There’s an obsessive intensity to the way Austin Abrams approaches characters. Through a deeply considered and committed process, the actor gravitates towards roles that he can bury into – and broaden. It was this that pulled him to the role of James, the jittery, perpetually-wired addict in Zach Cregger’s box-office hit Weapons. Before he’d even been cast, Abrams met Cregger as James: twitchy, scratchy, and zero eye contact. It bugged Cregger out, until he clocked what Abrams was doing – he’d already built his version of James and wanted to show up – and cast him on the spot.

Such is Abrams’ commitment to a role, even as production delays dragged on and cast members came and went, the actor stayed locked in, and the dedication paid off. James became a cult character, and the relationship between actor and filmmaker deepened to a point that now sees Cregger hand Abrams the lead role in his upcoming take on the Resident Evil franchise. Bloodied, bruised and on the run, Abrams stars as a medical courier trapped at the centre of a feral world, pursued by zombies hungry for spare parts. His following project, Whalefall, doesn’t let up, playing a young diver searching for his dead father’s remains before being swallowed whole by a sperm whale. It’s a role that demands a certain level of immersion, but if you hadn’t gathered, that’s kind of Abrams’ thing.

Zach Cregger: What’s up, dude? What’s this thing hanging above your door?
Austin Abrams: Oh god, it’s the hard-hitting questions already. [both laugh] That’s an art thing I got a long time ago in New Orleans. I like your shirt.

ZC: I got this with you, dude. Remember we went thrift shopping in Atlanta?
AA: Oh, really? That’s sweet.

ZC: It was those three shops kind of together, where there were like 1,000 T-shirts, and you got that Eraserhead shirt. I got it at that shop where every time we went in there was that dude who worked there who was like, “Hey, man, just so you know, we’re having a 60 percent sale today.” [both laugh] Over the course of months he’d say the same thing every time, and you were like, “You can’t be having a sale every day.”
AA: It’s a great pitch, though. [For this in-conversation] I was like, should I go to his house to do this?

ZC: Oh, you think you’re allowed in here, dude? [both laugh] Actually, I kind of like it because I haven’t seen the inside of your house before.
AA: I’ve never done an interview with a friend.

ZC: Well, how does it feel?
AA: It’s very revealing, because it’s like, this guy actually knows a good amount about me. Is this the time that he waits to ask hardball questions? [laughs]

ZC: How fucked up would that be? I just go for the jugular. So, first question: When was the last time you made your parents cry? [both laugh]
AA: I think that was too recently, actually.

ZC: Really?
AA: No, no. [laughs]

ZC: I made my dad cry with joy one time. I’ll go first, shall I? [both laugh] I made him cry out of happiness when I was in my twenties. I had an epiphany that we didn’t have to have a bad relationship, and I called him and was like, “I’d really like to bury the hatchet,” and he cried. Then we never talked again for a few more years after that, so I don’t know if it was good or bad.
AA: Yeah, I’ve seen [my parents] cry out of joy with work stuff sometimes.

ZC: Like in Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark when you get eviscerated by the porn monster.
AA: [laughs] Yeah, out of pure joy.

ZC: Like, [sobbing voice] “I’ve always wanted to see that.” [laughs] All right, dude. What’s up with you these days? You’re not in the throes of anything right now – what’s your day-to-day?
AA: It’s genuinely been weird after going from pure work to, like, nothing. I feel like [I’m] still trying to balance out. It’s a strange thing.

ZC: Yeah, I kind of coast down to earth. Like right now, I have 50-50 time, where half my day I’m working, and then half my day is doing things that I’ve been neglecting, like working out or catching up with people I haven’t talked to. So it’s a little bit… I don’t get the bends, you know what I mean?
AA: Yeah. For me it’s strange because you go from this high intensity every day, and then into nothing. It’s weird for a while, but I know I need to rest and I can’t go into something else right now. You put your energy into something, and you need to… Or maybe you don’t, maybe you can just keep [going].

ZC: My downtime is where I find inspiration and where ideas come to me. I get charged up by just being still and quiet.
AA: Where does that [inspiration] come from? Is it just throughout the day, whenever, or are there specific times?

ZC: If I go for a walk in the morning, that’s kind of my sweet spot where my antenna is the most sensitive.
AA: Are you looking for it

“When I saw Barbarian, I was like, I’ve got to work with whoever made this movie”

ZC: If I’m looking for it, I’m generally not going to get it. But I have to make room to just be quiet, so if it decides to come – and when I say “it”, I just mean an idea – then I’m there. If I’m running around all day doing shit and I’m occupied in conversations or in activities, it’s a little less likely that I’m going to have something meaningful come into my mind.
AA: But you’re looking for an idea, in a sense? You’re open to it.

