New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
New horror movie ‘M3GAN’ features CT native Allison Williams
First there was Chucky. Then there was Annabelle. Now, “M3GAN” is staking her claim as the next horror doll icon.
After making waves with its initial trailer, which saw the titular character creating a TikTok worthy dance segment, “M3GAN” was released to theaters on Jan. 6.
The story centers on Gemma (Allison Williams), a roboticist who creates the Model 3 Generative Android (M3GAN) for a toy company. Despite good intentions, Gemma takes home a prototype for her niece, who quickly become self-aware and goes on a murderous rampage in defense of the little girl.
The movie is produced by modern horror masterminds Jason Blum (”Get Out,” “The Black Phone”) and James Wan (”The Conjuring,” “Saw”).
Williams, who serves as the protagonist of “M3GAN” as well as the movie’s executive producer, was born and raised in New Canaan. She is the daughter of former “NBC Nightly News anchor” Brian Williams and TV producer Jane Gillan Stoddard. Williams was primarily educated in the state, having attended New Canaan Country School, Greenwich Academy and Yale University.
In the years since her Connecticut upbringing, Williams has starred in a number of TV and movie productions including HBO’s “Girls,” Netflix’s “A Series of Unfortunate Events” and the Oscar-nominated “Get Out.”
“M3GAN” is Williams’ first appearance on screen since 2020’s “Horizon Line.”
Williams recently came under scrutiny in Vulture’s “How a Nepo Baby Is Born” article, which explored how some celebrities have their parents’ fame to thank for their own success.
Williams’ relationship to her father was scrutinized as well as Brian Williams’ own “nepotism baby” status, being the son of heiress Gloria Vanderbilt. Vulture labeled the pair as “Cultural-Capital Babies: the hipper stepsibling of the industry baby.”
In a follow-up profile on Allison Williams, Vulture said “Williams has been playing with and against that image — and the astonishingly privileged, raised-by-an-anchormanin-Connecticut-before-matriculating-at-Yale background it telegraphs — ever since she was cast in ‘Girls’ as the neurotic, entitled Marnie Michaels, who audiences immediately decided was not a fictional character but an Allison Williams avatar.”
“All that people are looking for is an acknowledgement that it’s not a level playing field. It’s just unfair. Period, end of the story, and no one’s really working that hard to make it fair,” Williams told Vulture.
“To not acknowledge that me getting started as an actress versus someone with zero connections isn’t the same — it’s ludicrous. It doesn’t take anything away from the work that I’ve done. It just means that it’s not as fun to root for me.”