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EXCLUSIVE: Josh Brolin Reveals What Compelled Him to Join Zach Cregger’s Weapons Movie: 'After 40 Years, I've Started to Look at Things Differently'
Josh Brolin opened up exclusively to Pinkvilla about what drew him to Zach Cregger’s upcoming horror-thriller Weapons. Here’s what the actor had to say.
Josh Brolin, known for roles in No Country for Old Men and Avengers: Endgame, is stepping into new territory with Weapons, a horror-thriller from director Zach Cregger, the filmmaker behind Barbarian. Brolin spoke to Pinkvilla exclusively about what made him say yes to this chilling new film, calling the script both personal and powerful.
A story that grew on him
At first, Brolin wasn’t sure about the project. “I think what’s happened in the trajectory of my career is after 40 years, I’ve started to look at things a little bit differently,” he told Pinkvilla. “This kind of came up, and I hadn’t seen Barbarian, but I read the script for Weapons and I thought the design of the script was really compelling, really interesting. And I kept going back to it.”
Brolin admitted that his initial instinct was to walk away. “I was like, ‘Nah.’ Then, every time I went back to it, it got more and more interesting.”
Why working with Zach Cregger made it personal
A big turning point came when Brolin met with director Zach Cregger. “I felt like he was an open book,” Brolin said. “He was kind of like, ‘This is me. This is who I am. This is where I’m at in my life. This is what I’ve gone through. This is what this script came from.”
Cregger shared that the script was inspired by the loss of a close friend, and each character represented part of his own emotional journey. “That was the most interesting, which he alluded to in our first meeting and then expanded when we met again,” Brolin said. “I was very moved by that. And so, that made it personal for me.”
Here’s what made Weapons stand out professionally
From a career point of view, Josh Brolin was impressed by the structure of the script. “The design of the script was exceptional, because it reminded me of early Iñárritu and Guillermo Arriaga, the kind of films that I loved,” he said. “I like that this guy is obviously influenced by great people and is making it his own.” After finally watching Barbarian, Brolin was even more convinced. “I really liked it,” he added.
Brolin also praised Cregger for being a grounded and emotionally connected filmmaker. “He's a very sensitive director-because of the sensitivity, he’s very present, and he wants it to stay personal to him,” Brolin said. “And I like that kind of pressure, as opposed to a guy who’s just making a movie to make a lot of money. I mean, we all want to make a lot of money, but this is personal to him.”
Weapons is a horror-thriller about a mysterious incident where all children, excluding one, vanish from the same class at exactly 2:17 a.m. The film stars Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Cary Christopher, Benedict Wong, and Amy Madigan.
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