Trivia

Martial Arts Aspirations: As a child, Johnstone dreamed of being a martial arts movie star and used to make and edit his own kung fu films on a VHS player. He even moved to Australia with only $2,000 to join the Gold Coast Stunt Academy, though he ran out of funds before he could enrol.

Struggling Start: To save money after his failed stunt academy attempt, he spent eight months working at Australian Meat Holdings in Ipswich. Later, he used prize money from winning the 48Hours film contest twice to fund a comedy pilot that eventually led to his hit series The Jaquie Brown Diaries.

Budgetary Brilliance: His debut feature Housebound (2014) was shot on a shoestring budget of roughly $250,000. To save money, he decided to set the entire film in a single location, which led to the inventive "haunted house" premise that caught Hollywood's attention.

Creative Influences: He cites filmmaker Sam Raimi as a major influence on his style, particularly for his ability to blend humour, shock, and heart. For the sequel M3GAN 2.0, he looked to classic sequels like Terminator 2 and The Empire Strikes Back for inspiration on how to expand a franchise without repeating the first film.

Accidental Horror Career: Johnstone has admitted that he never intended to be a horror director. He chose the genre for Housebound because it was financially successful on low budgets in New Zealand, and only later "went back to school" on the genre to learn how to do it properly.