed to be a kid’s greatest companion and a parent’s greatest ally“. Gemma enlists the aid of the M3GAN prototype after unexpectedly gaining custody of her orphaned niece, who the sentient doll becomes dangerously attached to.

M3GAN arrives in UK cinemas on January 13. 

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