If you’ve gone to see M3GAN, you know that the film delivers laughs and scares in equal measure. A lot of that has to do with the names behind the box-office sensation—including screenwriter Akela Cooper, director Gerard Johnstone, and legendary horror producer James Wan—but the comedy chops of its cast also lift up the film’s deliriously deranged tone.
Actor Brian Jordan Alvarez, previously seen on NBC’s revival of Will & Grace as well as the internet comedy show he co-created, The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo, knew there was something special about the project as soon as he read the script in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I think I was like, ‘This is going to be a hit,’” he recalled in an interview with Them. “I was like, ‘This is one of the most interesting and funny scripts I’ve ever read.’”
In the Universal killer doll movie, Alvarez plays Cole, a colleague of robotics engineer Gemma (Allison Williams) at the toy company that plans to mass-produce M3GAN. The actor, known for his extensive coterie of Instagram characters, frequently steals scenes with dumbfounded facial expressions and wry line deliveries.
As the film continued to outperform expectations at the box office, Alvarez spoke with Them about the magic of M3GAN, his own personal history with dolls, and the characters in his repertoire who might fare well in a horror movie.
Spoiler alert: Plot details for M3GAN are discussed in this interview.
Can you bring us back to the moment when you first read the script for M3GAN? What got you on board?
Oh, well, it was just so good right off the bat. I read the script first in my Malibu apartment. I lived in Malibu for six months toward the beginning of COVID. I was like, “I’m moving to the beach.” I read the script there; it’s just part of the memory. And I think I was like, “This is going to be a hit.” I was like, “This is one of the most interesting and funny scripts I’ve ever read.” And it was just really well-written, and in a way that was easy to act, too, which is always a very good sign for writing — when you can easily imagine the words coming out of your mouth.
I was just captivated. I think I read it multiple times initially, and I’ve read the script, I don’t know, maybe 20 times in the process.
Fast forward to working on the movie, being there and seeing it come to life with the actors, did you get a sense of how much it would captivate audiences?
I did because I was captivated. When they were shooting scenes that I wasn’t even in, I would watch the monitors, because Gerard is a very precise director, and I loved watching it. And the doll — I mean, from the first time I saw that doll, I was like, “This is a captivating image.” And I think that's what created that huge initial internet boom, even when the trailer came out, because it’s like, “"Wow, what a striking image,” and what a good concept of what an AI doll like that for kids might look like in the next 10 years. That really is what people would buy!
There were several things that went into the creation of how M3GAN appears onscreen, but one of them is a doll that is basically a robot puppet. It was by this specific company called Morot [FX Studio]. They were just brilliant at what they did. And Gerard would really take his time on the close-ups of this doll, directing her. He would be like, “Bring the chin just an inch down and have her blink.” He was sort of doing this really subtle performance through the doll, and then the rest of it was embodied by Amie [Donald], the girl who plays the body of M3GAN. She did so much of the embodiment.
But I was just always fascinated with [Gerard’s] directing of the facial expressions of M3GAN because it was a practical effect, and she would furrow her brow or she would blink or she would sort of frown and tilt her head. It’s part of what makes the audience laugh. There’s this — not to spoil anything — but there's this part where M3GAN is sort of looking over the fence, and it’s in the trailer, too. It’s almost a deadpan look. And the fact that we know when a doll is being deadpan is such a testament to how subtle the direction of this was.
Often in really good horror films, there is a lot of comedy to cut the tension. I'm wondering, as an actor, how do you prepare for striking that tone of horror plus comedy. You said it was in the script, but was that something that you spoke about with the director, or were there moments that you wanted to play up the comedy of a line?
I would say Gerard, even more than I expected, really wanted this movie to be funny. And there were even parts in the script that I wasn't sure if they were supposed to be comedy or not. And again, not to spoil anything, but there’s a part where M3GAN sings the song “Titanium” and in the script, I remember one of my co-stars and I, Jen [Van Epps], talking about it, going, “Is that a joke or not?” Like, we didn't know how earnest that moment was. And once you watch it in theaters, you realize it’s this brilliant comedic moment, but also, like all good comedy, it has this sort of earnestness in it. It’s funny because it is something she would really sing. She is this robot who maybe doesn’t understand when she’s being tone-deaf to a situation or something; it’s so funny and so bizarre that she’s singing it.
He was constantly working on the script, making it even funnier. Akela [Cooper] did such an amazing job with the script and James Wan. And so I think Gerard knew that part of his job was if he could make this even funnier, it was going to create a total crowd pleaser where people are engaged in the story. The story structure is really strong. You are really scared of M3GAN at certain parts, but it’s so funny. And I think it’s that blend of all of it [that leads to] that amazing 95% Rotten Tomatoes score and the huge box office. Making people laugh out loud in a huge theater crowd — I mean, that is an achievement. Every time I’ve seen this movie — I saw it at the premiere, I’ve gone twice to see it in theaters — it brings down the house. People are laughing so hard and so loud, and it just kind of makes me feel like the movies are back.
