In the 1930s and '40s, Universal Pictures released a series of horror films that created a new genre of entertainment for audiences: the monster movie. 
By transforming themselves into such iconography as Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, The Mummy and The Invisible Man, legendary performers including Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff and Claude Rains committed to celluloid nightmares previously only available to the imagination of readers.
One of the most haunting of these creations has been with us since Lon Chaney, Jr. introduced him in 1941.  A lone man forced to give in to the most primal side of his spirit haunted moviegoers who breathlessly watched as he transformed into something inhuman.  When the moon was at its fullest, he unleashed a primal rage born from the darkest shadow of his psyche.  Part man, part demon…his curse was eternal.
Inspired by the classic Universal film that launched a legacy of horror, The Wolfman brings the myth of a cursed man back to its legendary origins. 
Academy Award winner BENICIO DEL TORO (Che, Traffic) stars as Lawrence Talbot, a haunted nobleman lured back to his family estate after his brother vanishes.  Reunited with his estranged father, Academy Award winner ANTHONY HOPKINS (The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal), Talbot sets out to find his brother…and discovers a horrifying destiny for himself.
Lawrence Talbot's childhood ended the night his mother died.  After he left the sleepy Victorian hamlet of Blackmoor, he spent decades recovering and trying to forget.  But when his brother's fiancée, Gwen Conliffe (EMILY BLUNT of The Young Victoria, The Devil Wears Prada), tracks him down to help find her missing love, Talbot returns home to join the search.  He learns that something with brute strength and insatiable bloodlust has been killing the villagers, and that a suspicious Scotland Yard inspector named Aberline (HUGO WEAVING of The Lord of the Rings and The Matrix trilogies) has come to investigate.   
As Talbot pieces together the gory puzzle, he hears of an ancient curse that turns the afflicted into werewolves when the moon is full.  Now, if he has any chance of ending the slaughter and protecting the woman he has grown to love, Talbot must destroy the vicious creature in the woods surrounding Blackmoor.  But after he is bitten by the nightmarish beast, a simple man with a tortured past will uncover a primal side of himself…one he never imagined existed.
The Wolfman is directed by JOE JOHNSTON (Jurassic Park III, Hidalgo) and the action-horror film is written by ANDREW KEVIN WALKER (Sleepy Hollow, Se7en) and DAVID SELF (Road to Perdition, Thirteen Days), based on the motion picture screenplay by CURT SIODMAK (1941's The Wolf Man)
The master creator of seminal werewolf effects in film, six-time Academy Award-winning creature designer RICK BAKER (An American Werewolf in London, as well as Men in Black, The Nutty Professor), designs the signature characters for The Wolfman.

