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."
The younger Talbot not only comes back to Blackmoor to find out what happened to his beloved brother, he tries to reconnect with a father that abandoned him decades earlier.  It is then that he is bitten by a werewolf and must deal with the realization that he will become a monster himself.  The original story was expanded to create new layers of interaction between the characters, and that began with fleshing out Sir John Talbot. 
Cast opposite Del Toro as Lawrence's eccentric father was legendary actor Sir Anthony Hopkins.  As the two Talbots have not seen one another or spoken for years, from the moment they reconnect, the relationship between the two men is naturally tense.  For Del Toro, it was not difficult to slip into that part of the role, as he was initially nervous to work with the performer.  He laughs: "At first, I was more in awe working with him than enjoying it.  By just watching him, he helped me and gave me notes here and there.  It was nice to have another actor give you suggestions.  He's a straight shooter; he's done in two takes and was great to work with."
Hopkins believed he had to tap into a place of dark abandon to be able to play Sir John.  He explains the relationship between the two men: "It is one of coldness and abandonment.  Lawrence has never been able to know his father, as he was sent away because of some unspeakable horror he witnessed as a child: the horror of his mother's death.  Sir John pushed him away and sent him to live in America, but he comes back to England as a world famous actor and discovers his brother is in trouble." 
Discussing his attraction to the role, Hopkins offers: "Psychologically, people enjoy looking at the dark side of life.  Transformation, resurrection, salvation…this story has it all."  The performer was interested in how the relationship between these two men developed.  He reflects: "Sir John is ice-cold and doesn't express any gentleness with tragedy or grief; that's just the way he deals with his son.  He also manipulates and needles him by offhand remarks, which are never overtly cruel, just something suggested."
Sir John, with his dirty nails, filthy clothes and unkempt hair, walks about a huge house that has become derelict.  As well, he makes sure that Lawrence never knows where he stands in their relationship.  Johnston enjoyed developing Sir John's madness and nudging the friction between the two as soon as they reunite.  The director reflects: "Sir John is completely and utterly mad, but he embraces his own madness as if it's the most normal thing in the world.  Anthony has played parts like this in the past, but in The Wolfman, we don't know he's insane until halfway through the film.  Up to that point, Anthony gives us these little glimpses into the madness of Sir John, and then the window closes and you wait for it to open again.  He makes you watch to see what he's going to do next."
Hopkins commends of his director: "Joe is successful, he's amenable, he's pleasant and absolutely everybody can talk to him.  He made it very easy for everyone, and that's tough considering how much he's had on his plate.  He came in with little preparation and had to take on an elephant of a film, and there has not been a hair out of place."
Selected to portray the tragically-in-love Gwen Conliffe--a role originated by the timeless Evelyn Ankers--was performer Emily Blunt.  Since her breakthrough role as the sharp-tongued first assistant to Meryl Streep's lead in The Devil Wears Prada, Blunt has developed a body of work loved by critics and audiences alike. 
As Gwen, she plays the fiancée of Lawrence's dead brother, Ben, and has come to London to beg her soon-to-be brother-in-law to help find her betrothed.  As they discover Ben's death, she begins to fall for Lawrence during the course of his stay in Blackmoor.  Offers her director of her talents: "Just by using her face, Emily can tell entire stories without saying a word.  Whenever we found a line that we could lose, we did.  Emily so powerfully tells Gwen's story with emotion…not just words."
Remarking on her reasons for joining the film, Blunt says: "I was drawn to the role because of who was attached to it, and I found the script very moving.  It wasn't just about violence; there was a love story and a human struggle that I was attracted to.  What's beautiful about The Wolfman is that it's a haunting story, but it's also a love story.  Joe started off with a vision of making a classic, sweeping, huge monster movie, and he has maintained that vision throughout the shoot."
While she did not have to endure the laborious hours in the makeup chair that was required of others in the cast, Blunt could relate deeply to the creature…and Gwen's feelings for it.  She agrees with Hopkins, noting, "I think we desire that loss of control and the ability to change or to understand the dark side in us.  There's something very basic about the way animals attack, but there's thought and malice behind what humans are capable of doing to each other that is even more frightening."
Gwen soon realizes that Lawrence has a dark side and a wildness that she has never encountered in her past; there's a danger present in him that she recognizes is buried within herself.  Blunt sees Gwen as a "beacon of hope" because of her strength.  She adds, "I like that in the face of adversity, as someone who has met a whirlwind of turmoil, fear and loss, Gwen has the ability to see the possibility for change.  She's very hopeful."
The murder of Lawrence's brother catches the attention of Scotland Yard's Inspector Aberline, played by celebrated actor Hugo Weaving.  Weaving's character was based on the actual Inspector Frederick George Aberline, who was brought in to head the investigation of the Jack the Ripper murders after they were considered too much for London's Whitechapel Criminal Investigation Department to handle. 
Stuber discusses the production's choice of Weaving as Aberline: "Hugo has a special intensity that is very believable.  That is important in a monster movie, because the audience has to believe this myth is real.  The more real it feels, the better and more horrific the story is."
