The Wolfman

Story & Background : The Wolfman

2009-08-27T01:32:00.000-07:00

The Wolfman is a 2010 remake of the 1941 classic horror film of the same name. The remake is directed by Joe Johnston and stars Benicio del Toro. Although originally scheduled for November 6, 2009, it has once again been pushed back to be released on February 12, 2010.

Premise

Set in the late 1880s, the film keeps the plotline of the original, with Lawrence Talbot (Benicio del Toro) meeting his father (Anthony Hopkins) following the death (and in the remake, disappearance) of his brother. The film details events during Lawrence's past that led to his estrangement from his father (which includes Gwen), and the setting is changed from the mythical Welsh village of Llanwelly to the English village of Blackmore and the city of London.^[2] The official synopsis states Talbot was traumatized by his mother's death as a child, while Gwen Conliffe (Emily Blunt) is his brother's fiancée. Following his brother's disappearance, Talbot hunts a murderer, which turns out to be a werewolf, and the curse is passed on.^[3]

[edit]Production

In March 2006, Universal Pictures announced the remake of The Wolf Man with actor Benicio del Toro (a fan of the original film and collector of Wolf Man memorabilia) in the lead role. Screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker was attached to the screenplay, developing the original film's story to include additional characters as well as plot points that would take advantage of modern visual effects. Del Toro also looked towards Werewolf of London and The Curse of the Werewolf for inspiration.

In February 2007, director Mark Romanek was attached to helm The Wolfman. In January 2008, Romanek left the project because of "creative differences". Brett Ratner emerged as a frontrunner to replace Romanek, but the studio also met withFrank Darabont, James Mangold and Joe Johnston. They were also interested in Bill Condon, and Martin Campbell was interested.^[8] Johnston was hired to direct on February 3, 2008, and the film's shooting schedule and budget remained as intended.Johnston hired David Self to rewrite the script.

Shooting took place from March 3 to June 23, 2008 in the United Kingdom.^[11] The film was budgeted at US$85 million.^[7] They shot at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, Chatsworth, Derbyshire, and Castle Combe in Wiltshire.^[12] They transformedChatsworth House by adding weeds, dead grass and ivy.^[13] They also shot in Lacock in Wiltshire, a village conserved by the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, for a day. Universal donated £5000 to the village, in return for filming in the tithe barn for a scene involving frozen corpses. A funeral scene was also shot beside the Temple of Ancient Virtue at Stowe House for the duration of an afternoon, with the temple coated in false ivy and copious amounts of smoke/mist floating over the setting. Pick-ups at Pinewood were conducted in May 2009.

Rick Baker created the make-up for The Wolfman. When he heard Universal was remaking the film, he eagerly pursued it, as both The Wolf Man and Frankenstein inspired him to become a make-up artist as a child. He acknowledged transforming del Toro was difficult because he is a hairy man: "Going from Benicio to Benicio as the Wolf Man isn't a really extreme difference. Like when I did An American Werewolf in London, we went from this naked man to a four-legged hound from hell, and we had a lot of room to go from the transformation and do a lot of really extreme things. Here we have Benicio del Toro, who's practically the Wolf Man already, to Benicio del Toro with more hair and bigger teeth."

Rick Baker, Emily Blunt, and Benicio del Toro at the 2008 Comic-Con convention promoting the film

Baker and del Toro were adamant about the design resembling the make-up created by Jack Pierce, but Romanek went through thousands of concept art. When Johnston signed on, Baker returned to his second design, which is the finished result.^[17]The make-up took three hours to apply, and one hour to remove. New pieces of latex prosthetic makeup and loose hair was applied to del Toro's face each day, while several dentures and wigs were created in case some were damaged.^[16] Baker said the transformation will likely be computer-generated, which disappoints him as he is not being involved and therefore feels it will look unrealistic (as the animators do not have his knowledge of the design).^[18] In February 2009, ZBrush art of the transformation by Baker leaked online.^[19] In addition to the film, at the 2009 "Halloween Horror Nights," Universal Studios Florida is adding The Wolfman to the event.

Trailers & Downloads : The Wolfman

2009-08-27T01:29:00.000-07:00

Theatrical Trailer

During the course of its production, The Wolfman has seen its release date postponed several times. Originally scheduled for a November 12, 2008 release, it was first pushed back to February 13, 2009 (a Friday the 13th), in September 2007. Then, in April 2008, it got moved to April 3, 2009. Later, in December 2008, Universal moved the release to November 6, 2009 to give them more time to market the film. Finally, the film was yet again moved in late July 2009 to February 12, 2010.
The cast and crew were back on location re-shooting the movie in the grounds of Greenwich Royal naval college and park over the weekends of May 22-25 and 30-31, 2009. The purpose of the reshoots was to change the way one werewolf looked in the movie. Previously, it stood on two legs, but now, he stands on four. Also, an action scene was added between "the Wolf Man and the Werewolf" according to Vic Armstrong.

The first trailer for The Wolfman was attached to Inglourious Basterds, which was released to theaters on August 21, 2009. The trailer was also released online the previous evening.

Cast & Crew: The Wolfman

2009-08-27T01:25:00.000-07:00

Director

Joe Johnston

Cast

Benicio del Toro as Lawrence Talbot/The Wolfman
Anthony Hopkins as Sir John Talbot, Lawrence's father. Hopkins said the Universal Horror series "when played today come across as pretty corny, but they were entertaining."
Emily Blunt as Gwen Conliffe, with whom Talbot falls in love. Blunt liked the "mythological", "Gothic and majestic" story and signed on despite her fear of horror films. Blunt said Gwen was probably the first "innately good" character she ever played.
Hugo Weaving as Detective Aberline, who investigates murders by the transformed Talbot. The name Francis Aberline is a play on Frederick Abberline, who was a real life victorian inspector working on the Jack the Ripper case; his real nickname was indeed Francis.
Geraldine Chaplin as Maleva, an old Gypsy.
Gene Simmons as The Wolfman (voice).

Art Malik, Rob Dixon, Nicholas Day, Michael Cronin, David Schofield, David Sterne, Roger Frost, Dianne Pilkington and Clive Russell have also been confirmed, although their roles are not known

Posters & Pictures : The Wolfman

2009-08-27T01:23:00.001-07:00

More to come...

Box Office: The Wolfman

2009-08-27T01:21:00.000-07:00

comes from hell...