Julia Garner Admits She “Was Imitating Zach” — How Her Director Became the Secret Inspiration for Weapons
Julia Garner says she unknowingly based parts of her performance in Zach Cregger’s horror film Weapons on Cregger himself, after noticing costume and manner choices in film stills; she also appears this year as Shalla-Bal, the herald of Galactus, in The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
- Garner’s two recent roles and how they differ.
- What Garner realized about her on-set choices for Weapons.
- A short summary of Weapons’s premise and structure.
- Co-star Alden Ehrenreich’s comments on the script and characters.
- The film’s recurring themes noted by the actors.
Garner’s recent roles
Julia Garner appears in two very different projects this year. In The Fantastic Four: First Steps, she plays Shalla-Bal, described as the herald of Galactus. In Weapons, directed by Zach Cregger, she plays Justine, a teacher whose class suffers a major loss when 17 students go missing overnight.
On-set inspiration
While preparing Justine, Garner says she made specific costume and styling choices that later made sense to her. She is quoted as saying: “I really wanted glasses, and I didn’t know why. I just felt this real instinct. And I wanted to wear graphic T-shirts. And then I realized, looking at film stills, standing next to Zach, I was… I just imitating Zach.”
About Weapons
Weapons is structured in fractured segments that converge. The film focuses less on providing straightforward answers about the central tragedy and more on how adults connected to the event react. Additionally, the film includes jump scares and supernatural elements, while allowing actors time to explore their characters’ inner lives.
Plot and structure
The central plot element reported from the film is that 17 children from a classroom go missing in the middle of the night. The narrative moves between multiple characters and timelines, gradually revealing connections between them.
Co-star comments and themes
Alden Ehrenreich, who co-stars in Weapons, described the script and character work. He said: “One of the things that is so special about [Weapons] is that each of these characters is a part of [Zach],” and added, “There are these worlds behind all the things that are getting said, much of which you don’t see in the film.”
On the film’s tone and emotional thread, Ehrenreich said: “There are some elements of the movie that are really sad, in a very beautiful way,” and “I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing to feel right now.” He also commented on recurring character struggles: “People in this are all dealing with some form of addiction,” and, “And I think that that’s in some ways where we’re at with technology.”
Garner summarized another central through-line: “There’s a lot of feelings of being out of control in this movie,” Garner says. “And I think the sense of lack of control, that’s what is also going to resonate with people watching this — a struggle with control.”
