Weapons: This actor was the only one who stayed through the movie’s major recast, here's why

Weapons is everywhere these days. And it deserves to be. People are calling it one of the best horror movies in recent times. It’s full of layers of witchcraft, grief, and symbolism almost everywhere. The movie is such that if you start pulling at one thread, you’ll uncover something even deeper. Every time you think you’ve seen the bottom of it, you dive again and find it’s deeper and stranger.

Weapons is gripping because of how smartly it handles its themes. It looks like horror, but it also deals with loss, secrets, and ignorance. The elements of witchcraft feels thematic as well. It’s one of those movies you could watch a second time just to catch the symbols you glossed over.

James is such a deceptively small character at first. Played by Austin Abrams, he seems like he’s just barely surviving. We first meet him when Paul spots him trying to steal. Little did we know, this character would eventually become the one who’d find the missing children.

Weapons: James was the only original cast member who stayed

When the big recast for Weapons happened, most of the original cast said their goodbyes and moved on to other projects. Pedro Pascal was one of them. He had been set to play the role Josh Brolin eventually took on. But the strike put the film on pause, and schedules got messy. By the time things got rolling again, the original lineup had thinned out. Except for one person, Austin Abrams.

Abrams didn’t just stick around because of convenience. He genuinely wanted to be part of Weapons. In his interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he shared:

"I just wanted to do Weapons. When I first saw Barbarian in the theaters, I didn't really know what I was walking into. I didn't know about Zach. I didn't know about the movie at all. I just thought it was going to be a regular horror movie, and I wasn't super excited going into it. But my friend wanted to go, and I was like, "Sure, I'll go." So I knew nothing about the movie, and when I saw the first shot, I was like, "Okay, that's kind of sick." The camera went through the main character's [Georgina Campbell's Tess] car window. And when it cut to Justin Long [to begin its second act], I immediately thought, "Whoever the f**k made this movie, I f*****g love this person." I then looked over at my friend and was like, "Holy s**t." We couldn't even sit next to each other because the theater was so packed. So when I got out of the theater, I was like, "I need to figure out how to meet this guy and work with this guy." And it's so rare that it actually happens. But I just thought he was so gutsy, and it was so refreshing to experience. Weapons then came together, and I only want to work on things that I want to work on."

That passion pretty much explains why Abrams is the last man standing from the original roster. Everyone else’s schedules pulled them in different directions after the Hollywood strike delayed filming. But he stayed put.

Now, Weapons is getting critical praise as well as fan love. So Abrams is right where he is supposed to be - one of the year’s most talked about horror releases.

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