Barbarian director Zach Cregger has explained why Pedro Pascal had to be replaced in his new film Weapons.
The hugely prolific actor was originally cast in the newly-released horror, about 17 children from the same classroom who mysteriously disappear on the same night, alongside Presumed Innocent’s Renate Reinsve, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’s Tom Burke and fellow MCU star Brian Tyree Henry.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Cregger explained why all of them were replaced by other actors.
“I had a whole different cast for this movie,” he said.
“And then we had the strike, and then Pedro Pascal’s schedule threw us into turmoil. I had to recast the entire movie.”
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He continued: “This is what happens, right? The strikes delayed us, and then when you delay, people’s schedules get conflicts, and then you’re back at square one.
“I bear no ill will towards anybody. We just kept getting delayed and delayed. It’s like a domino effect. So I had to start over again.”
Josh Brolin stepped in to replace Pascal, while his Fantastic Four: First Steps co-star Julie Garner replaced Reinsve, and Alden Ehrenreich and Benedict Wong took over Burke and Henry’s respective roles.
Warner Bros.
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The director recalls a Zoom chat with Garner, and knew “within like three minutes” that she was the perfect choice.
“Just the way she’d already read the script and the way she talked about the character, it was like, ‘This is what I’ve been looking for,'” he said.
“I’d been looking for someone who could smell the essence of this and knew exactly how to come in. I think Julia’s smarter than I am, so I knew it was gonna be in good hands with her.”
Austin Abrams was another actor who was cast before the strikes, but actually stuck with the film through all the changes.
“He hung tough with me,” Cregger said. “That’s my dude right there.”
Weapons is out in cinemas now.
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Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he’s covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I’m a Fish.