Jono, Ben & Megan - The Podcast - BONUS: Gerard Johnstone, The Kiwi Who Directed M3GAN.

Episode Date: February 6, 2023

We chat to Gerard Johnstone, the New Zealand director who made the film M3GAN. He goes into his line of work and the global success of the movie.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The hits the Jono and Ben podcast it's one of the biggest movies in the world right now it's Megan about a lifelike toy doll that turns into a killer I designed Megan to protect Katie from feeling lonely she will recognize you as her primary user and when you do that you're gonna pair with her crazy it's insane right oh don't i look nice hey the movie is everywhere it's done extremely well in cinema so far it's all over tiktok with a viral dance it was filmed in new zealand with a lot of kiwis in front of the screen and behind it and including uh director gerard johnson who's with us in the studio good to have you here buddy thanks for having me hey nice to have you here congratulations on the movie i mean it's nice to have you here, congratulations on the movie.

I mean it's awesome, it's scary, it's funny and it's huge worldwide. You must be just blown away by how amazingly big it's got. It's an overused phrase but it's very surreal. Because we saw you in typical Kiwi fashion, you kind of downplay it. You're like, I'm working on this little quirky little horror a toy that sort of comes to life, a robot toy. And we'll see how it goes. And now it's everywhere. It's huge.

Yeah, it's nuts. And, you know, we went to the SoFi Stadium and then to see a bunch of dancing Meghans there. The marketing campaign for the movie was nuts. And I don't want to talk down your success because you're a very talented man. But when you were telling us about this, I was like,, well good luck with your little porno or whatever you're filming And it kind of, we forgot about it Ben And then it popped up and you're like, this Gerard's moving That is filmmaking though in New Zealand, like whenever someone says, what do you do?

And I say, I'm a director Oh, you're anything we'd know? No, no But do you do alright? Do you make a director are you anything we know no no but you do all right have you done a briscoe's commercial yeah you know but so that's what's great about this it's like what have you done that i might have seen megan now no yeah and it's all over you know the tick tock as well the dance uh that of it was was your idea to add to it is just blowing up even saw drew barrymore the other day on her chat show

dressed as the main character, Megan. It's surreal. Yeah, there's so many pinch myself moments. Like there was an SNL sketch, you know, my favorite show. And other than this. It's breakfast. SNL hits breakfast. I think like Snoop Dogg did a face mash

where he put his face on Megan's face But I think maybe the loveliest thing A scene in the film Where Megan plays Toy Soldiers By Martika on piano And Martika got in touch and would like to send me Some free merch And that was a big deal

A bit of drink bottles Because it was filmed in New Zealand What's the back story as to how this project ended up being made here? COVID happened. The pandemic happened. And New Zealand was COVID free for a long time and one of the most desirable places to make a movie.

So every man and his dog was trying to get to New Zealand to make a movie there. I thought, Hollywood, here I come. But everyone just wanted to come and shoot movies here because of the tax incentives. So that was really funny. I kind of couldn't believe it. You're like,

I want to be over there. Could I come to you? No, no, we'll come to you. It'll be great. Because you've made New Zealand look like America. It was cool watching too from a New Zealand

point of view as well. Seeing New Zealand actors as well. Seeing the little places go, oh, I forget that it was filmed in Newmarket or wherever it was and guessing these things.

It's like, you know, the AUT was the big, like, toy company kind of campus. Because that was filmed, you know, like, I don't want to break down the sensitive budget of the movie. But it's well reported online. It was made for about $12 million, which seems like a lot for, I imagine, people listening. But it's not, you know, as far as movies go. Well, they keep the costs down so that they can spend all that money on taylor swift when the trailer comes out so we may still be in the red there's hundreds of millions of dollars it's made worldwide so it's a huge and people are talking sequel that must be just again surreal and incredible it is because

it was such a hard film to make and you know because megan is an animatronic puppet and so often it's just like you know you feel like you're making the terminator with kermit the frog like she just it doesn't work and and and um i was really worried that this film was going to end my career not launch my career so so the idea that we're now talking about a sequel that's one of the craziest things because i was you know after this film was done, I was like, thank God I just got out of this alive.

Yeah. And so I'm going back in. I wanted to pitch you some ideas for the sequel. Here we go. I knew this was coming. Here we go. This is not an interview, Gerard.

This is a pitch session. Now, you've got to look at it. I was thinking you've got to look at a new sort of toy, an iconic toy. It comes to life. It's evil, that sort of thing. Yep.

Okay. This horror movie doesn't hurt it stings find out what all the buzz is about when the killer bee comes to life it's Buzzy Bee

the movie what do you think what do you reckon Buzzy Bee great I mean I can see um film commission just getting it right

behind this one iconic kiwi toy yeah yes absolutely so think about that one okay the next one he may look cute but he'll tickle you to death. This Muppet is killing Muppets like you in Tickle Me Elmo, the movie.

The Darker Side of Sesame Street. Yeah. I can see there being some rights issues. Okay, rights issue. Okay, we'll move on from that one. Okay. Okay, this one needs a beep. You better do whatever the f*** Simon says.

Simon says you're next the movie coming soon that's probably my favorite that's your favorite okay simon says yeah okay someone says you know that's yours you can take that gerard congratulations on the success bloody awesome well done mate thank you thank you guys and go see megan if you haven't seen it it is awesome it's funny it's scary it's all those things and more uh so go check it out it's in cinemas right now