‘Weapons’ Casts Julia Garner Opposite Josh Brolin

Zach Cregger’s latest horror flick Weapons just added a more firepower to its cast with an Emmy-winning star. After swapping out Pedro Pascal for Josh Brolin amid scheduling conflicts around Fantastic Four, Collider can confirm that Julia Garner is slated to join the much-anticipated and heavily guarded film by the breakout Barbarian director. We can also reveal that filming is slated to take place starting in May in Atlanta and run throughout June and July.

Initially slated to start production late in 2023, Weapons was one of several projects pushed back by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes last year. The announcement of filming beginning soon, along with its new star, means that things are heating up quickly for the film and more announcements could be coming soon. Although the plot has been kept tightly under wraps, the film has been frequently compared to the 1999 Paul Thomas Anderson film Magnolia which featured a hefty ensemble cast playing interrelated characters following their own interconnecting stories in the San Fernando Valley. The multistory epic has also been said to follow the disappearance of high schoolers in a small town, per The Hollywood Reporter.

In addition to Cregger, who is writing the script in addition to directing, the feature boasts much of the same team involved in the creation of Barbarian, including Vertigo’s Roy Lee and BoulderLight Pictures’ J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules. Miri Yoon also joined the team through the Vertigo banner this time around. Weapons will be a notable turn for Brolin, as it’s his first role in the horror genre and comes off another huge success for him in Dune: Part Two. For Cregger, it’s a chance to cement his place among the macabre after releasing Barbarianto critical acclaim and the #1 spot at the box office in its debut.

Where Has Garner Appeared Before?

This won’t be the only horror film on the docket for Garner. Before being cast in Weapons, the Inventing Anna star was lined up to appear in 2025’s Wolf Man, which hails from Insidious mastermind Leigh Whanell and also stars Christopher Abbott as Larry Talbot, and is set for the Paramount psychological thriller Apartment 7A. Coincidentally, she also recently landed a spot opposite Cregger’s former lead Pascal in Fantastic Fouras the Silver Surfer. Garner was most recently seen opposite Jessica Henwick in Kitty Green’s unsettling thriller The Royal Hotel and is perhaps best known for her three-time Emmy-winning role in Ozark. Her catalog has ballooned significantly in recent years, however, with The Assistant, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, and Modern Love among her credits.

Weaponsbegins filming in Atlanta next month. There’s currently no release date, but it might not be long as the project has been a high priority for New Line. Stay tuned here at Collider for more on Cregger’s latest as it comes out.

Weapons

Director

Zach Cregger

Writers

Zach Cregger