Pedro Pascal will be starring in the new film Weapons, from Barbarian director Zach Cregger. Weapons has already made headlines after it reportedly sparked a bidding war early in 2023 (with New Line Cinema winning out). Weapons will follow Cregger’s successful run with Barbarian, which came out of nowhere in September and went on to be a major cult hit, purely on word-of-mouth. Barbarian only earned $45 million at the box office, but that was ten times what it cost, and the home video/streaming release quickly boosted Cregger’s profile amongst horror fans and industry figures, alike. Clearly, the latter part is true if Pedro Pascal is making it a project on his slate.
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THR reports that Weapons is looking at a fall 2023 date to start shooting; no details about Pedro Pascal’s character are being given.
The initial reporting about Weapons doesn’t help clarify things all that much. The film was described as being “a multi and inter-related story horror epic that tonally is in the vein of Magnolia, the 1999 actor-crammed showcase from filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson.”
That opaque synopsis suggests that Weapons could have many additional big-name stars to announce, alongside Pedro Pascal. It also seems that once again Cregger is riding a dark horse project that could blossom into a full-fledged blockbuster horror release on this sophomore effort…
Pedro Pascal has had a landmark year in 2023, leading the zeitgeist for TV entertainment, thanks to HBO’s acclaimed video game adaptation The Last of Us, Disney/Lucasfilm’s The Mandalorian Season 3 – not to mention pop-culture fame thanks to TikTok and other social media platforms anointing the actor as the current sex symbol for daddy types (don’t ask). Pascal has had a few film roles in recent years – most notably as DC villain Maxwell Lord in Wonder Woman 1984. He’s also done some comedic satires of Hollywood and fame, including Judd Apatow’s COVID-era movie-making send-up The Bubble, and Nicolas Cage’s meta-comedy The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. As of late, Pascal has been cast in Gladiator 2, and even just won an MTV Movie Award for The Last of Us.
Based on Pascal’s trend of smaller or supporting film roles (plus his demanding TV filming schedule) it’s hard to measure just how much he’ll have to do in Cregger’s Weapons. Either way, it’s a win-win: Pedro Pascal is a name that will definitely put eyes on the film, and Pascal scoring any amount of horror movie cred is good for expanding his range of roles.
Weapons is in production at New Line. Barbarian and The Last of Us are streaming on HBO Max. The Mandalorian can be streamed on Disney+.
Source: THR
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