ZC: Yeah, I’m open. Dude, there was a time – I think I probably told you about this. It’s a really weird reason, but I had one week where I had to come up with an idea to work with Steven Spielberg, and I knew I didn’t have an idea. But I knew that at the end of that week there was a strike coming, and if I didn’t have something to go out with in seven days, I was going to have to wait a long time at least. So I’ve never been like this before, but I was actively trying to think of something, like, “I’ve got to have an idea, goddamn it!” Normally I feel like that would be a recipe for disaster, but because I was just so like, “Come on, brain, come on, brain,” something did pop loose, and I was able to pull one out, which is really never how it happens. That was the exception to the rule.
AA: For me personally, that’s when it comes the most, when there’s an outside [factor]. Sometimes I feel like when I’m left to my own devices, I’ll find other things to do. I need that pressure of, like, come up with something for this.

ZC: Let’s say it’s Monday morning and you have an audition for Wednesday morning: “Hey, guess what, you have 48 hours to come up with a fully realised character for this audition.” And let’s say that it’s a project you really like and you want to fucking build this character. What does your Monday and Tuesday look like? Are you cancelling all your shit and just pacing around your living room thinking?
AA: Probably, yeah. Those things have happened before. That’s basically what happened with Wolfs.

ZC: Tell me about that.
AA: It was this long-ass speech that I did in one of the auditions, and it was just locking myself alone for maybe three days [to work on it]. Only doing that and nothing else. That’s the stuff that seems to work the best for me, when I dive into it completely. Like, “I’m just doing this and I’m going to do everything I can to make this happen. What are the nooks and crannies that I need to fill to have this possibility be created?” Every time I’ve done that – it definitely doesn’t always work out – but I feel like those are the times where it does work out.

ZC: When you really give it the respect that it merits and you go all in.
AA: Put everything into it.

You were the first actor I wanted to meet for this part [James in Weapons]. I was really excited. You came in, and your energy was just so… fucked. You were not making eye contact. You sat across from me and you were just scratching your head the whole time, looking around, and kind of muttering. I was like, “This guy is definitely weird.” [both laugh] – Zach Cragger

ZC: Did I ever tell you about the time I was in New York prepping an indie? The indie ended up falling apart, so I was in New York prepping a movie that never actually shot, and while I was there I got an audition for that Money Monster movie that Jodie Foster directed, with George Clooney, and it was for the part that Jack O’Connell ended up getting, who is a far superior actor than me. But I had three days [to prepare] and I was like, “I’m going to go into overdrive, and I’m going to live, breathe, and dream this part between now and when I go in.” So I didn’t do anything else – I was in this Airbnb and I just did this scene 100,000 times. I had to basically storm a TV studio with a gun and be like, “Everybody down!” So I bought a fake gun and I was just doing it and doing it and doing it. I’m so in the zone, I’m so like, “This is it, man. I’m gonna make it undeniable that I get this part.” So I go to the casting director’s office, and I’m waiting, I’m waiting, and I have a really positive relationship with this casting director, so I feel like the stars have finally aligned for the Z-Man. [Austin laughs] I go into this tiny room and she’s in there with her camcorder, and I have my fake gun, and it’s like, my time to shine. I pull my gun out, and I’m like, “Everybody down!” She goes, “My god, stop, stop, stop.” She’s grabbing her ears and she’s like, “No yelling. Jesus.” And I was like, “Oh.” Then I was like, “No yelling. OK, no yelling.” I have to take a room full of 50 people hostage with a gun, but I can’t yell. So then I had to start over. I pulled the gun out and I was like, “OK, everybody down, everybody down.” You know, like relaxed talking.
AA: [laughs] It’s a choice.

ZC: [laughs] So now I’m talking everybody down with a gun, and then midway through that, she’s like, “Stop, stop.” I’m like, “OK.” She goes, “Just yell, it’s fine, just yell.” But now it’s over, right? Now my confidence is completely fucking boned. I’m trying it again the way I originally did it and it wasn’t there. Do you ever do that? Do you ever go all in on something, and then you feel doubts and you’re just…
AA: Oh, yeah. So many times. I remember there was one thing where this guy’s face was all mushy. It was for this show, Preacher.

ZC: Oh yeah, the kid who blew half of his face off with a shotgun.
AA: Yeah. [I remember] going in and doing a fucked-up face and them being like, “Oh, OK. That was… interesting. Can you do it without the face, though?” I don’t know how old I was at the time, maybe I was like seventeen or something. I was like, “No, I can’t do it without the face.” [both laugh] I didn’t get the part. I don’t know why I wouldn’t just drop the face, because they were obviously going to do it in prosthetics.

