Josh Brolin says Weapons is the cure for ‘boring’ streaming content

Josh Brolin says Zach Cregger’s new horror film Weapons pushes the genre “to the edge of absurdity” and offers a unique antidote to “boring” streaming content.

Josh Brolin thinks Weapons is the cure for “boring” content from streamers.

The 57-year-old actor stars in director Zach Cregger’s new twisty horror flick, and has now argued Weapons is able to bring the genre to “the edge of absurdity” to ultimately create something fresh and unique away from the offerings of streaming platforms.

Speaking with Collider, Brolin said: “You’re looking for great filmmakers, and you’re hoping that there’s another new good filmmaker out there.

“Right now, with so much content, you’re just watching things on whatever streaming service you’re on, and you’re just going, ‘F***, why is this so boring, man? Why?’ And just go to the next thing. It’s all the same s***.

“And then somebody not only takes the horror genre, but then f**** with it and then does something on the edge of absurdity, and it’s sort of humorous, so it’s keeping you off-[balance] enough for him to have an emotional impact.”

The Avengers: Endgame star added he “really liked” Cregger’s 2022 horror movie Barbarian, though couldn’t quite understand why he enjoyed the film until he spoke with his daughter and his son-in-law to get a younger perspective on the director’s work.

He explained: “You talk to that era of people, and, I mean, he’s like a god to them. And I’m like, ‘Okay, so they’re reacting to something that I may not understand.’

“I would rather not understand it and do business with that guy and understand it better later. And I think that Weapons is a much more refined version of something that he had his finger on the pulse of with Barbarian.”

Brolin revealed he had also “challenged” Cregger, 44, during the making of Weapons because the director is “young” and had previously starred in the sketch comedy show The Whitest Kids U’ Know, which the Dune actor felt was “totally different” to the horror film.

He said of challenging Cregger: “But how can you not, man? He’s a young guy who’s done his sketch comedy, which is something totally different than what he’s doing, and then he did Barbarian.”

Reflecting on how he challenged Cregger, Brolin said he wanted to ensure that the “very strong” director of photography for Weapons didn’t “take over” his vision for the film.

The No Country for Old Men star said: “I just generally challenged him. I think he had a very strong DP, and I had experienced this before where a DP kind of took over. Do you know what I mean? A lot of DPs want to be directors, so they kind of …”

He added: “So, I think that he had a very strong DP, and then what I ended up seeing is a very strongly cinematic, emotionally lit movie, which was good.”

In Weapons – which stars Julia Garner, Austin Abrams, June Diane Raphael, Alden Ehrenreich and Brolin – 17 third-grade students vanish from their homes in the dead of night, triggering a tense mystery told through multiple perspectives that must unravel the sinister force behind their disappearance.