- 5 months ago
Weapons have played a major role in shaping history, wars, and even pop culture. But there are some insane behind-the-scenes facts about how they were designed, used, and remembered that most people don’t know. ⚔️🔫
In this countdown, we uncover the Top 10 craziest and most surprising facts about weapons, from historical innovations to hidden stories that changed the course of history.
📜 This video is created for educational and historical purposes — exploring fascinating insights behind some of the most famous weapons ever made.
👉 Which weapon fact surprised you the most? Share your thoughts in the comments!
🔔 Subscribe to WatchMojo.World for more history, pop culture, and educational countdowns.
In this countdown, we uncover the Top 10 craziest and most surprising facts about weapons, from historical innovations to hidden stories that changed the course of history.
📜 This video is created for educational and historical purposes — exploring fascinating insights behind some of the most famous weapons ever made.
👉 Which weapon fact surprised you the most? Share your thoughts in the comments!
🔔 Subscribe to WatchMojo.World for more history, pop culture, and educational countdowns.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00This is a true story.
00:01Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at fascinating facts about Zach Kreger's weapons.
00:07We'll need to touch upon a few spoilers, but we'll avoid talking about the ending.
00:11We have a lot of emotional parents here.
00:15Number 10. Magnolia Parallels.
00:18Weapons is told from multiple perspectives, echoing two of Zach Kreger's creative inspirations.
00:23I don't understand at all.
00:25One was Jennifer Egan's Pulitzer Prize-winning episodic novel A Visit from the Goon Squad.
00:30The other was Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia, which is also an ensemble piece with interconnecting stories about people who are emotionally lost.
00:38I have a situation, a situation that's just come up that's really pretty serious, and I don't know who to talk to or what I should do, but maybe you could put me in touch with somebody if I explain myself.
00:49While Magnolia isn't a horror film, it is an epic, which Kreger aimed to produce.
00:54Kreger admired how Magnolia was, quote, totally proud to be an epic movie and to be a little bit messy.
01:00And I cheated on her over and over and over again, because I wanted her to be a man, and I didn't want her to be a woman, you know.
01:15He views Weapons as, quote, an ancestor to Magnolia, which gave him license to, quote, think differently while writing it.
01:22Alden Ehrenreich's character is a direct homage to John C. Reilly, who similarly played a bumbling cop with a mustache in Magnolia.
01:30How much did you pay me for my health?
01:32I think it's a little more complicated than that, little man.
01:34Number 9. Fungi Foreshadowing
01:36Before Aunt Gladys pays a visit, Marcus and his husband sit down to a scrumptious hot dog supper that'll sadly go uneaten.
01:47We're making hot dogs.
01:49Hot dogs?
01:50The two are also watching a documentary exploring Cordyceps fungus, which you might have learned about through The Last of Us.
01:56Yes, that's the usual response. Fungi seem harmless enough.
02:01Many species know otherwise, because there are some fungi who seek not to kill, but to control.
02:08Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, also known as zombie ant fungus, causes the insect to lose control of their muscles.
02:14It forces her to clamp down in a death bite.
02:18Although it manipulates their movements, the fungus doesn't control their brain, per se, suggesting that the ants are still aware of their surroundings.
02:26This mirrors what happens to Marcus, as he's suddenly turned into a puppet parasite.
02:31It's unclear if Marcus is at all conscious while under this spell.
02:35If he is, his actions are even more devastating, with his final destination providing a release.
02:41Number 8. Funny Moments Were Cut
02:43Despite the grim subject matter, the film's wild sense of humor caught numerous viewers off guard.
02:48Of course, it's less surprising knowing that Zack Kreger previously made Barbarian, and was a co-founder of The Whitest Kids You Know.
03:00I want you to do it again, and I want you to do it, uh, happier, and with your mouth open.
03:08What?
03:09Yeah, happier and with your mouth open, okay?
03:10While Kreger sought to blend genres, he understood that the comedy shouldn't overshadow the horror,
03:16especially if certain comedic moments didn't land the way he expected.
03:19Kreger said, quote,
03:20There's a lot of jokes that didn't make it into the movie that I thought were gonna be so funny.
03:24And then we did a test screening, and nobody laughed, and I'm like, okay, it's gotta go.
03:29According to Kreger, there aren't many deleted scenes,
03:32just a few moments that slowed the pacing down and weren't necessary.
03:35Number 7. The Significance of 2.17
03:39When the clock struck 2.17 a.m., 17 children got out of bed, left their homes, and disappeared.
03:46And they never came back.
03:50Although Kreger claims 2.17 is a random number, there is an eerie parallel to the New Testament.
03:56One of the missing children is named Matthew.
03:58In the Gospel of Matthew, the 17th verse in the second chapter discusses the massacre of the innocents.
04:04Kill me.
04:05Where did you go?
04:06While not exactly the same, a massacre involving innocents does occur.
04:10In addition to Matthew 2.17, the number could be a reference to The Shining,
04:14which Kreger cited as one of his inspirations.
04:17Maybe it was about Danny.
04:23Maybe it was about him.
04:25Although changed to Room 237 for Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation,
04:29true Shining fans know the original number in Stephen King's novel was 2.17.
04:33This can't be a coincidence, right?
04:36Number 6. Amy Madigan was cast on the spot.
04:39Amy Madigan might have seemed like an unusual choice to play Aunt Gladys,
04:43but this was among the easiest roles to cast.
04:45Kreger met Madigan for the first time over lunch.
04:55On his way to the meeting, Kreger told himself not to offer her the role up front.
05:00Kreger thankfully went against his initial judgment,
05:02telling her between breadsticks and the main course,
05:05Although much about Gladys remains a mystery,
05:10Kreger presented Madigan with two backstories for the character.