After he'd read the screenplay, the actor, who has made fascinating choices in his career, from The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert to The Matrix trilogy, was keen to take the role.  He says: "It was a snap decision to play Aberline.  I read the script and liked it, but I had to make my mind up there and then.  It was a completely instinctive decision, but I really liked the material and thought Aberline was fascinating. 
"Aberline's a real character, but he has been given a slightly different interpretation by the writers and Joe," continues Weaving.  "He's an intelligent man who obviously went through a lot during the investigation of the Ripper murders.  He's wise and canny and can be charming, but he's also incredibly skeptical and doesn't believe for a minute that anything but a man could be responsible for the murders in Blackmoor."
With Lawrence under suspicion for the killings, Aberline travels to the hamlet to investigate further.  He soon finds himself a true outsider amongst the locals.  Weaving explains: "He's in a situation where he comes to this tiny country village and they're all talking about werewolves and demons; they lock their doors on a full moon.  He's a man from London who's very no nonsense and doesn't believe one iota in this rubbish."
Until he eventually witnesses Lawrence's transformation himself…
Additional key players who bring the Talbots' world to life include Nashville's GERALDINE CHAPLIN as Maleva, the gypsy who foreshadows the news of Lawrence's curse; The Path to 9/11's ART MALIK as Sir John's trusted manservant, Singh; Shakespeare in Love's ANTHONY SHER as the insane asylum's evil Dr. Hoenneger; and Valkyrie's DAVID SCHOFIELD as Blackmoor's bedeviled Constable Nye.

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."
For producer Rick Yorn, the idea that Del Toro would be transformed by one of the greatest-living movie-makeup artists was simply a must.  He notes: "Rick was our first choice; he's a legend.  You go to his shop and you see all the movies that he has worked on.  It's absolutely a museum.  For us, he did such an amazing job." 
Academy Award nominee DAVE ELSEY, who co-created the look of the Wolfman with Baker, remembers the early days of preproduction as he and Baker were paying homage to the look of the fearsome creature.  "The design brief we were given for the werewolf was very open, so we could almost come up with anything," recalls Elsey.  "We were sitting in Rick's workshop, and the more we talked, the more it seemed like the best thing would be to create a fresh version of what people would recognize as the Wolfman.  Rick brings so many ideas to the table and so much enthusiasm for this type of film; it's a dream come true for us to be working on this classic creature."
The producers and director Johnston were well aware that the sequences audiences most would anticipate in the film would be the transformation of the human protagonist into the title character.  The Wolfman takes a leap forward in that department…with extensive help from the visual effects division, an area with which Johnston is intimately familiar. 
Explains the director of the synergy: "The makeup is in several different pieces.  It's applied individually.  It's not a mask, so that allows Benicio to move and to express himself.  We didn't want to rely completely on computer animation, because you can break this barrier of believability or break the laws of physics.  What we're trying to do with these transformations is to keep it as absolutely real as possible and use VFX as a tool to extend what is possible with makeup."
Baker tested the intricate makeup on himself before having Del Toro sit in his chair for the first time; it would be a process the men whittled down to three hours.  Just to see what it would look and feel like from an actor's perspective, Baker applied the hair with glue, airbrushed his face, poured "blood" in his mouth and took pictures of himself as the wolf.  "It's very different when you're a makeup artist and you're trying to get this guy ready and you know the clock is ticking so fast…it's a blur," offers the makeup artist.  "But when you're the guy in the chair, it's a really different time frame."
He adds that he's much more familiar with his creations than the talent behind them.  "I spend a lot of my time with actors in the face that I've designed for them," says Baker.  "They come in the morning as themselves and almost immediately I stick this piece of rubber on them, and I don't see the actor anymore…but a creation.  I recognize Benicio as the wolf; I hardly ever see him as himself." 
For Del Toro, Baker's team created an "appliance" made of foam and latex that covered the actor's brow and nose.  The edges of Baker's appliance were made quite thin, so that they would seamlessly blend into the actor's skin when laid on top of his face.  When Del Toro was fitted with a prosthetic chin, cragged dentures (complete with sharp canines), a real hair wig and a beard that was applied with bits of follicles glued to his face, he embodied the fearsome Wolfman.
Though the makeup application took hours, Del Toro was excited to be involved in the process.  "As a kid, I always wanted to have those big teeth," laughs the actor.  "It doesn't matter how long you're sitting on that chair, with Rick the magic is bit-by-bit.  You close your eyes for five minutes, you open them up again and something is happening.  It was easy to go for it when you have such a great team of guys working with you and doing a terrific job."
After Baker's design had the production's seal of approval, his creature effects team set about making the werewolf suit to match Del Toro's new lupine visage.  Originally, the werewolf was to be clothed, and Baker's brief indicated that he wouldn't need to overly dress the body.  However, his four decades in movie makeup had taught him that, as the film developed, it might be otherwise.  He comments: "We set about making a full-body hairy suit, a suit in which each hair is individually tied…a bit like a giant wig.  But you can't just make one suit, you need at least three for your principal actor and another three for any stunt doubles that need to climb rooftops or fight in real fires.  That's a lot of hair!"
