Latest news with #Johnstone
New York Post
a day ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
‘M3GAN' director reveals if he'd do a third film after ‘challenging' experience making the sequel
M3GAN is just getting started. Gerard Johnstone, the director of the horror franchise starring Allison Williams, has confirmed that there are already conversations about making 'M3GAN 3.0.' 'Yes, absolutely. It makes sense for there to be more of these movies,' Johnstone exclusively told the Post. 'To what extent I'll be involved in, I don't know.' 7 Gerard Johnstone attends the 'M3GAN 2.0' premiere in New York Universal Pictures and Blumhouse But Johnstone noted that he needs a break from work before he tackles a potential third film. 'I'm really looking forward to a holiday, quite frankly,' the filmmaker shared, admitting that making 'M3GAN 2.0' was 'really challenging' for him. 7 M3GAN (voice: Amie Donald) in 'M3GAN 2.0.' ©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection 'It was like two years of really intense work and I put everything I had into this movie,' he said of the sequel. 'So it's hard for me to think of anything beyond this moment. But I hope that the movie is good enough that people will really want to see more of her in the future.' 7 Gerard Johnstone in his interview with The Post. While 'M3GAN 3.0' has yet to be officially announced, Universal Pictures is making a spinoff, 'SOULM8TE.' The project, set for release in 2026, is about a man who buys an android to cope with his wife's death. Kate Dolan is directing while Lily Sullivan, David Rysdahl, Claudia Doumit and Oliver Cooper are set to star. Johnstone confirmed that he's not involved in the spinoff. 7 Violet McGraw, M3gan (voice: Jenna Davis and Allison Williams in the first film. ©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection 'I haven't actually seen it yet to be quite honest, so no, I'm not involved,' he stated. 'But yeah, it's hugely gratifying to be part of a movie that generates spin-offs.' Johnstone also wants the 'M3GAN' franchise to include a TV show eventually. 7 Gerard Johnstone speaks at the 'M3GAN 2.0' premiere on June Universal Pictures and Blumhouse 'I'd love to see a Japanese 'M3GAN' anime series,' he told the Post. 'And then you're sort of not bound by the limits of technology. I think it would be really fun to see.' 'M3GAN 2.0,' the follow-up to the 2023 original, follows the iconic robot being rebuilt to help Gemma (Williams) and her niece Cady (Violet McGraw) defeat a dangerous humanoid military robot. 7 Gerard Johnstone on the set of 'M3GAN 2.0.' AP Johnstone gushed over Williams, 37, to The Post, calling her 'a very talented actress' and 'a very intelligent person.' 'She is very knowledgeable on things and well researched and so she kind of brings that to her character,' the director said. 'She really is the perfect person to play Gemma in that way. You believe that even though she's the toy creator, she is smart enough to have also cracked more of X Paradox and figured out how to make this incredible robot that has all AI capabilities.' 7 Violet McGraw, Allison Williams in 'M3GAN 2.0.' AP 'She's a great teammate and colleague and as a producer of the film, she really gets involved in all the nitty-gritty creative problem solving things,' Johnstone continued. 'She has complete trust in me and my tone and where I'm going, so she's a really great collaborator.' 'M3GAN 2.0' is in theaters now.
USA Today
a day ago
- Entertainment
- USA Today
How 'M3GAN 2.0' wooed Kate Bush for that demented needle drop
Spoiler alert! We're discussing minor details about the new action comedy 'M3GAN 2.0' (in theaters now). It wouldn't be a 'M3GAN' movie without a killer needle drop. In the 2023 viral sensation, acerbic android M3GAN serenades the orphaned Cady (Violet McGraw) with a wispy rendition of 'Titanium' by David Guetta and Sia. The trailers for its big-screen follow-up, 'M3GAN 2.0,' have similarly deployed Chappell Roan and Britney Spears earworms. But none can compare to the demented brilliance of a pivotal new sequel scene, in which M3GAN launches into 'This Woman's Work' by Kate Bush. The jarringly hilarious performance comes after a rare earnest conversation between M3GAN and Cady's roboticist aunt, Gemma (Allison Williams), who worries about her shortcomings as a parent to her young niece. M3GAN uses the tranquil pop ballad to ostensibly console her, in her own disconcerting way. Join our Watch Party! Sign up to receive USA TODAY's movie and TV recommendations right in your inbox 'Being on the receiving end of 'This Woman's Work' was the most incredible experience,' Williams says with a laugh. The actress and producer helped choose the song with writer/director Gerard Johnstone. 