According to a report, Universal’s Ryan Gosling-starring take on The Wolfman has regained its original director, Leigh Whannell.
In the bizarro world of Hollywoodland, the dust may be settling from an earth-quaking six months of strikes but we’re still feeling regular aftershocks.
The other day we learned that Quentin Tarantino’s next film was facing a significant delay, but today’s story has taken an especially leftfield turn.
According to World of Reel, a listing on Production Weekly has revealed that Leigh Whannell is back in the director’s chair for The Wolfman, Universal’s modern spin on the classic werewolf character that has been in some kind of development for at least three years.
It’s been quite a while since we heard anything regarding this project so here’s a quick refresher: back in February of 2020, Leigh Whannell’s modern take on The Invisible Man was released to positive reviews.
By the summer of that year it was publicly announced that Whannell would be staying in the Universal/Blumhouse fold to take on another classic character from the Universal Monsters stable: The Wolfman. Ryan Gosling was attached to star and everything looked rosy.
Then everything went quiet for over a year until we heard that Whannell had exited the project and was being replaced by Derek Cianfrance, a regular Gosling collaborator. Cianfrance directed the excellent Blue Valentine and the equally excellent The Place Beyond the Pines, both of which were headlined by Gosling.
That was late 2021, and we haven’t heard much regarding the project since. However, the updated listing on Production Weekly is now listing Whannell as the project’s director. Equally interestingly, Derek Cianfrance is still being credited with the project’s screenplay.
Granted, it’s not a lot to go on, but given how long we’ve been waiting for an update for The Wolfman, it’s something – and at least gives an indication that the project is still alive.
Whannell’s 2018 flick Upgrade remains as one of the most fun R-rated science fiction films we’ve seen in a while (though it did nearly end up as a PG-13), so even though Cianfrance is now seemingly out of the director’s chair, we’re still in good hands. We’ll bring you more on this one as we hear it.
