{"id":691977,"date":"2025-09-25T22:20:33","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T19:20:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/weapons-filmmaker-zach-cregger-on-script-to-screen-changes-and-bill-haders-key-contribution\/"},"modified":"2025-09-25T22:20:33","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T19:20:33","slug":"weapons-filmmaker-zach-cregger-on-script-to-screen-changes-and-bill-haders-key-contribution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/weapons-filmmaker-zach-cregger-on-script-to-screen-changes-and-bill-haders-key-contribution\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Weapons\u2019 Filmmaker Zach Cregger on Script-to-Screen Changes and Bill Hader\u2019s Key Contribution"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t[This story contains spoilers for <\/strong>Weapons<\/em><\/strong>.]<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tZach Cregger was far from home throughout Weapons<\/em>\u2019 storybook run this past summer. The writer-director was 6,000 miles away in Prague, prepping his next film, Resident Evil<\/em>, which found itself in a hard-fought bidding war just like Weapons <\/em>did in 2023. When the dust settled on New Line\/Warners\u2019 $38 million purchase of the latter, the betterment of its highly in-demand script<\/a> was only just beginning.<\/p>\n

\n\tA reference to a tray of hot dogs and assorted junk food became a tray of seven<\/em> hot dogs, which served as a touching, esoteric tribute<\/a> to Cregger\u2019s late dear friend and longtime The Whitest Kids U\u2019 Know <\/em>collaborator, Trevor Moore. The mere act of writing Weapons<\/em> began as a way for Cregger to process Moore\u2019s August 2021 death.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tOther improvements were made such as a scene in which Josh Brolin\u2019s Archer takes ownership of his grief-stricken blunders at one of his company\u2019s construction sites. Originally, the script had him lash out at his foreman for mistakes made by their crew. Character names were also changed so there weren\u2019t at least four people with capital-A first names.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBut perhaps the most consequential revisions happened during Alex Lilly\u2019s (Cary Christopher) chapter of the nonlinear narrative. The young boy was the only third grader in Justine Gandy\u2019s (Julia Garner) class to not run away from home in the wee hours of the morning before a school day, and it\u2019s eventually revealed that he contributed to the disappearance of his 17 fellow classmates. But this wasn\u2019t always the case.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen Alex\u2019s mysterious Great Aunt Gladys (Amy Madigan) comes to stay with him and his parents under the pretext of her deteriorating health, he returns home from school one day to find his parents in a catatonic state. Gladys is actually an ailing witch who cast a spell in order to drain them of their life force and reinvigorate herself in the process. However, Gladys\u2019 recovery is short-lived. So she asks Alex to retrieve personal effects from his 17 classmates, and Alex, not realizing the full extent of Gladys\u2019 forthcoming design, agrees to help based on her promise that she\u2019ll leave him and his parents alone afterwards.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn early versions of the script, Alex actually played no part in Gladys\u2019 second spell that brought the 17 schoolkids to his doorstep so that Gladys could try once more to fully recuperate. Instead of stealing cubby-hole box name tags from his classroom, Alex received Valentine\u2019s Day cards from each one of his classmates. Gladys then pocketed those items in the middle of night to cast the fateful spell.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tCregger later received a note from one of his friends that suggested the idea of directly involving Alex in Gladys\u2019 spell. Thus, having Alex snatch the name tags not only made him more active in hopefully rescuing his parents, but it also reinforced his rationale for not telling the truth to law enforcement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBill Hader is a buddy of mine. We would talk about the script, and I think it was his idea. He was like, \u2018You should figure out a way to implicate [Alex] so he feels implicated.\u2019 So it was through a conversation with him that I had the idea of Alex stealing something [for Gladys],\u201d Cregger tells The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>. \u201cIt was a way to give him some culpability so that we could further believe that maybe he wouldn\u2019t tell [the authorities], because he felt like he was responsible and just as guilty [as Gladys], even though we know he wasn\u2019t. But, to a degree, he is guilty.