Weapons has become a phenomenal hit, and is widely being considered one of the best horror movies of the year, but would it have been just as good without Alden Ehrenreich‘s Officer Paul Morgan and his mustache? Interestingly, this was a difficult decision in the movie. Ehrenreich recently discussed the process of becoming his character and revealed why they initially did not want Morgan’s mustache in the movie.
Alden Ehrenreich says he almost didn’t get a mustache in Weapons
Those who have watched Weapons will realize just how fitting Alden Ehrenreich’s character looks on screen. But there was a good chance that he could have looked very different.
Speaking to Men’s Health, Ehrenreich said that he and director Zach Cregger were both unsure about giving the police officer his mustache.
“When we first started talking about the character, we were like, ‘There’s no f—— way we’re going to do a mustache. We’re not doing a mustache! It’s super trope-y. Every cop in every movie has one. We’re not doing it,” he said. “Then I sent Zach a picture of me with a mustache, and he was like, ‘Don’t shave the mustache.’ And then I spent time with some cops—and they all had the mustache!”
Ehrenreich continued to elaborate on the steps he took to fit into the role. He said he “put on a little weight for the part, I grew the mustache, and I put on the actual uniform, and it made a big difference. It gets the character into your body in a different way.” He added, “At first, we decided that I didn’t need to wear a bulletproof vest. They’re heavy, and it’s already a hundred degrees in Atlanta, where we shot the movie. But then I said, ‘Let’s do the bulletproof vest.’ I wanted to be carrying it around. I wanted the weight of the world on this guy’s shoulders as much as possible.”
He also spoke in this interview about how he spent a lot of time with the police to get into character.
Weapons is now playing in theaters.
