Weapons star Austin Abrams reveals how his agent ruined movie's big twist
The 28-year-old actor plays drug addict James in Zach Cregger's new horror blockbuster, and he has admitted the movie's big twist - which involves witchcraft being at the heart of the story - was ruined for him before he had a chance to sit down with the story.
He told The Hollywood Reporter: "Well, my freaking agent had spoiled it. I love him, but that was annoying. [Laughs]
"I still loved the script. I read it in one go in the middle of the night when I should have been sleeping.
"I just couldn't stop reading it, which is insane and how it's been with all of Zach's scripts. I just love them."
Abrams - who will reunite with Cregger on his new Resident Evil movie - praised the way the filmmaker makes his scripts feel "fresh".
He added: "I don't know what it is, really. I mean, it's Zach, but it's the sharpness of the dialogue and the action. They keep feeling fresh, and they keep going into new territory."
In Weapons - which also stars Julia Garner, June Diane Raphael, Alden Ehrenreich and Josh Brolin - 17 third-grade students vanish from their homes in the dead of night, triggering a tense mystery told through multiple perspectives that must unravel the sinister force behind their disappearance.
Despite knowing the twist going in, Abrams didn't know how things would play out.
He said: "Yeah, I knew something [witchy] was going on, for sure, but I didn't know how the story was going to be told or anything like that.
"I didn't really know all of those dynamics, so I still unveiled a lot."
Meanwhile, a lot of fans have taken their own meaning from the film, but even Cregger himself isn't so sure.
Abrams explained: "Zach has talked about it in a sense that even he doesn't know what a lot of it means.
"A lot of it is deep, unconscious, inner-working stuff. What does the [AR-15] rifle that just pops up in Archer's [Brolin] dream mean?
"I don't really know. I probably had a take a year ago [during filming], but I've been so focused on other things since then that I can't give you a great interpretation right now."
Abrams heaped praise on the way the writer and director is able to "make that unconscious stuff work".
He added: "It's all deep unconscious stuff that just floods out of Zach, and he has the skill to make that unconscious stuff work, which might be why his work is so strong and impactful.
"I know that each different character represents a part of himself, but beyond that, I don't know.
"I just know that I love the story, even if I don't have a real solid interpretation of it, at least not at this moment."
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