Josh Brolin is in negotiations to star in Weapons, the New Line horror thriller from Barbarian filmmaker Zach Cregger.
The feature is Cregger’s highly anticipated Barbarian follow-up and was to have shot last year but the dual writers and actors strikes caused the movie to push its initial fall 2023 start of production. That caused a conflict with the project’s previous star, Pedro Pascal, whose schedule ran up against his commitment to Fantastic Four, which is shooting this summer.
Cregger wrote the top secret script for Weapons, which is described as an interrelated, multistory horror epic that tonally is in the vein of Magnolia, the 1999 actor-crammed showcase from filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson.
The project is also a reunion of the Barbarian producing team. Cregger is producing along with Roy Lee of Vertigo and J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules of BoulderLight Pictures. Vertigo’s Miri Yoon also produces.
If a deal makes, it will be a coup for the production. Brolin is known to be choosy about projects and directors, and while he has done sci-fi and comic book movies, has never done a horror movie.
The actor next appears in Denis Villeneuve’s star-packed sci-fi extravaganza Dune: Part Two, where he reprises his role of war master Gurney Halleck. Warner Bros. and Legendary open the movie March 1. He also stars in Amazon’s neo-Western sci-fi series Outer Range whose new season debuts in May. In addition to acting in the series, Brolin is exec producing and this season even directing an episode or two.
Brolin is repped by CAA and Johnson Shapiro.