ZC: But at that point you’ve created this groove for yourself. This is how you prepped. Like, “If I don’t keep making this face, I’m screwed.” [laughs] Also, it’s so wild that I was doing it during the time where you’d get called in the middle of the day and have to drive somewhere. You were basically driving all day long. No one was doing self-tapes. It’s so crazy that we were doing this all day long, doing so many of them, and so last minute. It was your whole life. You know, it can still be the same thing, but it’s so different [now]. You would go in to see these casting directors all the time, do the craziest shit, and just totally go for it. It was better, don’t you think? Because I feel like half the battle is won by just the way you walk into the room. I feel like my energy, how I opened the door and walked in, was such a crucial part of the process, almost as important as how I acted. I actually think we had a really funny first meeting.
AA: I loved it. It was great.

 ZC: So we met for Weapons… First of all, let me lay the groundwork here. I was a big fan of yours. You came on my radar when I watched your Mike White movie, Brad’s Status. I was like, “Holy shit, look at this guy go. This is my cup of tea right here. This is the guy.” So I was always paying attention to you after that. You know, Scary Stories [to Tell in the Dark] – bam! Front-row, centre seat – let’s go, give me that. [Austin laughs] You were the first actor I wanted to meet for this part [James in Weapons]. I was really excited. You came in, and your energy was just so… fucked. You were not making eye contact. You sat across from me and you were just scratching your head the whole time, looking around, and kind of muttering. I was like, “This guy is definitely weird.” [both laugh] But I was also like, “But it’s all here. This is everything I want. I know he’s got the goods. This is bizarre, for sure – but not bad.” So we’re talking, and I remember I was like, “How would you prep for this part?” And you’re like, “I don’t know, I’d probably watch a bunch of Soft White Underbelly [a YouTube channel that interviews people outside of society].” Which to me was like, dude, oh my god, because I’d been watching a bunch of Soft White Underbelly. I was thinking, we are definitely on the same page here, creatively. Then at lunch I was like, “Well, dude, I think I’ll give you this role.” And at that moment you, like, broke character. You looked at me, and you had this big smile. From then, you dropped the act and it was like talking to a whole new person. I didn’t even really realise what you were doing until later – that you were in character when you walked into the room. It was great.
AA: Man, I wanted to do that movie so badly. I’ve told you this, but when I saw Barbarian, I was like, I’ve got to work with whoever made this movie. The guts you have. It’s so cool to be friends with someone and love what they do.

ZC: Thanks, buddy. I was a fan before we ever met, so it’s fun that we were able to gravitate towards each other and then have a really good thing going. It’s fucking awesome.
AA: I watched [Barbarian] and was like, whoever has the guts to go in this crazy… Like you’ve already got the set-up, you’ve got the creepy house, all this kind of stuff, and then to just go to the beach – it’s so wild and awesome. That you made it work is so sick. You’ve just got to go for it. Especially because the part [Abrams’ role as James in Weapons] is so… That character is living in a whole different world. So it was like, I’d rather just come and show them my idea, and then if the person’s not into it, that’s how it is.

ZC: Yeah, that’s definitely the best way to go. I feel like whenever I watch you do something, I’m watching you do something that only you can do. That’s the hallmark of a really strong actor – they can kind of do anything, but they’re the only one who can do it. Does that make sense? For Weapons, the humour that was able to be so present throughout this really tragic last chapter of a person’s life, and have it feel so light-hearted. Even though you’re just watching someone desperately try and get high and commit crimes to do it, it was still fun. I feel like with the wrong actor, it would have been such a drag.
AA: I owe that to you, because the dialogue is just funny.

ZC: OK, let’s not blow each other. [both laugh] Let’s talk about Resident Evil. You busted your head open while we were shooting – that was pretty wild.
AA: A little bit, yeah.

ZC: It wasn’t even the worst day of shooting, by far.
AA: No, that was fun. [laughs]

ZC: They stitched you up, and then they had to take the stitches out and restitch you, right?
AA: Yeah.

ZC: So, for people who don’t know – which is everyone. [Austin laughs] You were doing a scene where you’re riding these cables up an elevator shaft, and you had to leap off the cables into an open door on like, the twentieth floor or something. You’re cabled in, it’s very safe, you’re in a harness, but you’re still transferring from ropes and jumping through an open door. You jumped and you smacked your head on the top of this door that happened to be razor-sharp, for some reason. I remember, I’m down on the ground watching you from below, you jump through the thing, and I hear this – bang! I’m like, “Oh, I don’t know what that sound was.” And then you hear the thing you never want to hear on set, which is four people at the same time shouting, “Medic!” And everyone is sprinting up the stairs to get to you.
AA: At first they were like, “Are you good?” And I was like, “Good.” Because I seemed good. And then out of nowhere this warm liquid started running down my face. I’m like, “Hmm, that’s interesting. That doesn’t usually happen.” And yeah, it turned out to be a little bit of blood.