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

The Wolf Howls Again:Restoring a Classic
He has been given countless names by scores of cultures over thousands of years.  There has long been a global fascination with the mythological creature known as the lycanthrope, a human with the unnatural ability to transform into a wolf-like creature when the moon is full.  From the myths of the ancient Greeks to documentation by Gervase of Tilbury in 1212's "Otia Imperialia," horror stories about werewolves have dominated world cultures for centuries.
But it has only been in the past seven decades that the creature was committed to film.  In 1935, Universal released Werewolf of London, from director Stuart Walker, but it was 1941's classic The Wolf Man that firmly established the modern cinematic myth of the werewolf.  The film created a lasting iconic character in the tragic figure of a wayward nobleman by the name of Lawrence Talbot, played by Lon Chaney, Jr., son of silent film icon Lon Chaney, star of The Phantom of the Opera and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Directed by George Waggner from an original screenplay by Curt Siodmak, The Wolf Man was Universal's latest creature film in an era that spawned imagination and nightmares.  The Talbot character went on to reappear in films for the studio including Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, House of Frankenstein, House of Dracula and Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein.
While the original, with its tagline of "His hideous howl a dirge of death!"
became an instant classic, at only 70 minutes in run time, it was quite a short monster movie.  It solidified the fame of star Lon Chaney, Jr. and included cameos from additional Universal "monsters," including The Invisible Man's Claude Rains as Sir John Talbot and Dracula's Bela Lugosi as the gypsy who discovers the curse that's been leveled upon Lawrence.
Actor/producer Benicio Del Toro has long been a fan of this genre and began to consider paying homage to the film with his manager and producer, Rick Yorn.  Yorn explains his interest in beginning the project: "Growing up, these monster films really had an effect on my brothers and me.  When I first came out to Hollywood, I wanted to remake one of the old movies.  A few years ago, when Benicio and I were walking out of his house, I saw the one-sheet for The Wolf Man.  It shows a close-up of Lon Chaney, Jr. as the monster.  I looked at the poster, then back at Benicio--who had a full beard at the time--and said, 'How would you feel about remaking The Wolf Man?'" 
Del Toro was very interested in paying homage to the genre he'd loved since he was a boy.  While he realized that would require him going deep into the makeup and prosthetics it would take to pull off the signature look of the creature, he was game for the challenge.  "Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy…when I was a kid, I watched these movies," Del Toro explains.  "My earliest recollection of acting was watching Lon Chaney, Jr. play the Wolf Man.  We wanted to honor this classic movie and the Henry Hull movie Werewolf of London.  We knew it would be exciting to make it in the classic, handcrafted way."
Del Toro didn't want to remake the film frame by frame, but rather update it for modern audiences.  He felt the story screenwriters Andrew Kevin Walker and David Self created "gave the movie some twists and turns and a modern edge, while still honoring the original story."
Del Toro and Yorn set about getting the project off the ground and, during a dinner with producer Scott Stuber, the men decided it was time this classic was updated.  "We have put in a few twists, but we wanted to honor the original," says Stuber.  "The Wolf Man is so iconic because, on some level, he is within us.  Every person feels a sense of rage.  Each of us feels a sense of that time when we went too far, got too angry, did something we shouldn't have done.  Something primal exists within all of us, and we must control it or we are doomed."
It was never a doubt for the producer that Del Toro was perfect for the title character.  Of the Oscar^® winner, Stuber commends: "Benicio's got such powerful eyes.  To feel so much emotion coming from under the transformation is critical to the heart of the movie.  We didn't want to separate the actor from the Wolfman…and end up having the beast here and Benicio there.  The performance is always most important in order to feel for the character.  The special affects are amazing, and they enhance the performance…they don't create it."
  The three filmmakers were joined by producer Sean Daniel, who knew something about reinvigorating monster franchises himself; Daniel helped relaunch The Mummy series for Universal Pictures.  Of his involvement in the production, Daniel notes: "It was really exciting to be asked to join in on giving new life to another of Universal's great, classic monster characters that so inspired me when I was a kid."
Together, the producers began the search for a director who could not only translate the drama of the script, but also execute a horror film that would seamlessly blend visual effects, creature effects and CGI.
When director Joe Johnston was brought on to the project, he took over the reigns from Mark Romanek, who departed during pre-production.  An Academy Award^®-winning art director for Raiders of the Lost Ark, Johnston's resume as a director includes a strong combination of character-driven films such as October Sky and epic visual effects movies including Jurassic Park III and Hidalgo. 
As with all of his projects, the director was far more interested in story before spectacle.  In screenwriters Walker and Self's story, he found "underneath the action and the blood and the terror, a love story about Lawrence Talbot and his dead brother's fiancée, Gwen.  I wanted that relationship to be the element that held the story together…the key piece that invested the audience in understanding this horrible thing Lawrence is inflicted with."   
The former art director was excited by the visual challenges that would come from turning the script into an action-horror film: "I want to show the audience something they haven't seen before in our process of turning a man into a werewolf," notes Johnston.  "We've all seen these transformations in werewolf movies, and they all rely more or less on the same visual elements.  It's stretching bones and hair growing on the face. 
"We've done transformations in The Wolfman that you could only do with the help of computer-generated animation," he continues.  "We have a great place to start the transformation, which is Benicio Del Toro, and we have a great place to end up, which is Rick Baker's makeup.  But it's not a straight-line transformation…we go off in multiple directions to get to the end result."
The filmmakers knew that in order to deliver the spectacular sequences, they needed to find the perfect balance between practical effects and special effects.  That challenge would be one of many throughout the course of shooting and editing the film.  But before any of that could begin, it was time to cast the supporting players to help Del Toro bring the infamous creature to life once again.