I wanted to ask you a couple of quick questions about dolls. Are you afraid of dolls at all? Have you ever found a doll scary prior to M3GAN?
No, I’m… I loved stuffed animals growing up, so no, I’m not particularly scared of dolls. I’m not particularly scared of clowns, either. I’ve never really gotten that. What do I find scary? I think as a kid, I was just very scared of the dark. I was scared of the unknown.
I’m not scared of dolls either, but when I was a kid, I used to have a recurring nightmare about Chucky. But now, Chucky's one of my favorite things. Speaking of which, Allison Williams recently answered this question, and I wanted your take on it: Who would win in a fight between Chucky, Annabelle, and M3GAN?
My god. M3GAN. M3GAN every time. Well, M3GAN just has all the intelligence of every intersystem on Earth. She has infinite upside to what she can learn and how she can learn to dominate in any situation, as is shown in M3GAN, the movie.
What is the gayest toy you had growing up, and were there any toys that you weren’t allowed to have?
No, nothing I wasn’t allowed to have. I really loved a Little Mermaid doll that I had when I was a kid. I remember that being very special to me. I loved that movie growing up.
Speaking of Allison Williams, she is known for playing a character named Marnie. But obviously you’re also known for playing a character named Marnie.
Yes.
I wanted to ask you, who do you think would survive longer in a horror movie? Marnie or Southern Aunt?
Oh, my Marnie?
Your Marnie.
Or Southern Aunt. Oh, wow. Good question. I guess I would have to think that my Marnie would survive long... I think my Marnie ultimately might be the villain in a horror movie.
Oh, that would be great.
I wouldn’t be surprised if by the end, she was the problem. But then if Southern Aunt was the lead, then maybe she would survive, because I guess the lead usually survives.
It would be interesting to see a Southern Aunt final girl.
I’m going to take you up on this.
Yeah. Like a Southern Aunt final girl against Marnie. Marnie could be defeated, but she could be like Freddy in that she always comes back.
Yeah. Because the villain always comes back every movie. Yeah, that’s the eternal question: Does the final girl live the longest or does the villain live the longest?
A lot of people love all of the characters that you do on Instagram and other various sites. And I die laughing every time I watch them. How did you, as a comedian, arrive at this Instagram filter character aesthetic, and what light bulb went off in your head that you were just like, “This matches my comedy, this is what I’m going to do”?
I don’t know if I’ve ever put that into words before because it was such a specific thing in that it was totally organic. It was happening without me realizing it was happening. Because really what happened was we were all in lockdown. We were all on our phones 24/7. I remember I would just do tweets making fun of how we were all just on our phones. I’d be like, “Going to the kitchen later and then back to the couch.” But everybody was on their phones all the time, and Marnie T., my guru character, arose out of that space. And that was such a hit in this crazy way.
Sean Hayes, who I was on Will & Grace with, who’s an angel and such a brilliant actor, was very supportive of Marnie T. early on. He was even the person that was like, “"You should call her Marnie T.” I was already doing the character, but I hadn’t put a name on it. And then we made these videos together, which I think helped blow her up.
But I think the real answer is I've always been doing characters and voices my whole life. And most of the time there’s really not a venue in which to do that, because it’s like you're either on SNL, which I’ve tested for Saturday Night Live twice, and I love them. I’ve gotten close, but I’m not on that show. And then there's regular acting where you can play... Like even on Will & Grace, I played a strong character, but that’s one character for several seasons.
And so I have so many characters and voices in my mind that I think, once I realized people liked this Marnie T. character, the floodgates sort of opened. And I was like, “Well, if you like her, then you’ll like this Southern Aunt.” And I started buying these really expensive wigs from a drag queen named Cash LLC. His name is Tom in real life, and he makes these really convincing lace fronts. And so I think people liked that, too, that I was using really high quality wigs because they’d be like, “Where is the lace? Is this hair coming out of your head?”
But yeah, long story short, as soon as I realized, “Oh, people will watch these on Instagram if they’re in an easy-to-digest, one-minute, short-form video format,” then I was just off to the races. I was like, “Here’s another one, and another one.” There was a time when I was making like 10 videos a day. Now, I’ve slowed down. But yeah, it was very rewarding for me: imagine having a talent that you feel like nobody cares about, and then suddenly you realize, “Oh my God, people do care about this. I was right. This is a cool thing to do.”
Well, they remind me of Maria Bamford, the way that you inhabit a character.
So flattering. Thank you.
When I knew I was going to talk to you, I texted one of my best friends, and I was like, "What should I ask Brian Jordan Alvarez?" And he was like, his one question was, "What would Freckle say to M3GAN"?
Oh, I don't know. You'll have to ask. You'll have to find out from the source, I think. But that would be very fun to see. I love that as a concept.
Well, I think there should be more crossover between your show and M3GAN. You should bring some people into the M3GAN ... The new MCU is the M3GAN Cinematic Universe.
Yeah, yeah. I love that. I love that.
This conversation has been edited and condensed.
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