'M3GAN being all-seeing is Gemma's biggest insecurity," Williams says. But instead of judging her, "M3GAN is like, 'No, I do see you as a parent, and I'm moved by how burdened you are by your dual identities as a mother and person who's leading this charge in tech.' Gerard's favorite thing is to set up an emotionally truthful moment that feels cathartic, and then exploding it in a way that you're not expecting.' Gemma initially feels a newfound connection with M3GAN, but quickly grasps that the demonic doll is merely trying to manipulate her emotions through song. 'It causes Gemma to realize, 'Oh, I've done it. I've gotten sucked into the wonder of my own invention,' ' Johnstone says. 'It was a scene that was not only funny and surprising, but also hit on a lot of different levels story-wise.' Bush wrote the tune for the 1988 movie 'She's Having a Baby,' which was used to convey a character's painful experience with childbirth. Here, the track reflects Gemma's own experiences with sacrifice and being thrust into motherhood when her sister died. To get the rights to use it in 'M3GAN 2.0,' Johnstone personally wrote a letter to the English recording icon. 'I just wanted her to know that it came from a place of me just being a huge fan,' Johnstone recalls. 'I was also fighting back suggestions that we should go with a different song that was more commercially known. I was like, 'No, this is the perfect song.' And she was so gracious. We actually filmed that scene without yet having permission and we were all just hoping we were going to get it by the time the film came out. Luckily, she came through.' The sci-fi thriller is part of a pop-culture resurgence for the 'Wuthering Heights' chanteuse, who last released an album, '50 Words for Snow,' in 2011. Since then, her music has been featured in TV's 'Stranger Things' ('Running Up That Hill') and 'The Handmaid's Tale' ('Cloudbusting'). Bush watched the 'M3GAN 2.0' scene for herself, although 'I don't know what she thought of it,' Johnstone says. 'The (production) company gave her as much as they could to buy the song and she just gave it to charity. She's an incredible artist and it made me even more of a fan.'
Perth Now
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
M3GAN 2.0 is a 'redemption story' for the robot
M3GAN 2.0 director Gerard Johnstone wanted the sequel to be a "redemption story" for the killer robot. In the follow-up film, M3GAN has to be rebuilt by her creator Gemma (Allison Williams) to battle a self-aware military robot called AMELIA intent on an AI takeover. Johnstone insists it was always his intention for the M3GAN robot to never do anything heinously evil in the original film, but only what she was programmed to do to protect Gemma's orphaned niece Cady (Violent McGraw), with murderous consequences, which allowed him to let audiences give her a second chance. In an interview with The AU Review, he said: "When I was working on the first movie, I was always very careful not to have her do anything that felt just malicious or evil. I really felt like I empathised with this character. That she was doing what she was programmed to do, and I never betrayed that. "From that point of view, she's sort of an avenging angel. I remember having people come up to me after the premiere, and they were conflicted, because they were rooting for her to win. You don't get that with a Freddy [Krueger] or a Jason [Voorhees]. They're the bad guy and you want them to die. Whereas with M3GAN, you kind of don't want her to die. I felt like everyone wanted to give her a second chance and a redemption story." When a sequel was planned, Johnstone knew the plot thread that the technology for M3GAN - who is voiced by Jenna Davis) could've been stolen and used for military purposes would be a fantastic jumping off point and a way to redeem the robot. He said: "I think both things happen simultaneously. One of the biggest threats we had from the first movie that was unresolved was this idea that M3GAN's technology was trying to be sold or stolen by one of the employees at the toy company. We didn't really do anything with that thread. So it just felt like a really great place to jump off for this sequel. It felt logical. "If a technology that advanced and formidable existed, the military – whether it's the US military or another nation's – would be trying to get their hands on it. As soon as that logic set in, it made me realise that this needs to be more of an action film than a horror film, (but) still an action film that has its origins in horror and nods to the genre which it's spraying at times." Johnstone is aware that M3GAN is a horror icon and gay icon thanks to the 2022 film and he has promised that his new movie sees her do everything that made audiences fall in love with her. He said: "To give audiences the best movie and to present the character in the best way. To utilise all the the things she does as a character that made people fall in love with her in the first place, but in surprising ways. That was whole mission statement going in."