The wolf suits were fashioned out of a preferred material of makeup artists, yak hair.  Craftspeople traditionally use the coarse animal hair to mimic beards, moustaches or goatees.  In keeping with the spirit of the production, Baker used this hair--the same material Jack Pierce used on Lon Chaney, Jr. in the original film--on Del Toro.  Baker elaborates: "I also used a lot of crepe wool, which was cheaper for me to learn with when I started doing makeup at age 10.  It's much softer than yak hair, so we used crepe wool on some of the edges of Benicio's facial hair; it blended into his face better."
LOU ELSEY was chosen to be the creature effects department's fabrication expert; in that capacity, she was responsible for every wolf suit the production needed.  "There are so many different elements to creature effects and so many different departments that make up The Wolfman," Elsey offers.  "We had a fabrication department that worked on all of the body shapes so our Wolfman would have fully articulated muscles.  On top of his muscles, we had a hair suit, which is a spandex suit worked to look just like flesh.  We had sculpted elements on his chest and arms that had to be manufactured and painted."  She laughs: "There must be so many bald yaks in the world right now, we literally had to source it from everywhere we could."
The creature effects team knew that the Wolfman would be doing some serious damage during production, so to add to his terrifying demeanor, his suit needed bone-crushing claws.  Elsey adds: "We worked with Benicio to give him every bit of help we could so he could create his character.  Even the way Benicio holds his hands with his claws is dynamic and brings the character to life."
As Del Toro morphed from a quiet nobleman into a hound from hell, his facial features and body hair wouldn't be the only things about him that would need to change.  To give added height to the already tall actor, Baker's team secured leg extensions that were based on artificial limb technology.  A very simple, lightweight design, the new legs made Del Toro look even more towering and terrifying.  The result of the attachments was werewolf leg extensions easy enough to wear for beauty shots.  These appendages may also be seen in slow movement sequences, while other specially created feet were used for action sequences in which the wolf needed to jump, leap or run. 
Chaney was so recognizable as the Wolf Man in the original film that Baker wanted his new design to allow the audience to recognize a good deal of Del Toro as the wolf.  Elsey comments: "When you look at Benicio in his makeup, you can still see him in it, even with all the hair.  Other werewolves are much more animal-like, but our character has a very human element to him.  Benicio can do in makeup what a lot of people wouldn't be able to do; he's got a great face with very distinctive eyes." 
Del Toro committed wholeheartedly to the transformation, so much so the makeup team had a hard time maintaining Del Toro's makeup after a few takes of him biting his victim and shaking his head around.  They often found half of his prosthetic chin hanging off when he went for a retouch.
When it came time for the Wolfman to run, director Johnston and DP Johnson had to be imaginative with how they would capture the shots.  Johnston explains: "We wanted that dogleg foot on the Wolfman.  The feet that the stuntmen's feet fit into were almost like high heels.  The guys had to be suspended from overhead cables to enable them to run, jump or attack."  When necessary, Del Toro's legs were replaced with CG legs.  Johnston concludes, "We use computer animation to allow the audience to see the Wolfman's toes gripping the ground, pushing off the earth and flexing his legs…it really makes a difference in helping to believe the transformation is complete.  The best visual effects are the ones that are invisible, that you don't recognize as visual effects, or the ones that don't draw attention to themselves."
VFX supervisor STEVE BEGG's team was charged with taking the effects of Rick Baker and expanding upon them as needed.  When Johnston needed a jowl to unhinge or a brow to mutate, Begg brought Baker's stunning practical effects to a whole new level.  He explains: "One of the most overt effects in the film is the transformation into the werewolf.  With our hybrid approach--with CG and prosthetics and makeup--we hope the audience won't be able to figure out how each effect is achieved." 
The team appreciated the painstaking blending of the two schools.  "The obvious route today is to go entirely CG, and there is a lot of CG," says Begg.  "But it's not all the way through, and it's nice to have a traditional-effects approach coupled with a high-tech approach.  For example, in a scene in which Joe wanted the muzzle of the werewolf to expand a lot wider than it would normally, we put little tracking markers around the area we want to work on.  We hope this blend looks effortless." 

RICK BAKER (Special Makeup Design by) is one of the most honored makeup artists in motion picture history.  He has won six Academy Awards in the category of Best Makeup for his work on the films Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Men in Black, The Nutty Professor, Ed Wood, Harry and the Hendersons and An American Werewolf in London.  In addition, he has been Oscar-nominated for his work on the films Norbit, Life, Mighty Joe Young, Coming to America and Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes.   
Baker's makeup transformations have also been seen in such films as Hellboy, The Haunted Mansion, The Ring, Men in Black II, Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, Wolf, The Rocketeer, Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey and The Fury.  His talents are also on display in the memorable cantina sequence from the very first Star Wars movie.
Baker won an Emmy Award for his work on the acclaimed miniseries The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and earned an Emmy nomination for the series Beauty and the Beast.  His other television credits include the series Harry and the Hendersons and Werewolf.  In addition, he did Michael Jackson's makeup for the award-winning "Thriller" video, as well as Jackson's Captain EO.

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