After seeing thefirst trailer for Leigh WhannellsWolf Man, I had many questions.
Is the whole movie set in a single location?
Is it linked with the directors previous Universal Monster movie,Invisible Man?
© Universal
And did he intentionally pay homage toJurassic Parkwith that first sequence?
Thankfully, Whannell hopped on a video call with io9 earlier this week totalk about all that and more.
Germain Lussier, io9: Wolf Man, werewolves, they have such a rich history across all media.
The transformation begins in Wolf Man. – © Universal
What was the scariest thing about tackling the character in the franchise?
Leigh Whannell:Probably that.
The concept is so known, as you said.
Director Leigh Whannell (right) on set ofWolf Man. – © Universal
When youre dealing with something that is embedded in worldwide culture youre coming up against a lot of expectations.
If youre writing an original movie, youve got an uphill climb to get people to pay attention.
But the good side of that is nobody knows the rules.
Julia Garner in Wolf Man – © Universal
The problem with Wolf Man is everybody knows the rules.
But I really was determined to give people something new with this.
So that was probably the scariest part.
io9: The trailer looks like its very isolated, secluded, and maybe even a one-location movie.
I guess well see.
But is that true?
And was that a way for your film to distinguish itself from the others?
I think I wanted to contain it a little more.
I wanted to deal with this concept in a very intimate way.
You know, we filmed during covid.
The first draft of this film was written in 2020.
And that was a very specific mindset, as you remember.
What a weird blip in human history.
And its not even like my conditions were bad.
Some people really were struggling.
The isolation, the confinement to one place.
It seems like maybe its a little drawn out here.
Whannell:Well, it all comes from that desire to do something people hadnt seen before.
And sometimes I think people dont know what they want until they see it.
I mean, even thinking of something like Heath Ledger inThe Dark Knight.Thats an iconic character.
Chris Nolans coming into this movie.
Theres so many different ways you’re free to go with the Joker, right?
I feel like he made a conscious decision to give people a Joker they had not seen before.
And so that was my thinking going into this was What do I do?
And I felt like you cant compete with Rick Baker and what he did onAmerican Werewolf in London.
Whannell:So what if I took more of a disease approach?
And approached it more like something likeThe Fly?
io9: Which the trailer very briefly teases though we dont get to see the full Wolf Man.
However, something that came out of Halloween Horror Nightsa couple of weeks back seemed like it was.
Was that your Wolf Man?
And what can you say about how that all went down?
Whannell:No, I mean, without spoiling anything, thats not our Wolf Man.
And I guess, movies have so many different people involved.
Its like this huge octopus with many tentacles and you cant always control every single aspect of something.
So no, it doesnt represent [our movie].
I would put my money on him that hes always going to give you something right.
io9: And I think you probably have the same reputation by this point too.
Whannell:Well, yeah.
io9: I cant wait.
Whannell:I would say, in a conscious way, I didnt want that to happen.
However, the family is in San Francisco.
And I do think of this film as like a spiritual cousin toInvisible Manin some ways.
io9: Okay excellent.
Now, Chris Abbott is awesome.
Ive loved him for years and its so cool to see him as a title character here.
But he obviously wasnt the first Wolf Man.
It was Ryan Gosling.
How did the movie change once Ryan left and Chris came on?
And then of course, schedules change and the years go by.
Im really happy he stayed on as a producer, but Im really so happy with what Chris did.
Ive known his work for years and Ive always been a fan of his.
But when it occurred to me that he could play this role, I was obsessed with that idea.
io9: Oh yeah.
Whannell:Theres certain actors you know theyre going to give you something different.
io9: Yes, and I think Julia Garner is one of those people.
Shes got a year coming up next year and watching the trailer, again, its calledWolf Man.
But she seems to be the lead character.
Am I getting the right vibes when I watch that here?
Whannell:I would say its genuinely equal.
I think when you see the movie, youll see what I mean.
Like its a family unit.
io9: I also loved the kind of cold open of the trailer, the truck in the tree.
Gotta ask, were theJurassic Parkvibes intentional?
I mean, I loveJurassic Park.
It had such a big effect on me.
And I think what happens with movies like that is they go into your subconscious.
So its in there on a subconscious level for sure.
io9: You might not want to answer this and thats okay if not.
But I love the last shot of the trailer.
About when does that happen in the movie, if it’s possible for you to say?
Whannell:I dont want to give it away.
But thats not the climax of the movie, Ill say that.
So we have a daughter and a wife being hunted by the father.
Are daddy issues a theme in this movie?
Whannell:For me, I wouldnt say its daddy issues.
I think its about family.
Not everybody gets that.
But whats tragic about it is you know youre going to lose these people.
Everybody knows that the deal is, the bargain is youre not going to be with everyone forever.
That days going to come.
And we all know that day is coming.
We avoid that conversation.
But it is coming.
Eventually, were going to lose them.
Ive had to watch friends of mine die.
Somebody lost their partner early.
A really good friend of mine, his wife was diagnosed with a serious terminal illness.
And over the course of the next two years, she disintegrated.
And it was a very hard thing to watch.
And its the real-life version of the horror movie.
My friend actually described it to me one day as Its like a horror movie.
The Michael Haneke filmAmourwas a very serious…
I did a film festival during pre-production.
Every Wednesday night we would watch a movie.
It was called the Full Moon Film Club.
Whannell:AndAmourwas one of the movies we watched.
io9: Well, that is an incredible answer.
Whannell:I cant wait for you to see it when it comes out.
Wolf Manhits theaters January 17, 2025.
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