Noblemen, Detectives and Young Victorians: Casting The Wolfman
As with other facets of The Wolfman, it was important for the filmmakers to include classic characters from the original horror movie.  While Lawrence's father--played by Claude Rains in the 1941 version--only had a very minor role in that film, the team felt that key relationship should be a large part of the 2010 update.  In addition to Lawrence Talbot and his father John, they wanted to make sure they included characters such as Gwen Conliffe, the conflicted object of Lawrence's affections, and Maleva, the chieftainess of the gypsies.  Producer Stuber summarizes the group's thoughts on the stellar cast: "Benicio, Anthony, Emily and Hugo together bring tremendous depth to the story and give life to the spectacle and the horror elements." Read more

Unleashing the Hellhound:Creature Design and Effects
Notorious for his design and transformation of David Naughton in John Landis' classic An American Werewolf in London, six-time Academy Award-winning creature effects designer Rick Baker was asked to come aboard the production.  He wanted to keep the look as close to the original Wolf Man as possible, while paying tribute to Jack Pierce's creation from the '40s.  "Jack Pierce was my idol," says Baker.  "He was the guy I really admired, and I wanted to be true to what Jack did…but still modernize it.  It's still very much the Jack Pierce Wolf Man, but with a little Rick Baker thrown in.  I wanted my Wolfman to be a little more savage and look like he could do a lot more damage than Lon Chaney, Jr." Read more

London to Castle Coombe: Design and Locations
Due to the fact that the werewolf only rears his head late on a moonlit eve, a number of night shoots were required for the production.  From the beginning, the filmmakers knew it would a long slog for the crew, who practically spent the first six weeks shrouded by waterproof tents as they donned their wet-weather gear.  Read more

His Lonesome Howl: Cry of the Wolf
VFX, SFX, makeup, locations and schedules were nothing when compared to the biggest challenge of the production for director Johnston.  The Wolfman's toughest obstacle was one the reader might think would be minor: perfecting the haunting howl of the title creature.  Johnston explains his conundrum: "When it came time to lay in the sound of the wolf howl, we tried everything from animal impersonators to a crying baby and artificial sounds.  We took those sounds and digitally processed them…looking for just the right combination of things to give us the perfect howl.  But we just could not find it.  We wanted it to be iconic, but something audiences had never heard before."Read more

Victorian Costumes: Milena Canonero's Design
Triple Oscar-winning costume designer Milena Canonero, whose previous work includes her stunning costume work for Marie Antoinette, has an extensive background working on period films.  Johnston asked Canonero to make the costumes for The Wolfman very gothic, which, in 1890, included strikingly angular shapes.  She used dark, rich colors, which were unlike the light, frothy look that could be seen at the end of the 19^th century in England.Read more

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

JOE JOHNSTON (Directed by) directed the box-office hits Jurassic Park III, Jumanji and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.  His additional credits as a director include Hidalgo, October Sky and The Rocketeer.  Johnston is currently in preproduction on Paramount Pictures' The First Avenger: Captain America, set for release in 2011. 
Prior to directing, Johnston worked in visual effects on the films Star Wars: Episode IV--A New Hope, Star Wars: Episode V--The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: Episode VI--Return of the Jedi and Raiders of the Lost Ark, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.

BAFTA-nominated screenwriter ANDREW KEVIN WALKER (Screenplay by) wrote David Fincher's Academy Award-nominated film Se7en.  His other film credits include Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow; Hideaway; and Brainscan.
Walker also wrote the shorts The Hire: Ambush and The Hire: The Follow, starring Clive Owen, for the BMW Film Series.

DAVID SELF (Screenplay by) previously wrote DreamWorks' The Haunting, directed by Jan de Bont, New Line Cinema's Thirteen Days and DreamWorks' Road to Perdition, directed by Sam Mendes.  Self is currently working on Universal Pictures' The Parsifal Mosaic for Ron Howard.


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