When casting Justin Long's despicable character in "Barbarian," Zach Cregger initially had a very different type of actor in mind. "I was like, 'I need to cast a big Chad,'" Cregger told The Hollywood Reporter. "'Some guy with biceps, a jawbone and a haircut that just makes him look like a douche.'" That characterization, the director realized, was "too on the nose." Instead, Cregger reasoned, "A more terrifying sexual predator is somebody who is charming and not threatening and likable and disarming." His casting lodestar soon became the most likable and charming actor of all time: Tom Hanks. "And who is like Tom Hanks?" said Cregger. "Justin Long."
His role in "Barbarian" is certainly a part against type for Long. In his other horror movie stints, including "Jeepers Creepers" and "Drag Me to Hell," Long usually plays a tragic victim or horrified onlooker. Elsewhere, he's a nice-guy everyman, as in "Accepted" and "Dodgeball." Hell, he's even affable as a Mac. For him to appear as a sexual predator is just one of many disorienting twists in "Barbarian."
Cregger's casting of Bill Skarsgård — best known for playing Pennywise in "It" – achieves the opposite effect; the seemingly creepy house guest ends up being completely innocuous. The director claims that was incidental, and the twists and turns were even a surprise to him. "When I was writing the movie, Keith was a bad guy," he said. "I thought that's where it was headed."
