Cregger Credits Fincher’s Creative Mentorship in Weapons’ Visual and Tonal Precision
Josh Brolin shared a story that director Zach Cregger had with David Fincher. After watching an early cut, Fincher told Cregger that he had very few notes, and that Brolin’s comedic WTF moment “the greatest line in R-rated history.”
“You have to give them pause… you have to redirect them, and there’s not better way to do that then humour.”
Brolin mused that on Barbarian, Cregger’s horror/comedy tone left him almost confused, wondering “Is this funny? Is this bad? Is this scary? Because I’m scared, and I’m laughing, but am I supposed to?” but added that he thinks Cregger has refined it on Weapons and that there’s no questioning it now.
And with Weapons grossing $211 million globally on a $38 million budget, it’s one of the breakout hits of 2025. There’s not doubt that there’s truth to that. After discussing Fincher’s bouyant praise, Brolin and McCarthy went on to discuss some of the vagueries of the film, like “the gun” which he said was up to interpretation but that:
“”The gun”, to me, is school shootings.”
The rest of the conversation ranged from Jack Nicholson as an acting inspiration, Jonah Hex, and his famous audition for No Country For Old Men that was shot by Tarantino but did not land him the role. Brolin recalls dragging a cheap cowboy hat on the road before his meeting with the Coen brothers to sell his role as an everyman. Listen to all of it here:
