Leigh Whannell talks ‘Wolf Man,’ and bringing original movies back to the big screen
Werewolves don’t get nearly enough love. Sure, there are some werewolf supporting characters in larger horror stories, and there are even one or two quality werewolf-centric films, but vampires and zombies seem to get most of the attention. Director Leigh Whannell might just change that with his latest project.
You might know writer/director/actor Leigh Whannell as the writer of Saw, Cooties, and Insidious; or as the director of 2020’s awesome Invisible Man. Now, Whannell is bringing a classic Universal monster back to life with his upcoming film, Wolf Man.
TMS‘ Rachel Leishman had the chance to chat with him about the film, and wondered how he both honored the legacy of a classic Universal property while also being relevant and entertaining to a modern horror audience.
“It’s really tough. It’s all just guesswork,” Whannell replied. “That’s the thing with movies. You’re separated from your audience. […] With a movie, you make the film in pieces, you assemble it in a dark room, and you just throw it out into the world. You just never know how people are going to react. So, this movie is my best guess at what people would love. The easiest way to think of it is, I’m making the movie that I would want to see, and you hope there’s other people who would want to see that too. “
Back in December of last year, there was a huge casting change for the film when Ryan Gosling, originally cast as Blake (aka, the titular Wolf Man), was replaced by actor Christopher Abbott. When asked about how he approaches casting, especially in light of a change like this, Whannell looks for actors whose versatility he can trust so he can focus on playing with other elements around them to arrive at the performance required.
Whannell was effusive about Abbott’s performance in Wolf Man, specifically citing his performance as a father in the film. He mentions that Abbott himself is not a father, but that he found a touching chemistry with co-star Matilda Firth (who plays Blake’s daughter, Ginger) that not only worked well on-screen, but that translated into a sweet, paternal relationship with the young actor in real life.
“A great actor like Chris can do anything,” Whannell says of his star. “He can do a comedy—I thought he was very funny in Poor Things. I’ve seen him play so much. I’ve seen him play a desperate drug addict. I’ve seen him play funnier roles. I knew what he was capable of as an actor, and my job then is to kind of throw these things at him. Like, ‘okay try this color, now try this color.’ […] I trust in his ability, and then it’s on me to shape what I want from him.”
Whannell has adapted two pretty major genre stories in Invisible Man and Wolf Man, but what he’d really love to do is get back to creating original films with new worlds that moviegoers can dive into and make their own.
“I loved making Wolf Man and Invisible Man,” he says. “But for my next one–I grew up in an era when original movies were coming out every week. You know, Gremlins, Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, Goonies. That classic, 80s era of movies, and I saw all those movies in theaters. All those movies we just mentioned That’s how old I am. What a time! I’m envious of people [making movies] during that time, because Hollywood was really embracing [that]. Now, there is a lot of reliance on IP. But…you know, ‘be the change’ and all that. I wanna put original films out there.”
Having already written some of horror’s most fascinating original stories, we can’t wait to see what Whannell does next. In the meantime, Wolf Man arrives in theaters January 17, 2025.
To watch the full interview with Leigh Whannell, or to check out any of our other convos, you can find them all on the TMS YouTube Channel!
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