Leigh Whannell spoke to Collider’s Perri Nemiroff, teasing how ‘Dune: Part Two’ swiped the wolf vision tactic.
After shooting Universal Pictures’ ‘The Invisible Man,’ Whannell wasn’t sure he wanted to take on another Universal Monster project so soon. Producer and Blumhouse CEO Jason Blum applied what Whannell described as the ‘Jedi mind trick,’ and now, the wait for ‘Wolf Man’ is almost over.
He explained, “Just divorce yourself from the law and from the expectations of people.” He added, “Try to just make a story that is good unto itself.” This mindset freed up space for him and co-writer and partner Corbett Tuck to develop a story that allows Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner to breathe a new life into ‘Wolf Man.’
He spoke about how the final film differs from the original script, how he and cinematographer Stefan Duscio created the vision of the perfect wolf, and the surprising scene that turned out to be the biggest challenge.
When asked why he initially turned down ‘Wolf Man’ but later changed his mind, he said, “Well, it wasn’t that I said no because I thought,’Well, it wasn’t that I said no because I thought, ‘This project’s beneath me,’ or, ‘It’s not a good character.’ I love The ‘Wolf Man,’ and I love all those classic monsters. It was more that I had just done that with ‘The Invisible Man.’ Whenever I’ve just made a film, it feels like a kind of skin you want to shake off, like, ‘I’ve got to pivot into some other genre.’ But they incepted me. As soon as they suggested ‘The Wolf Man,’ I started thinking about what I would do. Jason Blum is very good at this, by the way. He’s good at the Jedi mind trick, like making you think it was your idea.”
Whannell also talked about what ‘Dune’ and ‘Wolf Man’ have in common: “Well, first of all, coming up with the look was a real process of trial and error because Stefan Duscio, the cinematographer, and I were talking about different lenses. He actually flew to LA just to test out some infrared cameras. They ended up using these cameras on ‘Dune.’ Do you remember the black-and-white sequence? So we were like, ‘Oh, they stole our idea,’ right?”
‘Wolf Man’ is a horror film written by Leigh Whannell and Corbett Tuck. The movie follows a man who tries to protect his wife and daughter from a werewolf but becomes infected himself and slowly transforms into the creature.
The ‘Wolf Man’ hits theaters on January 17th.
