At the Los Angeles premiere of Weapons last July, director Zach Cregger introduced his whole cast on stage but left one performer until the end of his remarks.
“The beating heart of this thing and truly my dream come true,” Cregger raved. “Amy Madigan.” The spunky, raspy-voiced actress with dozens of screen credits including “Field of Dreams,” “Uncle Buck” and “Carnivàle” had skipped the premiere press line and all media requests before the release of “Weapons.”
But on opening weekend, you could feel the adrenaline shot in the zeitgeist: Madigan’s bonkers turn as evil Aunt Gladys, who doesn’t appear until the movie’s 75-minute mark, was instantly hailed as the punk, pop-art performance of the year.
“It was like a little earthquake had happened,” Madigan said. “Zach and the studio were smart about keeping my character a secret. I’m proud of the film and I’m proud of my work as Gladys, but I never realized it would explode like this. People
are painting portraits of her. My friend went to a drag club in St. Louis and the person working the door was dressed as Gladys. I heard one theory that she has something to do with Elvis’s mother, which was news to me.”
“Weapons” centers on the disappearance of 17 children from a suburban town. Aunt Gladys is an ossified witch who wears candy-red makeup and an orange wig in public. Madigan cited the collaboration with costume designer Trish Summerville (“The Hunger Games”) and makeup effects designer Jason Collins (“Pam & Tommy”).
She also drew inspiration from the silent “Nosferatu,” “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” and photographer Diane Arbus, famed for her depictions of society’s odd ducks. Madigan has always been fascinated by the Arbus subjects who are confident in their physical difference. “They are happy with how they look, which most of us aren’t,” she said, adding with a cackle, “I’m, like, daily not happy with it.”
Near the film’s conclusion, Madigan’s performance turns into an extreme-sport activity, as Gladys runs amok through neighboring homes. The actress, 75, did the stunts herself.
“It wasn’t superhero stuff like Charlize Theron does,” she said, “But that whole sequence was very exciting for me. It took several days to film and Zach mentioned that there was a stunt person available. And I said, ‘Oh, no, no, I can do this.’ It was incredible. I’m glad I didn’t fall and break my leg or something. But I didn’t, so there.”
Madigan can’t say much about Cregger’s development of a stand-alone Gladys film, except to comment, “Zach’s a great storyteller and I really like living
in his head.”
If Madigan is recognized by Oscars voters for “Weapons” – which is a real possibility, considering the iconic performance, the respect from her fellow actors and the growing acceptance of horror films – she would make history as the actress with the longest gap between nominations. (Helen Hayes currently holds that record, at 39 years.)
She last made the supporting-actress lineup 40 years ago for 1985’s “Twice in a Lifetime,” where she played the daughter of Ellen Burstyn and Gene Hackman. Madigan genuinely makes perfect sense as the offspring of those two acting legends. In the film, she is enraged by her father’s infidelity and her physical intensity is ablaze in one scene, where she tears into Hackman furiously in a local tavern.
Her ability to tap into fury intimidated some of the cast and crew, including Burstyn. “I’m a physical actor, you know, and I was really driving a truck through that scene, emotionally, and Ellen got a little nervous,” Madigan said. “That was interesting for me because I realized in the doing of it that [the intensity] has got to be going on underneath me, somewhere. So I remember thinking ‘OK, I’ve stepped too far.’ Those kind of things come from working with the other actors.”
Madigan displays total recall while talking about making that film. “Brian Dennehy was in it, too,” she exclaimed. “And Ann-Margret!” The freshness of her memories is perhaps the reason why she laughs boisterously when reminded that
the film came out 40 years ago.
Madigan recalls the phone call, in early 1986, to inform her she’d been nominated for an Oscar. “My mind immediately went, ‘I gotta get something to wear.’ So I went out and bought a new dress. It was a gentler time back then, not nearly as all-consuming as it is now.”
Madigan is thrilled by the attention that “Weapons” has received, but 2025 has been a tough year. In January, she and husband Ed Harris lost their home in the Palisades Fire.
“It’s been a difficult time, but through the graciousness of friends we’ve been able to stay in different places and now we have a lease. We’re in the process of trying to get permits to swing a hammer on a new house. But people were so generous to us. And that’s really all that matters, the people who you’re close to. It’s worth saying over and over because you can easily lose sight of what’s important.”
A version of this story first ran in The Race Begins issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine. Read more from the issue here.
