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\u201cIt\u2019s a tough time for Southern California,\u201d Amy Madigan<\/a> said on Zoom. <\/p>\n She and her husband Ed Harris had successfully quenched eight or nine \u201creally bad\u201d Malibu fires over the decades at their sprawling hilltop Malibu ranch, complete with horses and extensive gardens. But this year\u2019s inferno \u201cwas unlike anything we\u2019ve ever been through. We have a big, giant pool and legit fire hoses, legit generator, and it was just not to be. Southern California is trying to recover. It\u2019s scarred. It\u2019s just too much.\u201d The couple is now rebuilding.<\/p>\n But Madigan has other things to be thankful for. Zach Cregger told himself not to hire the character actress before their first meeting on \u201cWeapons<\/a>,\u201d and at the end, offered her the gig to play the film<\/a>\u2018s villain, Aunt Gladys. Madigan had admired Cregger\u2019s breakout indie \u201cBarbarian,\u201d his first horror film as a director coming out of the comedy troupe The Whitest Kids U\u2019 Know.<\/p>\n \u201cHe always has great characters,\u201d she said. \u201cWe sat down, and he volunteered personal information about him as a boy<\/a> and the situation with alcohol in the family, which turned into certain things in the \u2018Weapons<\/a>\u2018 script. Someone was saying, \u2018This is who I am. This is what happened to me. I\u2019ve used my art to do it.’\u201d<\/p>\n Her wild and wily performance as Gladys could land Madigan her first Oscar nomination for Supporting Actress since 1985, when she earned the only Oscar nomination for \u201cTwice in a Lifetime,\u201d as Gene Hackman\u2019s daughter. She also earned early kudos as Kevin Costner\u2019s stalwart wife in \u201cField of Dreams.\u201d \u201cIt still stands up, doesn\u2019t it?\u201d she said. \u201cI have people come up to me in the airport, and they\u2019re always men, and they say, \u2018Hey, I\u2019d really like to have a wife like you.\u2019 And I say, \u2018Yeah, so would I, you know where one is?’\u201d<\/p>\n Aunt Gladys was crystal clear to Madigan right off the page. And she loved her [spoiler alert], even if she kidnaps a town full of children and drains their lifeblood to survive. Madigan had no idea she would capture the zeitgeist and inspire Halloween costumes. In Cregger\u2019s script, \u201cGladys is rather eccentric. She wears loud colors, and her makeup is blatantly out there,\u201d said Madigan. \u201cHe was overseeing everything and had ideas, of course, but we all tried a lot of different things. We had to make sure that when you saw Gladys, you were like, \u2018Whoa.\u2019 If you saw her walking down the street, you definitely turn around.\u201d<\/p>\n Creating Gladys was a team effort, building from the ground up. It took time, trial, and error. Wig designer Melizah Anguiano Wheat \u201ctried on every color of red, and different designs,\u201d said Madigan. \u201cEach time we put them on, we had to match it up with makeup. Leo Satkovich did the makeup, which was a long, arduous process, because we had to do layers and layers. Jason Collins did the designs for all the special effects. We tried things, and then we didn\u2019t like it. We had to wipe everything off, especially for the look where I\u2019m quite ill, not doing well, and I\u2019m bald and have these little strands of hair. It took a long time to figure that out. How should the hair be? How much hair should it be? Get rid of my eyebrows, get rid of my teeth.\u201d<\/p>\n Costume Designer Trish Somerville helped with Gladys\u2019 clothes. \u201cShe is careful about her costumes,\u201d said Madigan. \u201cWhen she does have to go out, they\u2019re not costumes to her. That\u2019s her wardrobe. She\u2019s particular about how she matches things. How she puts the broach on, her handbag. So she takes pride in it. She thinks she looks great. I think she looks great. So somebody else could argue against it. Once you have that all in place, it feels so good.\u201d<\/p>\n While Madigan saw Gladys clearly in her mind\u2019s eye, she listened to input from Cregger and others. \u201cZach and I had many conversations working with the looks teams,\u201d she said. \u201cI would take things in, things I didn\u2019t want to take in, I discarded. She\u2019s a confident woman; she\u2019s doing everything she needs to do to make sure that she reaches the next day. Her back is against the wall. She was in desperate circumstances, and it was a heightened way to deal with something which I thought was rather unique. Yes, she is scary. She can turn on you, and you don\u2019t want that to happen. But the movie is funny. Zach is smart because he melded those two things. But when she\u2019s bad, she\u2019s really bad.\u201d<\/p>\n Madigan loves physical comedy. She did the running. But she let the stunt person get tackled by the children. Then, they flipped her over, and the kids got to jump on her back. \u201cThat Keystone Cops escapade at the end where I run,\u201d she said, \u201cwe did that over a series of days. \u2018Let\u2019s shoot you blasting through this door in this location,\u2019 and it was fun. And, of course, I had a stunt person. And they said, \u2018Well, she\u2019s right here.