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The Viral Dance On 'M3GAN' Is Not Supposed To Be There, Director Said

10/01/2023

The internet is quick when it comes to catching up to new trends, or something that seems to be interesting, or maybe out of the ordinary.

After social media users made the dance move by Jenna Ortega on 'Wednesday' viral, this time, it's turn for the dance on the science fiction horror film 'M3GAN'.

Even before the film's release in theaters, people were already awed by the completely iconic dance by Amie Donald.

The thing is, according to director Gerard Johnstone, the dance is not supposed to be there.

"It was one of those crazy, sleep-deprived, 3 a.m. thoughts. Wouldn't it kind of be funny if the soundtrack suddenly became real and M3GAN ended up busting a move to whatever music was playing. It was just something that everyone embraced and loved."

Read: The 'Wednesday' Dance Move By Jenna Ortega Goes Viral On Social Media

Amie Donald, M3GAN
Child star Amie Donald (left), and the M3GAN doll she portrayed (right)

He then added that:

"What was really funny is these movies are made on a very tight schedule. We had about five dance sequences, and they were all great. This was really just the first one we could really do, and it's just been amazing to see how that was enough. Thank God I didn't change it. Thank God I didn't do something else, because it just felt like it was the perfect level of something that someone could do themselves at home, apart from the flip. But there's a point to the dance. It was always important that it wasn't a dance for dance's sake. She's doing it [to] distract the guy while she picks up the guillotine."

Then, according to screenwriter Akela Cooper:

"I didn't write M3GAN dancing; I wrote her on a killing spree. When I saw it, I thought, 'This is so weird, but it works. That makes the death all the more uncomfortable.'"

And according to actress Allison Williams, who co-stars with Amie Donald in the film:

"That moment has had a long life in the script. I can't remember when and what iteration, what draft it showed up."

According to Williams, who also serves as an executive producer on the film, the scene received a large reaction.

Actress Amie Donald managed to successfully dance with the lead choreography, that even at first try, all the cast and crew who were present at the time were giving her an applause.

"When she did it for the first time, we were all just like, it was spontaneous applause from the whole crew. It was just the most stunning display of skill."

Williams also said that:

"The first time I saw it was when Amie [Donald] was practicing the dance, and then I watched her film it. I wasn’t in the scene that day, but I went to set because I knew she was filming it and I wanted to be there. And it was just extraordinary. Watching the performance of it, in and of itself, was unbelievable, and by then, we were all very, very familiar with Amie’s brilliance as a performer. But it wasn’t until I saw it fully edited into the movie, in its context, with the song, with everything, that I was like, 'Oh, this is iconic.' And then, when we saw the first cut of the trailer, we were all hemming and hawing about whether or not to let the dance be out in the trailer or try to keep it as a surprise in the movie."

"And boy, the forces of marketing at Universal were right to keep it in the trailer, because it just helped, honestly. I don’t think there’s anything else in our trailer that helps convey who she is more quickly than knowing that she’s a doll who’s going to stop and do a choreographed dance and then pick up a murder weapon and go on her way. That bizarre, off-kilter, hilarious freakishness is exactly what we were going for, and so it really was a perfect illustration of where we wanted to be."

Gerard Johnstone's responded to Universal Pictures' decision to include the dance at M3GAN's second trailer, by saying that:

"In terms of the trailer and things like that, I really just have to trust Universal. When you're making the movie, it's exhausting being over every single decision. So it's quite nice [to] just sit back and say, 'OK well, you guys do what you can' I know that there's more to the movie that people haven't seen yet, so I feel OK about it."

The dance itself was choreographed by movement coach Jed Brophy, who played Nori in The Hobbit franchise and Amazon's The Lord of the Rings series, along with dance instructor Kylie Norris.

Donald nailed the dance because of her skill and experience, many of which she gained when representing New Zealand at the Dance World Cup in 2019.

But regardless, dancing in M3GAN was restricted for the young actress.

"When she was performing M3GAN, she was wearing this mask with these tiny holes in it so that she could see out of it, so it would make it easier for CGI to recreate her face," Williams said of a prosthetic face Donald had to wear during takes.

"Just imagine doing that dance, being able to see only a tiny amount and just doing it so flawlessly and with all that attitude. She's amazing."

The dance has resulted in many memes and viral dance trends, many of which are remixes.

"They're deploying her in the most hilarious ways," Williams said, whose character in M3GAN is Gemma, the creator of the lifelike human android.

Fans instantly started comparing the doll with other horror doll icons, like Chucky and Annabelle, the latter of which served partly as inspiration for M3GAN.

As a matter of fact, the positive reception of the film, and the virality of the character, has made various media outlets to consider M3GAN as horror's new queer icon after the Babadook and Ma.

"Basically, the second the trailer hit the internet, they just got it," Williams said of fans embracing M3GAN.

"The memes, the copies of the dance, people just understood her in this way that I absolutely loved, and we just thought, 'OK, job done. They get her.' She belongs to them now. This is amazing."

"They are taking great care of her," Williams added. "They're deploying her in the most hilarious ways to make fun of people. They just got this fierce best friend vibe from her and it's just been an utter joy."