Mark Romanek Signs On for Del Toro's Wolf Man
Filed under: Classics, Horror, Universal, Remakes and Sequels
Last time we heard from director Mark Romanek he was giving us a decidedly unique look at Robin Williams in the surprisingly intense One Hour Photo. The longtime music video maker has also been attached to the Tom Hanks project A Cold Case for a little while, but it looks like Hanks is about to take a back seat to a werewolf: Mr. Romanek will direct a new version of The Wolf Man for Universal Pictures. And it gets better...The Hollywood Reporter says that the new version will "hew to the period pedigree of the 1941 original," a decision that makes me very happy indeed. As reported a while back, Oscar winner Benicio Del Toro is attached to play lead character Lawrence Talbot. And the good news keeps on coming: The Wolf Man screenplay comes from Andrew Kevin Walker, who is only the scribe who gave you 8MM, Sleepy Hollow and Se7en! (OK, he also wrote Brainscan and Hideaway, but I'm a fan anyway.)
So there you have it: Universal's mounting a new Wolf Man, the director is solid, the leading man is fantastic and the screenwriter knows his genre material. The first person who whines about "oh, another remake!" is required to sit through as many wolfman movies as I can think of -- and trust me, there's been a whole bunch. (Plus look at it this way: We've already been through Van Helsing; things can't get much worse than that.)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-08-2007 @ 9:47AM
Amanda said...
Well this just made my day!! Del Toro has the inherent sadness to be a perfect Talbot...My hopes are very high for this!
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2-08-2007 @ 1:59PM
ThePete said...
8mm and Sleepy Hollow were good?
Sheesh...
I was hoping the "del Toro" would be Guilermo directing. Sure, Benicio is a great actor, but based on this being yet another attempt to capitalize on a classic Universal monster, I'll skip this one. The very point you make about there being so many Wolfman movies would suggest that anyone complaing of another remake would be even more justified than usual. Especially since just about every remake of a classic Universal monster movie so far has sucked beyond all reason. Sure, some of those remakes were fun, but were any actually scary? Creepy? Vaguely suspenseful?
I could go on, really, I could...
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2-09-2007 @ 8:37AM
Michael said...
I agree, Del Toro carriest just the right amount of angst for this role. In addition, he isn't over exposed the way so many other actors that might have been cast as Talbot. I can't even imagine Johnny Depp or Ben Affleck in the role! Benicio's acting is always understated and to the point. This should be an excellent film as a result, more about the story and less about casting.
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2-09-2007 @ 10:09AM
The Addict said...
So if you really examine the whole Universal Monster remake claim, the only one that's been an official remake of a Universal Monster flick has been The Mummy, which could have been a whole lot worse (it could have been the Mummy 2 or the Scorpion King). Dracula's been re-adapted a bunch of times, as has Frankenstein, the Creature hasn't been made yet, the Phantom remake had nothing in common with the original and also can be taken as a re-adaptation of the original novel. I look forward to this somewhat, not as much as I'd like to, but I'm going to give it a chance. And I too think del Toro can make an interesting younger Talbot, but we'll see how it turns out.
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