Wolf Man Director Leigh Whannell offers a candid glimpse into the difficulties of filmmaking, touching on how setbacks led Ryan Gosling to step away from recreating the Universal Monsters. THE Mountain range co-creator is ready to modernize another classic monster’s tale after his 2020 reimagining The Invisible Manwith Christopher Abbott taking the lead role. In Whannell Wolf ManA small family moves to rural Oregon where he inherits his childhood home, but suddenly A late-night home invasion leaves father and husband Blake (Abbott) cursed to turn into a monster.
Recently, Whannell opened to Screen speech during New York Comic-Con about the film’s journey to the screen and the departure of a potential protagonist. After some reluctance, Whannell and his wife Corbett Tuck, who also co-wrote the film, initially developed the feature with Gosling attachedbut a prolonged development stretched by The COVID-19 pandemic and the 2024 Hollywood strikes left the actor unable to join the production before the film was greenlit by Universal.
Yes, it was an interesting project. It came to me right after the Invisible Man. They said, “Do you want to do Wolf Man?” And at first I was like, “I’m not sure, I just did Invisible Man.” And then I had an idea that I thought, “Oh, this version of the Wolf Man I would like.” And so I asked Corbett, my wife, we co-wrote – she’s right there on the phone. I was like, “Let’s co-write something together.” It went through a long gestation period where I worked on it for a while with Ryan Gosling, and then he had to step away. And it was during COVID, so it was all crazy. And then, when we started again, the strikes happened. I felt like there is a constant barrage of problems. Finally, as the strikes were ending, we got the green light from Universal.
Comparing production duration with the rapid production cycle Saw 2development, Whanell stated that he ultimately felt that a prolonged production ended up working in the film’s favoras many elements required more time to figure things out before the cameras started rolling.
So, it’s been a long time, but some movies just seem to happen. Some films are forced into existence. As I remember, God, after finishing the first Saw movie, the producers were like, the Monday after it came out – it came out on Friday and then Monday – they called and said, “We want a movie to come out next October , start writing.” And that was the opposite problem. It was me thinking, “So, when do you need the script?” And they said, “In three weeks.” I can tell you that there is something good about rolling down a hill at 100 miles per hour and saying, “We just have to hang in there.” Because all this momentum has its own zest. With something like Wolf Man where it seems to take forever, it can kill your creative spirit. But I’m glad I had time to think about it really hard before we filmed it, because when we filmed it, I discovered there were a lot of moving parts, with makeup and a kid, and we’re filming at night, and we’re in New Zealand, in a forest. If I hadn’t thought about it for so long, I might have lost my mind. I always had to fall back on that, like, “Okay, I know what I’m doing here.”
Elements of Gosling’s vision may remain in the script
For those familiar with the development of Wolf Man and previous attempts to bring about a modern reimagining of the character, Gosling’s departure marks the end of a long journey. Gosling had been attached to the project before Whannell was named director since approximately 2020, even being involved in pitching his own ideas to Universal. As such, especially after the excitement surrounding the actor’s personal success in 2023, many audiences may feel like they don’t see him as part of Wolf Manis considered a missed opportunity.
However, with Gosling retaining an executive producer credit, his frequent collaborator Derek Cianfrance receiving a material credit, and Whannell opening up about refining the script, elements of Wolf Manearlier drafts were likely kept in the final film and only further. As such, it’s a relief that some elements of the actor’s involvement can be retained in a project he was clearly passionate about.
Our thoughts on Gosling Wolf Man Exit
Even without Gosling, Whannell’s project is still fueled by his passion for cinema
Between his spectacular performance as Ken in Barbiehis action-packed role in The fallen guyand anticipation for your space adventure in Ave Maria Project, Gosling is one of the most talked about artists in Hollywood in recent years. Furthermore, with his relative inexperience with horror outside of a selection of roles in children’s horror anthology television series in the 1990s, many were eager to see him expand his range with a horror film, especially one involving an iconic creature. .
However, Whannell’s openness about Wolf ManGosling’s journey demonstrates that although Gosling may no longer be involved, there is still incredible passion behind the production. As such, with the director’s previous success in reimagining a classic Universal Monster, there’s still excitement in seeing the creature return to the big screen.