05:17In one, Gladys is an ill woman who turns to dark magic for self-preservation.
05:22In the other, she's a creature disguising herself as human.
05:25Kreger asked Madigan to choose between these origin stories.
05:29She didn't tell him which, however.
05:30Number 5. Zach Kreger didn't start with an ending.
05:37Weapons draws us in with a haunting question,
05:39keeping us guessing every step of the way.
05:41The truth is that I want an answer just as bad as all of you.
05:47Just as we didn't know where the story is going,
05:49neither did Kreger.
05:50I like to just kind of write and not know anything.
05:52When Kreger began writing,
05:54he knew the story would revolve around a classroom of children
05:56who ran away in the middle of the night.
05:58He had no idea where the kids went, however.
06:01Kreger admits that he's written his fair share of scripts
06:03that started with a gripping hook,
06:05but he couldn't figure out how to stick the landing.
06:08Come on, who am I looking at?
06:10With weapons, the answer came to him about halfway through writing.
06:14Barbarian went through a similar evolution.
06:16While Kreger had the setup figured out,
06:18it wasn't until later in the creative process
06:20that the second act twist materialized.
06:23Is someone staying here at the moment?
06:25I don't think so.
06:27Well, someone's here.
06:28Number four.
06:29Jordan Peele supposedly fired people over it.
06:32After the success of Barbarian,
06:33studios were eager to pick up Kreger's next project.
06:37New Line Cinema and parent company Warner Brothers
06:39emerged victorious from the bidding war.
06:41Although Netflix offered more money up front,
06:43New Line guaranteed a theatrical release.
06:46Plus, New Line still made a lucrative offer,
06:48entailing a $38 million budget
06:50with $10 million going to Kreger.
06:52Weapons also caught the eye of Jordan Peele,
06:55whose Monkey Pop Productions
06:56currently has an exclusive agreement with Universal,
06:59which reportedly offered $7 million less
07:02than what New Line was willing to pay.
07:04And do you know why?
07:06It wasn't long after this
07:08that Peele cut ties with his managers,
07:10Peter Principato and Joel Zadak.
07:12Principato also manages Kreger,
07:14feeding into the rumor that Peele was, quote,
07:16pissed about losing to New Line.
07:18I think it's best if you keep some distance from this place.
07:21Number three, Tragic Inspirations.
07:23Weapons explores some disturbing territory,
07:26especially considering several real-world inspirations.
07:29The distinct way the children run from their houses
07:32mimics Phan Thi Kim Phuc,
07:33aka the napalm girl from the historic photo
07:36taken during the Vietnam War.
07:37Matthew, where are you?
07:39Other ideas stemmed from Kreger's experiences.
07:42Kreger, whose father died from cirrhosis,
07:44knows what it's like to live with a parent
07:46who has a substance use disorder.
07:48This made the final act, quote,
07:49autobiographical,
07:51as a foreign entity infects Alex's home,
07:53suddenly making him the caregiver to his parents.
07:56It's much more about my own autobiographical stuff
07:59than looking outward.
08:00It's a looking inward movie.
08:02The film's genesis also derived
08:03from the loss of Kreger's friend Trevor Moore,
08:06a fellow Whitest Kids You Know alumnus.
08:08While Kreger doesn't view weapons
08:10as a meditation on grief,
08:11writing the script was his way of coping.
08:14Where do you see that I don't?
08:15Number two, gun in the sky meaning,
08:18or lack thereof.
08:19Weapons leave several questions up in the air,
08:22one quite literally.
08:23We're talking about 17 kids in one classroom.
08:27During a surreal sequence,
08:29Josh Brolin's archer envisions a giant gun
08:31floating above a house.
08:32To Kreger,
08:33this is one of the most important images in the film.
08:36As such, you would think Kreger would have
08:38a long-winded explanation
08:39about the assault weapon's purpose.
08:41I've never seen anything like that.
08:43Speaking with variety, though,
08:44Kreger revealed that part of what he loves
08:46about this scene
08:47is that he doesn't understand it himself.
08:49While Kreger has a few ideas
08:50of what the gun might represent,
08:52he doesn't have, quote,
08:53the right answer.
08:54Kreger seems content
08:55letting viewers draw their conclusions.
08:57Some might argue the film
08:58is a metaphor for gun violence in suburbia.
09:01Although, as we see,
09:02firearms aren't the only deadly weapons.
09:04The message is loud and clear.
09:06I'm the problem.
09:07Got it.
09:08You know what?
09:08I think that's the first honest thing
09:10I've heard you say.
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09:26Number one.
09:28It almost had a completely different cast.
09:30As well-assembled as the cast here is,
09:32Kreger originally had several other actors lined up.
09:36I just want to say...
09:38The initial cast included
09:39Pedro Pascal as Archer,
09:41Renata Reinsva as Justine,
09:43Tom Burke as Paul,
09:44and Brian Tyree Henry as Marcus.
09:46Then the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes hit,
09:49shaking up some schedules.
09:51Help me!
09:51Please!
09:52Please!
09:52By the time the strikes were resolved,
09:54Kreger managed to retain a few actors
09:56like Austin Abrams and June Diane Raphael.
09:58The principal players had to be recast, though,
10:01most notably Pascal,
10:02who landed the lead
10:03in The Fantastic Four First Steps.
10:05Get us out of here, Ben!
10:07Hold on!
10:08Ironically,
10:09that film also starred Julia Garner,
10:11who still found time
10:12to substitute Reinsva as Justine.
10:14Meanwhile,
10:15Josh Brolin took over for Pascal,
10:17Alden Ehrenreich replaced Burke,
10:18and Benedict Wong filled in for Henry.
10:24Do you have any interesting facts about weapons?
10:27Let us know in the comments.
10:27This is where the story really starts.
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