A problem shared is a problem halved, and in the case of Zach Cregger's nail-biting script for Weapons, he turned to a comedy icon and Emmy-nominated actor for some words of wisdom. The result led to one of the smartest moves in his recent horror movie, which fleshed out one of its key characters in a story about missing kids and unwanted visits from aunts you'd rather not be related to.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Cregger revealed that he had a sit-down with Barry co-creator, Bill Hader, who chimed in with a suggestion regarding Alex (Cary Christopher), the only class member who didn't go missing after seventeen students disappeared one night.
"Bill Hader is a buddy of mine. We would talk about the script, and I think it was his idea. He was like, 'You should figure out a way to implicate [Alex] so he feels implicated,'" Cregger explained. "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, 'That would do it.'”
It wasn't always handwritten names that were planned to get nabbed, though, as Cregger also revealed he had a suggestion from someone who spent every day in that environment and came up with a great idea. The only issue was timing.
"I was talking to a teacher friend of mine, and I was like, 'Well, how could a kid come home with something from every other kid?' And she was like, 'Valentine’s Day.' And I was like, 'Brilliant!' However, we were shooting in the dead of summer, and the movie would never look like February. So that’s why I was like, 'I’ve got to think of something else.'"
Thankfully, it's through these well-timed conversations that we ended up with the film we have. We can only imagine who he'll be picking the brains of when he gets to work on his upcoming Resident Evil adaptation. Here's hoping whatever he ends up with does the job, and who knows, it could end up on our list of the best video games ever, which you can see here.
