In the days before the premiere of creepy doll thriller/enduring Twitter meme M3GAN, budding scream queen Allison Williams is taking time to remember where it all started. (No, not that one time she sang “Stronger” on Girls, although that is, certainly, a kind of horror in itself.)
It’s hard to imagine now, but we once lived in a pre-Get Out world, where Jordan Peele was best known for making up a roster of weird football player names or being a student to the world’s most unhinged substitute teacher as one-half of comedy-duo Key & Peele. The idea that he could also produce a horror film that would change the entire film landscape seemed far-fetched at best—at least, to Allison Williams’ publicist.
“Before I left to film [Get Out], I told my publicist that I thought it would be nominated for Oscars. She was like, this girl is delusional,” Williams (who starred in the film alongside Daniel Kaluuya) recalled in a recent Entertainment Weekly interview. She continued: “Who says that? What kind of pompous weirdo goes to film a movie and is like, this film I have picked will be nominated for Oscars. Then, much to her shock, I happened to be right.”
Beyond award contention, it also just sounds like Williams and co. had a blast filming the movie. “[My abiding memory is] just joy, honestly,” she said. “My memories are less about the shooting moments than it is about the afternoons and weekends we spent. Everyone would kind of descend on this house that I rented and we would all hang out and talk. I have such happy memories of that experience. It was so full-on, and exhausting, and overwhelming, and rewarding. It was just great. I don’t have a bad word to say about it.”
The actress was equally enthusiastic about her experience filming M3GAN. “I loved the idea of going back to work with Blumhouse,” she said. “I had such an amazing experience with Get Out that I was thrilled to have another chance to work with them. Then throw in James Wan (who produced the film with Jason Blum) for good measure and it was just irresistible.”
M3GAN premieres in theaters January 6.