Weapons Director Reveals Real Life Inspirations for Aunt Gladys’ Magic (You Can Find Them Easily)

Like 2022’s Barbarian, director Zach Cregger’s Weapons was shrouded in mystery before it premiered. The tone and secrecy around it only made it more enticing for fans, not to mention the hype of following the Georgina Campbell and Justin Long-starring film. But even when Weapons debuted and its big surprises were revealed to the world, that didn’t kill interest, in fact it only made it more intriguing to genre aficionados. Now a few months removed from the premiere, Cregger is ready to pull back the curtain some on the film. Naturally, spoilers follow.

After Weapons started playing in theaters, it didn’t take long for horror fans to immediately gravitate toward Amy Madigan’s bizarre Aunt Gladys. This surprising antagonist was kept out of the marketing entirely, making her appearances in the movie startling and bizarre. Speaking with ComicBook to promote the upcoming home media release of Weapons, Cregger opened up in a big way about Aunt Galdys, offering some reveals about what it was like working with Amy Madigan in the role but also where the idea for her magical powers came from.

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The Making of Aunt Gladys in Weapons

Cregger confirmed that the physical appearance of Aunt Gladys is pretty well defined in the script for Weapons, but that the personality traits and performance that Madigan brought to the role are where she made the character totally her own. Citing her roles in Gone Baby Gone (“She’s just so precise and so captivating while doing almost nothing”) and also Field of Dreams (“She’s just like a pixie stick”), Cregger felt that the two sides of Aunt Gladys, wild as they are, fit Madigan’s performing styles perfectly.

“I knew I wanted her to kind of oscillate from this super upbeat, chipper, caffeinated kind of aunt to this laser-sharp reptilian psycho,” Cregger said. “So I knew I was going to be playing in those two extremes, but I also had seen enough of Amy’s work to know that she can do both of those things so easily….So I was very excited to meet her and I went to have lunch with her and I could just tell in 10 minutes, I was like, you have to play this role. Like, you have to do this. It was just a blessing.”

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Though a proper Weapons sequel has not been addressed or even hinted at, Cregger has not shied away from the prospect of another movie in this series existing, a prequel all about Aunt Gladys and what her deal is. We asked Cregger about the progress of that project and he had two big teases, one of which is that Madigan would absolutely reprise her role as the character.

“I have the story and that’s kind of all I can say,” Cregger said of the sequel. “I haven’t written the script, but I have the story.”

Is the Magic in Weapons Based on Real Life?

The rules of Aunt Gladys’ magic in Weapons are shown on screen as the rituals are carried out. Though never really spoken aloud, the details are clear for those paying attention. To make things even scarier for viewers though, Cregger took real world inspiration for forming the basis of this

“There’s a book called The Serpent and the Rainbow, which is a nonfiction book about Haitian voodoo,” the writer/director revealed. “And then there’s a song, believe it or not by this band, The Mekons, that’s called “Dancing in the Head,” and it’s instructions on how to create a zombie. And that song I’ve always loved, but I was always excited to just come up with my own kind of magical protocol. And so those two things, I don’t use any of the steps from either of those sources, but they were inspirations.”

For the record, should you so choose to look into them, both of these things are out there in the world.

Weapons is now available on digital and will be available on 4K UHD on October 14.