Director Leigh Whannell Reflects On Ryan Gosling’s “Crazy” Exit From ‘Wolf Man’, Compares New Lead Christopher Abbott To Joaquin Phoenix
Blumhouse’s Wolf Man is out next year after years in development. The film has ties to Universal’s botched Dark Universe concept, but the current incarnation from Leigh Whannell has waited several years for the wolfsbane to bloom under a full moon. Unfortunately, enough time passed for its initial lead Ryan Gosling to bow out after active contributions from his production company.
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Cinema Blend caught up with Whannell at New York Comic-Con and he explained the rollercoaster of getting the upcoming reboot made, and how it evolved into its current form. He began with Gosling’s involvement and the way the project was pitched to the actor. “You know, Ryan was developing this film with his production company,” Whannell said.
“Having talked to him, he’s such a fan of Halloween and Monsters, like his biggest monster fan out there. So he was developing it possibly for him to act in. And I came on board and, you know, my advice was just, ‘Look, I don’t think we should try a comedic take on this. I think we should really go hardcore here. And that’s the Wolfman film people want to see. And that’s what they deserve, you know?’ And he agreed and he said, ‘Let’s go [with] this,’” he continued.
However, “It dragged on, and for scheduling reasons, you know, Ryan had to step away, and then I stepped away, and then I came back. It’s that sort of weird life that movies have, this weird gestation period,” Whannell elaborated. “That’s what happened with this movie. It just went through this gestation period, and then I feel like it ended up with the right people.”
Wolf Man was a passion project for Gosling during this period, which encompassed the making of Barbie and the pandemic. When Whannell stepped away, the actor brought in his old collaborator Derek Cianfrance to direct. Their idea was reportedly closer to the movie Nightcrawler with Gosling playing a reporter who has a hair-raising freakout live on the air similar to Dee Wallace in The Howling.
But this cycle of the werewolf led to the form the story is in now, written by Whannell and Corbett Tuck, and dealing with illness, family, and isolation. Though that’s nothing terribly new, director Whannell, for one, is satisfied with how his film turned out and the cast he put together, led by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner.
“Ryan stayed on as a producer and Chris Abbott stepped into the role. Now that I’m finishing the movie, I’m looking at the finished product [and] I’m like, ‘Thank God we found Chris and Julia to do this,’” Whannell said. He also gave special praise to Abbott whom he places in an elite category.
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“Certain actors become known for their intensity. Like you know, Sean Penn, Phillips Seymour Hoffman. There’s certain actors where you’re like, you know, every time Joaquin Phoenix does a movie, you know he is not going halfway with it,” Whannell added.
“I really do feel like Chris is in that club of actors like Joaquin Phoenix, and other actors of his ilk where you’re like, ‘this guy’s an actor’s actor.’ I needed something that was the equivalent of like Jeff Goldblum in The Fly. Which is, to me, is like a high watermark for horror performances in that movie, and Geena Davis’ [performance] too,” he explained.
Wolf Man’s make-up FX aren’t winning rave reviews, but no matter how the monster looks in the movie, the performances could rise above the lack of wolf in the man when January rolls around.
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