The Cinematic Roots of Dread: How Denis Villeneuve Inspired the Wolf Man Director’s Vision
The new horror film Wolf Man marks the next installment in Universal’s effort to revitalize its Classic Monsters series and clearly draws inspiration from George Waggner‘s 1941 classic of the same name. However, according to writer-director Leigh Whannell, it also features some unexpected influences: Denis Villeneuve’s Prisoners and Sicario.
“I’m a huge admirer of gothic horror films. I appreciate what Tim Burton achieved with Sleepy Hollow, and I admire Guillermo del Toro’s work,” the filmmaker shares in the original edition of SFX magazine, which features the Star Wars spin-off film in its upcoming issue that will hit newsstands on December 31. “There’s such elegance to those gothic features, like mist and graveyards illuminated by the Moon.
“From a production team perspective, I absolutely enjoy that kind of stuff, but I believe I appreciate it even more as a spectator. I am the one who gets to enjoy it, yet I’m not the artistic designer to create it,” Whannell states. “When it comes to crafting a monster, my mind instinctively needs to showcase that creature in a realistic manner and adopt an authentic approach: we are not dealing with a fairy tale here, nor are we navigating a folk story; we are confronting something that could genuinely happen.”
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Featuring Christopher Abbott from Poor Things in the lead role, Wolf Man tells the story of Blake, a writer from San Francisco who inherits his childhood home after his father is declared dead, having disappeared years ago. In a bid to salvage his failing marriage to accomplished journalist Charlotte (played by Ozark’s Julia Garner), Blake, who’s out of work, proposes they spend the summer in rural Oregon – hoping to reconnect with their daughter Ginger (Matilda Firth) through quality family time.
However, upon their arrival, they are forced off the road by an enigmatic creature lurking in the woods, and Blake is brutally attacked. The frightened trio manages to retreat to the farmhouse, but with the beast prowling outside and Blake’s injury escalating, they soon realize that the horrors of the night are far from over…
Reflecting on his previous Classic Monsters reimagining, The Invisible Man, Whannell mentions: “For both films, Stefan [Duscio, cinematographer] and I were heavily inspired by Roger Deakins’s work in films with Denis Villeneuve, like Sicario and Prisoners.
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“If you examine those films, they’re stunningly captured without drawing attention to themselves. Many of them occur in unremarkable environments, such as a beige interrogation room in a police precinct, yet somehow Roger Deakins manages to make that space visually compelling – it’s all about his composition, lighting, and framing. So we borrowed heavily from that approach. I believe that this grounded method is the way forward, as it convinces the audience that this isn’t mere fantasy; it’s authentic.”
Wolf Man is set to debut in theaters on January 17. For more information, read the latest issue of the latest edition of SFX magazine, which features Star Wars as well.