M3GAN may not have a soul, but she’s still really good at astral projection… or whatever the equivalent is for robots.
In her second screen big screen outing — M3GAN 2.0 (now playing in theaters everywhere; click here for tickets) — the character doesn’t return to her iconic body until about 45 minutes into the sequel’s runtime. As Jenna Davis, aka the voice of M3GAN puts it, she “goes out of body a lot throughout,” whether it’s as the almost-ghostly presence running Gemma’s (Allison Williams) San Francisco smart house, the adorable Moxie bot, or a disembodied voice in Gemma’s head after the roboticist gets a nefarious neural implant.
Because of these various incarnations, Davis focused less on the physical performance (once again provided by Amie Donald) and more on how she could provide a different vibe for each of M3GAN’s personalities, for lack of a better word.
How Jenna Davis voiced the different iterations of M3GAN in 2.0
“Because of how out of body M3GAN was in so many situations, I had to take a lot of internal diving into, ‘How is M3GAN going to change in each [variation]?'” Davis tells SYFY WIRE. “Because she goes in the Moxie doll, she also goes in Gemma’s head, she also goes in AMELIA a little bit. There’s different things that she hops into.”
Davis continues: “Through that, I wanted M3GAN to change as a character when she entered each little body, if that makes sense. I spent more exploration on that than I did conversing about how she was in the original because I think Amie and I already had that locked in. For me, it was more just finding how we’re going to keep audiences entertained as she hops into these different spheres, because I think we see M3GAN even more as an A.I. without [her] doll [form] in this film, which is different. I wanted to make sure that people could still feel M3GAN’s presence, even if she wasn’t in her body that she is known for.”
In addition to returning as director, New Zealand filmmaker Gerard Johnstone, also wrote and executive-produced the sequel, coming up with the original story alongside the first movie’s screenwriter, Akela Cooper. Johnstone’s fellow EPs were Adam Hendricks, Greg Gilreath, Michael Clear, Judson Scott, and Mark D. Katchur. Williams served as producer with Jason Blum and James Wan.
M3GAN 2.0 is now playing in theaters everywhere. Get tickets here!
