M3GAN is currently the hottest horror property out there. The film may be rated PG-13, but if screenwriter Akela Cooper had gotten her way, the film would have been far gorier.
M3GAN is a Blumhouse film about a killer doll. When roboticist Gemma (Allison Williams) finds herself unexpectedly taking custody of her niece Cady (Violet McGraw), she realizes she is ill-equipped to raise a child but has a solution up her sleeve: a Model 3 Generative Android, or M3GAN. M3GAN (performance by Amie Donald, voice by Jenna Davis) is designed as the perfect child-rearing tool. Capable of adaptive learning, M3GAN will be a child's best friend and a parent's best ally.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Cooper said that her original version of M3GAN was gorier. She also said there might be an unrated version of M3GAN in the books somewhere. Cooper said that the original script wasn't a massacre, “but she did kill a bunch more people, including a couple of characters whom James [Wan] was like, ‘I like what you did with those people, but I want them to live.’ I was merciless, but again, that is me. My humor is extremely dark.”
Cooper also stated she was glad to make M3GAN funny while playing around with the horror of the situation. She said she hopes the film will help change the cinematic landscape in some way and bring funny horror films back to the forefront after having been told that gore wasn't profitable, “An exec who read one of my specs and really liked it said, ‘It’s gory and no one’s doing gore right now. We have to wait for a horror movie that has gore to come out and be a hit, and then the market will shift.’ I was sitting there, like, ‘OK … we could lead that charge."
As M3GAN makes bank at the box office, an unrated version becomes more likely. After all, what studio wouldn't be up for making more money? Though it's far from confirmed, an unrated version would open up opportunities for a theatrical re-release.
The M3GAN ending also leaves open opportunities for a sequel. Audiences may not be done with the android just yet. Perhaps Cooper will be able to explore some gorier kills if M3GAN 2 is greenlit. And, of course, there's always the possibility that Chucky could join the carnage, as many fans have hoped.
M3GAN is now playing in theaters.
Source: Los Angeles Times