Time of India
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Filmmaker Gerard Johnstone talks ‘M3GAN 2.0' and addresses rumours of 'copying' 'Terminator' – says "comparisons started after the script"
Creator of the hit movie 'M3GAN' and its upcoming sequel 'M3GAN 2.0', Gerard Johnstone recently opened up about the films as well as the potential they hold in the current industry. The director talked about how his film has the 'power to stay'. Johnstone opens up about upcoming 'M3GAN 2.0' Johnstone made his smashing studio debut with 'M3GAN' in 2023, which managed to garner 182 million dollars at the box office, while the cost of creation was only 12 million dollars. The film was dropped at a time when AI integration in our daily lives was becoming more and more popular. Now, questions about how trustworthy AI is or if we can truly operate on the technology, etc., are all being addressed in his upcoming project. The director, while talking about the film with The Hollywood Reporter, shared that as humans, we do have an obligation over how we use this ever-developing tech. He stated in the interview that 'If [AI] does bad things, is that really because the thing itself is bad? Or is it just because of the way we've trained it?' While addressing the success of the franchise and the possibility of future films, the director and screenwriter commented that 'Yeah, but I would not be surprised if there are another five of these movies. So, who knows, maybe I'll come back for the fifth one.' Director addresses rumours of 'copying' ' Terminator ' plot As soon as the main plot of the new film was revealed, many people online started making the comparisons between 'M3GAN 2.0' and 'Terminator 2: Judgement Day', which the director was not surprised by. Gerard shared while talking about the 'copying' rumours that 'It's really funny because the comparisons started after the script was written. I thought, 'Yeah, I guess [James] Cameron did it first — like everything else,' but I was really just focused on a redemption arc for M3GAN. I will also say that T2 would be more similar [to M3GAN 2.0] if it was a redemption story for [Arnold Schwarzenegger's] first Terminator from The Terminator. Terminator 2 has a completely different robot.' He continued with his answer, saying that 'I will also say that T2 would be more similar [to M3GAN 2.0] if it was a redemption story for [Arnold Schwarzenegger's] first Terminator from The Terminator. That's the key difference. Terminator 2 has a completely different robot. He has to learn certain things, but he's been programmed to protect from the get-go. M3GAN 2.0 is about a machine that we think of as malevolent, but then we do a deeper dive. ' About 'M3GAN 2.0' The upcoming film follows a redemption plot for M3GAN, who in the previous film had murdered 4 people and a dog under the guise of 'protecting Cady'. In the new film, after the initial plans of creating the android bot were thought to be destroyed, a defence contractor somehow gets his hands on a copy, creating the killing machine AMELIA. Unpredictable as ever, however, the new android bot goes rogue and kills anyone who was associated with making it. Cady and her aunt are next on the list, and in order to save themselves, as well as mankind, they recreate M3GAN with certain upgrades in order to defeat the new AI evil. The director also delved into certain details of the film that can be observed in the trailer, especially the part where one of M3GAN's upgrades is making her taller. The director shared during the interview that the change was made in order to accommodate the actual actress's height change as well. He stated that 'Amie is such an integral part of the creation and execution of M3GAN, and it just felt right [to accommodate her new height]. The other side of it was that Violet is also growing, and if M3GAN is somewhere between a best friend and a parent to Cady, it doesn't make sense for her to be shorter than Cady.' M3GAN 2.0 | Official Trailer
7NEWS
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- 7NEWS
Beauty and the Geek star denies false rumours about alleged murder case
Former Beauty and the Geek winner Kiera Johnstone has been forced to publicly deny rumours wrongly linking her to a grisly alleged murder. An ex-castmate of the reality program, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is accused of killing her partner after a man's body was found inside a property in Port Lincoln, South Australia following a fire on Thursday. The accused was taken into custody at the scene but a court order has been placed over her identity and details of the case. Johnstone said the rumour mill had gone into overdrive and took to social media at the weekend to declare she had not been arrested last week and was 'not involved in any way' to the alleged crime. 'There has been speculation online suggesting that I am involved,' she shared on Instagram. 'Let me be absolutely clear: I have never been charged with a crime. 'The allegations being discussed have nothing to do with me, and the fact that I even need to say this is incredibly upsetting.' Johnstone — who won the 2021 series of Beauty and the Geek alongside her match Lachlan Mansell — said the online speculation was being fuelled by people 'sharing, gossiping, or silently watching', and asked for it to 'please stop' given it is 'a serious situation'. 'It's deeply disturbing to see people spreading false information, making assumptions and sharing screenshots,' the Melbourne jewellery boutique owner said. 'This kind of speculation is damaging and invasive and is something I take very seriously.' Police and forensics spent significant time at the Port Lincoln property after a man's body was discovered on Thursday afternoon. The accused — who also appeared on Beauty and the Geek, a program where socially awkward men share a mansion with attractive women — was arrested at the scene and taken to a local hospital, where she was charged with murder. 'I don't have any advice in relation to how long the man has been deceased. That will form part of our investigation,' SA Police State Operations Service Assistant Commissioner Ian Parrott said on Friday. 'I'm not going to comment on the injuries of the deceased.' The accused faced court on Friday via phone link and has been remanded in custody. She will appear in court again at a later date. Stream free on