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBelow, during a recent spoiler conversation with THR<\/em>, Cregger also discusses the practical reason for why he did away with Alex\u2019s Valentine\u2019s Day cards, as well as the current status of his Aunt Gladys prequel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t***<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tWeapons <\/em><\/strong>received<\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>rave<\/strong> reviews <\/em><\/strong>and was the number-one movie in August, grossing $264 million against $38 million overall. Its script was a part of a hotly contested bidding war that may have altered a couple careers. [Editor\u2019s Note: Jordan Peele reportedly parted ways with his managers after losing the <\/strong>Weapons<\/em><\/strong> sweepstakes.] Your follow-up, <\/strong>Resident Evil<\/em><\/strong>,<\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>also had its own<\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>bidding war. How does it feel to be the belle of the ball right now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\t(Laughs<\/em>.) I\u2019m in Prague, and I\u2019ve been in Prague since before Weapons<\/em> came out, so I don\u2019t feel like the belle of the ball. I feel like a stranger in a strange land, and I\u2019m so happy to be here. I get to work every day toward making a movie [Resident Evil<\/em>], so it\u2019s awesome. But I haven\u2019t had any experiences where I walk into a restaurant and somebody says, \u201cHey, there\u2019s the guy who made [Weapons<\/em>].\u201d So maybe this is the best place for me to be so that my head isn\u2019t exploding or whatever I\u2019m trying to say. It\u2019s just good to be in the Czech Republic.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tWriter\/Director Zach Cregger on the set of Weapons<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tQuantrell Colbert\/Warner Bros.<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tRight after <\/strong>Weapons<\/em><\/strong> came out, my YouTube<\/a> algorithm sent me down a rabbit hole of <\/strong>News<\/a>boyz<\/em><\/strong> episodes, and it didn\u2019t take long for me to see why the loss of Trevor Moore prompted you to write <\/strong>Weapons<\/em><\/strong> as a way to cope. I wasn\u2019t privy to your <\/strong>Whitest Kids<\/em><\/strong> <\/strong>U\u2019 Know<\/em><\/strong> collaboration. It somehow never entered my orbit. Anyway, was Trevor aware of these solo ambitions you had for yourself? Did he know you were trying to reinvent your filmmaking career? [Writer\u2019s Note: Cregger and Moore co-directed a couple films in 2009 and 2011. <\/strong>Newsboyz<\/em><\/strong> was also a pandemic-era live stream that they co-hosted on YouTube\/Twitch. They discussed the week in news and swapped entertaining stories from their lives. Their final episode took place a handful of hours before Moore\u2019s tragic accident.]<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tWell, I shot Barbarian<\/em> before he died, and he died while I was in the edit of Barbarian<\/em>. So he knew I was making a movie, and I think he knew I always wanted to be a [solo] filmmaker. Yeah, he definitely knew that, but he didn\u2019t know much about Barbarian<\/em>. He was going to see it when it was ready, but he never got to. So I don\u2019t really know how much he understood about what I wanted to do solo, but I don\u2019t think that\u2019s significant. It\u2019s not something I talked about all the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe internet decoded that the platter of seven hot dogs was a nod to Trevor and the Whitest Kids <\/em><\/strong>sketch<\/strong><\/a>, \u201cHot Dog Timmy.\u201d The draft of the script I read referenced hot dogs, but it didn\u2019t say how many hot dogs were assembled. So did you come up with that specific tribute of seven hot dogs closer to filming?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, when we were putting it together, it was like, \u201cWhat should be on the tray?\u201d We then arranged the tray, and it was definitely thought out weeks in advance with the props people. So it was somewhere between the script and rolling camera.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen Josh Brolin\u2019s character\u2019s son, Matthew, is revealed to be Alex\u2019s bully, I thought you were paving the way for the entire class to laugh at Alex for something Matthew instigated. Gladys would\u2019ve then offered Alex a means of revenge without him fully understanding how extreme her intentions were.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s interesting.<\/p>\n

\n\tDid you ever go down that bullying path?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tNo, I didn\u2019t, but it makes a lot of sense. It just never occurred to me. That totally tracks.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the earlier script, Gladys casts the 2:17 AM spell using Valentine\u2019s Day cards that Alex\u2019s classmates gave him, only he didn\u2019t supply them to her. She just took them from him in the middle of the night.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tRight.<\/p>\n