ZC: By the time I got up there, there was so much fucking blood all over your face and hands and pants. I was terrified and concerned, and then immediately I started taking photos for reference to show make-up and wardrobe. [both laugh] Like, “This is what it looks like. This is what we want. This is what I’ve been trying to say this whole time. Look at how it pools!” [laughs]
AA: So wild, but I really loved it.

ZC: That was so scary, though, dude. What was the hardest chapter of Resident Evil for you?
AA: The hardest? Probably, truly, just the nights.

ZC: I mean, the whole movie takes place over the course of one snowy night, so it was all night shoots?
AA: Yeah, you don’t realise the effect it has on you. I don’t know if you felt this? At first you’re like, “OK, this is fine,” and then slowly it just starts to become a lot harder, and your world takes on a different hue because you’re not having the sun all the time. I feel like we would wake up and there would be basically no sun, which is alright, but when you start to get to weeks and weeks and weeks, it starts to have an effect on you, and have an effect on everyone.

ZC: Yeah, it really did.
AA: It’s tough doing those sorts of things. Some stunt stuff is a mixture of fun and also challenging as you go along, it’s like, “God, I’ve got to fall again. OK, here we go.” [both laugh]

ZC: That’s like, the whole movie! You freaking out and being very physical.
AA: Yeah. [in Zach’s voice] “It didn’t look real enough. We’ll do it again.” [laughs]

ZC: “That was sort of a scream. I’m really looking for more of a shriek.” [both laugh]
AA: The modulating was pretty wild, trying to do it in a new way every time, and then also adding humour to it – it’s a delicate dance.

Zach: Let’s talk about Resident Evil. You busted your head open while we were shooting – that was pretty wild.
Austin: A little bit, yeah.
Zach: It wasn’t even the worst day of shooting, by far.
Austin: No, that was fun. [laughs]

ZC: I could tell you were always right on target, but I think the challenge is the stamina. You have to stay at this really heightened level for months, dude. Also coming off Whalefall, which I know is another movie that’s just you in an extreme situation for the duration of the movie. It’s like back-to-back marathons – it’s brutal. It’s kind of amazing that you made it through Resident Evil. For your next movie, are you hoping to find one where it’s just, like, two people in a diner talking? [laughs]
AA: A little bit, yeah. That sounds nice. Work is strange because, for me, it doesn’t feel like a thing where you just keep going and keep chugging along, you know? I feel like I’ve got to take some time. And it’s a really personal thing. There’s the whole business side, but there’s also the very personal thing of, like, “Is this for me right now? Do I want to knit this time fully to this thing? Do I have it in me to give everything I have to this?” It’s a strange thing, what pulls you at the time. I feel like you have to go into it that way and give it everything you have. Go into things that are pulling you and not do them just because maybe business-wise it makes sense. I’ve found that in those circumstances it doesn’t really work out the way you wanted it to. It’s interesting, when I think of Weapons, I just loved that script and loved you, and was like, “I need to do this. We need to make this movie.”

ZC: I lost my whole cast, except for you. [The project had to be almost entirely recast due to production delays.] I know you got offered big shit while that was going on, man. Thank god you stuck around. I’m so glad you stuck around, dude.
AA: I knew it was going to be a great movie, and I needed to do it.

ZC: And the other thing – I don’t know if people know this – but I cast you and you immediately dropped how much weight for the role of James?
AA: I don’t know. A good amount.

ZC: A lot. You were gaunt. You were real thin. Then the movie kept getting pushed and pushed and pushed. Like, a year it got pushed. So you had to stay at this skeletal weight for almost a fucking year, dude. So it wasn’t just like you were passing on other opportunities, but you were straight suffering. I mean, there’s the scene where Alden [Ehrenreich] pulls you out of the tent after you’ve stabbed him and you’re laying on the ground like, “Stop, stop, stop, stop.” And you were so weak you couldn’t lift your head. I remember I was like, “Dude, you gotta lift your head up.” And you’re like, “I can’t.”
AA: [laughs] Trying to keep my head up, and then it just slowly keeps going back down.

ZC: Oh my god, dude, it’s crazy. It worked, though. You lost so much weight for that. I remember when you came to set for Resident Evil after you’d put the weight back on, and people that had seen Weapons – because it came out the week before you came out to Prague – they didn’t recognise you. Is that a thing where you don’t get recognised from Weapons because you physically look so different?
AA: I don’t know what the reasons are, but no, not really. Maybe once or twice.

ZC: I think it’s because you looked like a skeleton, and now you don’t. I bet if you dropped 50 pounds and walked around the streets, everyone would be like, “James!” [both laugh]

hair and make-up Adam Markarian using Oribe haircare and Dior beauty,  fashion assistant Deniz Gumustas