\u2019 I was 74, I got a bum knee, and whatever else. Too many lines on your face, your neck hangs down, all that shit. The producers were a little nervous about it: \u2018Suppose I smacked into something and cut my head open? Suppose I broke something?\u2019 Fair enough. I just looked at Zach, and I said, \u2018No, I\u2019m doing it.’\u201d<\/p>\n There are elements of Gladys in Madigan. It\u2019s tough to argue with her when she wants something. Madigan developed tenacity as a rising actress in the business. \u201cA lot of that is a shield,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s protection, because when I was coming up, a long time ago, none of these things were in place to protect young women in any way, shape or form, mentally, physically, emotionally. You didn\u2019t bring up stuff, you didn\u2019t talk about stuff. There\u2019s no HR. You could go complain to somebody, and they would be, \u2018Shut up.\u2019 So you have to take on a fierceness in that way. And of course, we now have a million stories, and it goes on and on.\u201d<\/p>\n The casting couch was a real threat for actresses. \u201c\u2018Oh, we\u2019re over at the Peninsula Hotel. Come on and meet in that room there,’\u201d she said. \u201cYou\u2019d be like, \u2018What? I\u2019m going to what?\u2019 Those things still do go on, but it\u2019s not as prevalent. I love when people say, \u2018We had no idea.\u2019 And you knew that was bullshit when you heard it 15 years ago, 40 years ago, the powers that be can\u2019t hide behind that anymore. I guess if you\u2019re the president, you can call a reporter, \u2018Shut up, piggy.\u2019 You can say that.\u201d<\/p>\n You\u2019d think that Madigan would be feeling renewed interest right now. \u201cI would say no to that,\u201d she said. \u201cI haven\u2019t got a plethora of scripts or the phone is ringing off the hook to Anonymous Content. Until something\u2019s real, it\u2019s not real. That is part and parcel of what this business is. If it can provide me an opportunity to work on something good, that would be so welcome, because those opportunities don\u2019t happen that often for a lot of women, and certainly a lot of older women.\u201d<\/p>\n As older actors like her husband Ed Harris grow into being presidents and commanders and powerful men, somehow that doesn\u2019t happen with women the same way. To fight ageism, said Madigan, \u201cit\u2019s important to have female writers and women directors who realize that we can make something with women being in most of the parts in the film, and it revolves around them, and people will go see it. It\u2019s not as bad as it used to be.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWeapons\u201d is one of a string of sleeper hits ($269 million worldwide) from Warner Bros. this year. Now the legacy studio is for sale. <\/p>\n \u201cI feel saddened by it, because you know the history of that place and how many great directors and writers and actors and craftsmen came through there,\u201d said Madigan. \u201cEverything is taken over by these giant corporations, and it\u2019s usually a titular head. We know who those people are, and they\u2019re looking at their bottom line, and they\u2019re looking down the road at how they can get the largest reach. As long as movies are made, you hope that they pay attention to other kinds of films, as opposed to the larger superhero blockbusters. I have no problem with those movies, and people love to go to them, but there\u2019s a lot of different movies out there, and I don\u2019t know if [the new owners] will fulfill that or not.\u201d<\/p>\n Next up: Harris and Madigan have been trying to get an indie movie off the ground for years. One script was ready to shoot on the East Coast, but the money fell out. \u201cIt was a true independent film,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was a personal, emotional film. Ed has a project of his own that he\u2019s been trying to do, it\u2019s that same situation. You can put in a chunk of money yourself, but then you have to get all the other investors.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"YouTube](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2005738778.jpg\")
<\/a> ![\"Jay](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/793_Jay_Kelly_Screenshot_Urv2.jpg\")
<\/a> <\/p>\n![\"Weapons\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/WPN212A_00435205.jpg\")
\u2018Weapons\u2019Warner Bros.<\/p>\n![\"'Weapons'\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Unknown.jpeg\")
\u2018Weapons\u2019Warner Bros.<\/p>\n![\"FIELD](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Field-of-Dreams.jpg\")
\u2018Field of Dreams\u2019\u00a9Universal\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n![\"Ed](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/shutterstock_9883792ci.jpg\")
Ed Harris and Amy Madigan 70th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2018Chelsea Lauren\/REX\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n