\n\tWas the method of having him remove the name tags from the cubby-hole boxes a way to make him more active in potentially saving his family?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tIt was, yeah. It was also a way to give him some culpability so that we could further believe that maybe he wouldn\u2019t tell [the authorities], because he felt like he was responsible and just as guilty [as Gladys], even though we know he wasn\u2019t. But, to a degree, he is guilty. He probably had an inkling of an idea that whatever Gladys was going to do was probably pretty bad, and I don\u2019t think he let himself imagine what was really coming. But, yes, it was to dirty his hands.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tCary Christopher as Alex in Zach Cregger\u2019s Weapons<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tCompared to Valentine\u2019s Day cards, were the cubby-hole box name tags just a cleaner, more streamlined way for Alex to get personal objects to Gladys?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tIt felt like the montage that would be necessary for him to get one little thing from every kid would be unbelievable and boring. The Valentine\u2019s Day cards felt like a quick cheat. I was talking to a teacher friend of mine, and I was like, \u201cWell, how could a kid come home with something from every other kid?\u201d And she was like, \u201cValentine\u2019s Day.\u201d And I was like, \u201cBrilliant!\u201d However, we were shooting in the dead of summer, and the movie would never look like February. So that\u2019s why I was like, \u201cI\u2019ve got to think of something else.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBill Hader is a buddy of mine. We would talk about the script, and I think it was his idea. He was like, \u201cYou should figure out a way to implicate [Alex] so he feels implicated.\u201d So it was through a conversation with him that I had the idea of Alex stealing something. And when we were scouting on location, I saw these cubby boxes that were in a real classroom. So I was like, \u201cThat would do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTwo of my THR<\/em> colleagues <\/strong>broke<\/strong> the potential Gladys prequel story. What\u2019s your temperature on that idea at the moment?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI had the idea for this Gladys story before Weapons<\/em> came out, so I was secretly hoping Weapons<\/em> would work. I was like, \u201cIf it works, I have this other really fun story to tell about Gladys.\u201d So I was like, \u201cPlease let it be a hit,\u201d because I didn\u2019t want to go to the studio [about it] unless Weapons<\/em> did business. So it was one of those things where I already had it, and I wasn\u2019t just like, \u201cHow can I cash in?\u201d I was like, \u201cPlease God, let me be able to go do this again.\u201d So we\u2019re talking now, and while I can\u2019t say too much obviously, it\u2019s real and I\u2019m pumped. I think it\u2019s great.<\/p>\n

\n\tI was surprised to hear that, because, when we spoke for <\/strong>Barbarian<\/em><\/strong>, you weren\u2019t too interested in a prequel, especially one about your antagonist Frank (Richard Brake). But I suppose Gladys\u2019 showmanship is a bit more fun to be around.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tFrank\u2019s whole world is disgusting, and having already told a story in that world, I don\u2019t necessarily enjoy the aspects of Barbarian<\/em> that are about women in captivity. That was just more of an interesting kind of backstory and plot device. With Gladys, I feel like there\u2019s a whole rainbow of things that Gladys gets to interact with and participate in, so they\u2019re very different things.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou opted not to explain <\/strong>the meaning of Weapons<\/em><\/strong> during your press tour, and I don\u2019t blame you. These are fraught times. Thus, I\u2019m going to subject you to my own reading of the movie.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\t(Cregger smiles.<\/em>) Okay.<\/p>\n

\n\tTo me, the movie\u2019s most enduring image is the schoolkids chasing after the old witch, and I interpreted that as the younger generations finally turning the tables on the older generations for passing on all their trauma and imposing harmful policies\/legislation time and time again.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI love it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019ll take the compliment.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s great.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou deleted a scene where Alden Ehrenreich\u2019s character, Paul, visits the doctor after his prickly run-in with the homeless addict, James (Austin Abrams). Did you ever decide what the result of Paul\u2019s blood test would\u2019ve been?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tOh, great<\/em> question. No, I didn\u2019t. But that\u2019s such a good thing to think about. I thought that the not knowing was just as damning of his character as if he did have a result. The fact that he was willing to just play Russian roulette with [Julia Garner\u2019s Justine] and her biology [via fornication] is heavy-duty. So I didn\u2019t think we really needed an answer. He did it anyways, and that\u2019s pretty fucked-up.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tAustin Abrams\u2019 James in Zach Cregger\u2019s Weapons<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWarner Bros. Pictures<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tAustin Abrams<\/strong> was the one main actor who stayed on the film after its strike-related cast reshuffling. He didn\u2019t go off and shoot something else. How much did that loyal gesture factor into him leading Resident Evil<\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI didn\u2019t reward him for his loyalty; I rewarded him for being a spectacular actor. I cast him in Resident Evil<\/em> because he\u2019s so well-suited for this part. We just had a completely amazing experience together [on Weapons<\/em>], and we really connected, creatively. So when it was time to get this one going, I didn\u2019t have to think too hard. If he wasn\u2019t in Weapons<\/em>, if he\u2019d bailed and gone and done another movie, yeah, I probably wouldn\u2019t have been doing [Resident Evil<\/em>] with him. So I guess it\u2019s a karmic reward, but it wasn\u2019t like I was thinking that way.<\/p>\n

