It was a viral moment seen ‘round the world: A beautifully creepy AI doll dressed like a Victorian schoolgirl sashays down a hallway with a blade in her hand, ready to butcher her next victim — but not before she does a TikTok-ready twirl or two. It’s the kind of hilarious tonal dissonance that turned M3GAN into a campy horror sensation, and turned dancer-turned-actress Amie Donald into the biggest horror star no one would recognize. That’s because Donald is the body behind M3GAN, the physical performer who, along with Jenna Davis as M3GAN’s voice, brings the evil doll to life.
But M3GAN isn’t very evil this time around. In fact, she’s basically reformed in the newly released sequel M3GAN 2.0, which takes its cues from T2: Judgment Day to pit a reprogrammed M3GAN against a bigger, badder, deadlier robot (Ivanna Sakhno). It’s a wild, unexpected journey for M3GAN, not to mention for M3GAN’s body double. When Donald, who mostly worked as a professional dancer before being cast in M3GAN and Netflix’s Sweet Tooth, first portrayed M3GAN back in 2021, she “had no idea” that the movie would take off the way it did, much less that she would be back in the schoolgirl dress for a sequel.
“When I first saw the trailer, and everyone started recreating the dance, I was so shocked.”
“When I first saw the trailer, and everyone started recreating the dance, I was so shocked, but I was so happy that people were loving the movie as much as I loved making it,” Donald tells Inverse. But still, “I wasn't expecting there to be a sequel,” she adds.
But director Gerard Johnstone called her up and told her she’d be doing another one. Not only that, but that she’d be doing some bonafide action scenes and stunts. And, of course, a dance scene to rival the first one’s iconic viral moment.
Inverse spoke with Donald about getting an action-hero makeover for M3GAN 2.0, performing elaborate stunts with a heavy mask, and how much of the movie is actually CGI.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
In the first M3GAN, a lot of M3GAN's iconic movements came from you, like the cobra rise and the running on all fours. Were there any movements or scenes that you also helped create for M3GAN 2.0?
For M3GAN 2.0, we did another running on all four scenes, so it was cool to bring that from the first movie. And also, I trained with Wing Chun, so when I was doing all of the Wing Chun on the Wing Chun dummy at the start of the movie, we had to train in advance for that.
They also trained me in kickboxing before the movie started, so I could learn how to apply fighting skills to when I'm doing the big fights in the movie.
This movie is much more of an action movie. You get to go full Ethan Hunt, action star. I remember you talked about doing your own stunts for the first film, but did you get to do more stunts for this one? What was the prep and rehearsal process like?
So, on the second one, I did have a stunt double. Her name's Meg Morrison. She is amazing. I love her so much. But stunts are something that I really enjoy. And so, we had this thing when I was talking to the director and we were like, "Okay, we've got to have some that I can do because I love them so much," but I did the flying, which was so cool.
I was on this rig, and they would turn it to make it look like I was flying in the air. It was so much fun.
You only played M3GAN as the full-fledged doll, but did you have any say or input on the mini version of her?
Oh my goodness. I thought that was so cool. But that was all [VFX], and Jenna Davis as the voice.
Let's talk about this movie's dance sequence. The first movie's dance went viral. Was there pressure to make this one bigger and better?
Well, on the first movie, the dance was never in the script. So for that to be such an iconic thing, it's amazing because it's something that I love doing and I got to bring it into work, and I got to do it there.
But the second dance, it was a challenge to find exactly what the director wanted because obviously this time she's not trying to distract someone, but she's trying to get her way out of the spotlight and then she just gets stuck in the moment.
Can you tell me about the process of making this dance sequence from its inception as a big sort of pop and lock showcase, to the choreography and the final staging of the dance?
We did have a lot of different versions of this one. On the second one, we also did have a girl come in to do a little bit of break dancing so they could see how it is. And obviously when M3GAN does the spin and her head stays, that was a CGI, but I got to do the spin, which is really cool.
How much of it is accentuated by CGI? How much of it is you? This movie is about tech, but there's still so much of you and the physicality in the performance.
Definitely. This time, something that they did different this time is because I was wearing a silicone mask this time, I had bigger cuts in the eyes so I could see more and I would express kind of my emotion through my eyes. And so if M3GAN was a bit more angry, she'd do a little squint.
And this time they took the movement of my eyes and they, well, I've got brown eyes, so they just replaced it with blue eyes, but they kept the movement and acting from my eyes.
What was your favorite sequence to perform in the entire movie?
I enjoyed the whole movie, but I would have to say I really enjoyed the end scene when M3GAN and Amelia are versing. That was so much fun to film. And Ivanna, she is so lovely. It was amazing to work with her.
Was there one that you found the most challenging to film?
The most challenging scene to film, I don't think it was actually the filming, but [it] was probably the mask, because it is so limited and it's hard to see in there. On the first one, I had a glass covering of the eyes and the more I would breathe, it would fog up and then I couldn't see.
But I think it was better this time, but it's really heavy as well. So whether it's on your head, it's another element of something that's difficult.
Are you ready to become an action star sans M3GAN, now that you got all the skills under your belt?
I would love to do more action movies. I feel like that would be such a cool thing to do. Especially because I love doing my own stunts. I love it so much. So, action is something I would really look forward to doing.
“I would love to do more action movies.”
And would you return for M3GAN 3?
If I got asked to be back, I would love to do it. Definitely.
This movie and this franchise is all about AI and the dangers of AI, but can I ask you what your thoughts are on AI?
I think that it's crazy just how fast it's evolving. I'll be on social media and then I'll see someone who looks like a real person, but it's just an AI-generated character, and I can't believe it. It's so crazy.
