Don’t expect a retreat of killer AI horror movies like M3GAN or Subservience with writer/director Drew Hancock Companion. Making his directorial feature debut, the filmmaker flips the script on the killer robot subgenre by centering Sophie Thatcher‘s Iris as the protagonist.
Thatcher stars opposite Jack Quaid as Iris’s affable boyfriend, Josh, who’s brought her along on a weekend cabin getaway to meet his friends for the first time. As if the major relationship milestone didn’t add enough pressure for Iris, an unexpected death sets off a series of increasingly bizarre, violent events.
Hancock’s debut, in theaters now, January 31, aims to keep you guessing, throwing unexpected wrenches into Iris’s attempts to integrate into Josh’s friend group. Let’s just say that the blood and laughs flow free in this energetic and funny sci-fi horror mashup, though it very nearly didn’t. The filmmaker, speaking with Bloody Disgusting ahead of the film’s release, revealed that Companion was initially conceived as a much more serious and conventional take on Killer AI.
“Honestly, the comedy came a little later,” Hancock explained. “Just to back it up a little bit, the purpose of writing this movie was that I was in a place in my career where I wasn’t really getting the opportunities that I’d wanted; I’ve always been a gigantic genre fan, like horror, sci-fi, and thrillers. I was working in the comedy world, and I love comedy. But my sweet spot, the thing that I love, is genre. During Covid, it kind of forced me to sit down and go, ‘Well, why aren’t you getting the opportunities that you want?’ I realized it was my own fault. I realized I didn’t have a writing sample that represented the kinds of movies that I like. So, I decided to sit down and put my money where my mouth is, and that’s where Companion came from. The irony of it is that even though I wanted to make something that represented my voice, I still was denying that, and I made a more dramatic version. The first draft was more, I call, Black Mirror-light. It just wasn’t that interesting.
(L-R) Sophie Thatcher as Iris and Jack Quaid as Josh in New Line Cinema’s “COMPANION”, a Warner Bros. Pictures release.
“I had this draft of the script, and I was sending it to trusted friends. I was getting their opinions, and there was a lot of, ‘Yeah, it’s good. Yeah, yeah, great job.’ But I could tell. I said, ‘Oh, there’s something not quite right here.’ Then I realized I was. You know, I think a lot of people that work in comedy think, because it comes easy to them, that they shouldn’t be doing it. I realized it’s easy for me because that’s my voice. So I went back and did a pass that added the humor into it kind of late. That’s when it really started to click. As a writing sample, I just wanted it to represent every genre that I like. So I kind of threw everything at the wall just to see if it would work.”
Iris was very nearly a vastly different character bearing more in common with villainous murder bots like M3GAN, but Hancock found himself relating to her very human relationship predicament.
“My first instinct was that she should be the antagonist of the story, and we see it from Josh’s point of view, seeing his friends die off one at a time. Then, just letting the idea marinate in my head, I was thinking about her and this journey that she’s on. I was thinking specifically about her showing up to this cabin with all these people that she doesn’t know, and I was connecting with her in a way that I recognize that kind of alienation when you’re meeting all these people that you don’t know and you’re second guessing all of your decisions. I was empathizing with her so much that it made me stop and go, ‘Wait a minute. This. There’s something interesting here.’ Could I make a movie where the most sympathetic, empathetic, most human character is actually a robot? Once I had that element, it really started to sing, and hindsight is 2020. M3GAN hadn’t come out yet when I was writing [Companion], so I’m so glad that I made that switch. If I hadn’t made that switch, it would have just been like every other AI gone wrong movie.“
(L-R) Sophie Thatcher as Iris and Director and Writer Drew Hancock in New Line Cinema’s “COMPANION”, a Warner Bros. Pictures release.
As for Thatcher’s impressive portrayal of the complex character, Hancock has effusive praise. “She’s incredible in the movie. She was very nervous about the emotional shifts that she had to do. Even in individual scenes, like when she finds out she’s a robot. That scene has four different emotional shifts she has to do. I remember the first time we met, she was like, ‘I don’t know if I can do it.’ And she did it.”
While the killer AI horror field continues to grow, Hancock intentionally avoided seeking them out when making his film. “I just worry too much about accidentally ingesting too much, and then you’re unconsciously ripping it off, so I don’t. I didn’t watch M3GAN. I know it’s not like M3GAN, but I didn’t want to accidentally take something from it. I didn’t watch Stepford Wives.” Instead, Companion was more influenced by seemingly unlikely sources of inspiration. “I would rather watch something like A Marriage Story and think about the movie as a metaphor for a toxic relationship. When you give the directives to all the actors and all of the department heads, it’s like, well, this isn’t a sci-fi movie. Let’s not think about this as a sci-fi movie. This is a breakup movie. This is about a woman finding empowerment through the discovery of self, who she is, her place in the universe, and an acceptance of what she is. I think that when you give everyone that clear directive, it makes their job a lot easier because they’re not trying to be like, well, what is this movie? Is it Ex Machina? What is it? No, this isn’t Ex Machina. This is this is.”
Sophie Thatcher as Iris in New Line Cinema’s “COMPANION”, a Warner Bros. Pictures release.
Making his first horror feature has only increased his passion for genre film.
I’m excited. I’m already writing something right now. It’s an adaptation of a horror short story that I was sent that just really clicked with me. I wouldn’t be able to do just a relationship drama. The funny thing is, I need robots. I need serial killers. I need ghosts. That’s what makes me excited. I want to make very sincere stories in absurd worlds. I would love to continue to be in this Companion kind of [place] where you take a genre element, but then you ground it.”
It’s also worth noting that Hancock was just enlisted to pen the script for the upcoming The Faculty remake, ensuring his immediate future in horror is set. See why the filmmaker may be the perfect person to tackle the job when Companion hits theaters this week.