\n\tAre you about to roll camera on <\/strong>Resident<\/em><\/strong>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tWe\u2019re going to start shooting the second week of October.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t(L-R) Josh Brolin and Writer\/Director Zach Cregger on the set of Weapons<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tQuantrell Colbert\/Warner Bros.<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tIs the biggest screenwriting lesson from <\/strong>Weapons<\/em><\/strong> to not name four characters with the same first letter? You originally had Archer (Josh Brolin), Alex (Cary Christopher), Anthony (who became Abrams\u2019 James) and Andrew (who became Benedict Wong\u2019s Marcus).\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\t(Laughs<\/em>.) Yeah, I think there could have been even another. Dude, that is only evidence of how stupid I am when I\u2019m writing. I try to turn my brain off. I try not to think. I try to just go, go, go, go. So I make idiotic mistakes like that, and that\u2019s what happens.<\/p>\n

\n\tEarlier, when I listed your recent achievements, I forgot to mention Companion<\/em>, which counted you as a producer. Drew Hancock told me the whole story of how it was originally going to be your Barbarian<\/em> follow-up until you offered him the directorial job instead. He then surprised you with his brief indecision. Were you trying to pay it forward in the same way people did for you on Barbarian<\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tIt was a combination of things. I was seriously considering directing it, but I felt like I should do an original next. That just became clear to me. As great as that script was and as excited as I was about it, I felt like I should do an original. And I could just tell from my conversations with Drew that he had a point of view and that he understood the story at the atomic level. He\u2019d also directed [TV] before, so I was just like, \u201cWhy not, man? I think he can do it.\u201d He just smelled like a [movie] director.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSo before I offered him that, I called all the producers and was like, \u201cI think Drew should direct it. Do I have your blessing to broach this with him?\u201d And everyone was down. I thought he was going to do cartwheels on the phone with me when I said it, and I was genuinely surprised by his reaction, which was like, \u201cI don\u2019t know. I\u2019ve got to think about this.\u201d And I was like, \u201cWell, why don\u2019t you call me back tomorrow and tell me.\u201d (Laughs<\/em>.) I was like, \u201cWeird.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tI think it took him two days to call me back, but that\u2019s a testimony to how thoughtful Drew is. He respected the, dare I say, enormity of the job. It is a job that requires a hundred percent of you and a hundred percent of your time for over a year, at least. And not everybody is down to be like, \u201cYeah, I\u2019ll put my entire life on pause to do this thing that is going to drain me.\u201d So I get the hesitation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tDo you see yourself creating your own banner and being a shepherd for more movies<\/a> that other people direct? Do you see yourself going further down that producorial path?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s not a huge priority for me, only because making movies is just so demanding. I am a person where my battery dries up real fast. I like to play video game<\/a>s. I like to unwind. I like to have me time. That\u2019s so precious to me right now, and the idea of producing a lot of stuff \u2014 and sapping all of that free time \u2014\u00a0is not appealing. So, no, it\u2019s just selfish. I would rather be monastic about this and just make movies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tDecades from now, when you\u2019re reminiscing about the making of <\/strong>Weapons<\/em><\/strong>, what day will you likely recall first?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThe three days the children were ripping Gladys apart. It was just devastatingly stressful and chaotic. When I\u2019m making a movie, I feel very in control at all times. So I felt like I was in complete control of what was on camera, except for the kids ripping apart Gladys. I felt like I was drowning, and I was like, \u201cJust shoot!\u201d\u00a0 I had two cameras going, I had kids screaming and I couldn\u2019t tell who was shooting what. I couldn\u2019t communicate. It was awful. We had to shoot it three times, but I think we got it. I\u2019m really happy with it. It was just incredibly stressful, so that\u2019s what\u2019s seared in my brain.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t***
Weapons is now available on digital ahead of its 4K UHD release on Oct. 14.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This story contains spoilers for Weapons.] Zach Cregger was far from home throughout Weapons\u2019 storybook run this past summer. The writer-director was 6,000 miles away in Prague, prepping his next film, Resident Evil, which found itself in a hard-fought bidding war just like Weapons did in 2023. When the dust settled on New Line\/Warners\u2019 $38…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":691978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rev-1-WPN-22250_High_Res_JPEG-H-2025.jpg?w=1296&h=730&crop=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[139193,34726,154247,35044,158842,63376,133280],"class_list":["post-691977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa","tag-barbarian","tag-bill-hader","tag-companion","tag-resident-evil","tag-trevor-moore","tag-weapons","tag-zach-cregger"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=691977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/691978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=691977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=691977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=691977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}