Despite everyone’s better judgment, Max Landis — the son of An American Werewolf in London filmmaker John Landis — is preparing to write and possibly direct a remake of his father’s 1981 film.
Apparently before Max Landis came to the project, Shaun of the Dead and Baby Driver director Edgar Wright was approached about doing one.
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“It was years ago. Way before Max [Landis] came onboard,” Wright told Slashfilm. “There was no script, just the idea of doing it. John [Landis], whom I love, asked me and I said it’s a perfect movie as far as I’m concerned, and I have nothing to add to it.”
What is arguably really funny is that one of the many things people loved about American Werewolf in London was its soundtrack, which we recently discussed with the original film’s star David Naughton at Scare-A-Con in Verona, New York. Since Wright is one of the directors who creates iconic soundtracks that help shape the work, one could see why this conversation came back to us when reading about Wright’s not-so-near-miss with Werewolf.
“I always wondered why — I can’t remember when ‘Werewolves of London’ was released,” said Naughton. “It wasn’t in American Werewolf in London, which seems like a natural fit, but I think part of the reason why it’s not in it was that it’s so dead on. One of the things I don’t think a lot of people knew about was that John Landis wanted to use Cat Stevens’s ‘Moon Shadow’ in the film, but Cat Stevens believed in werewolves and didn’t want to give us the song.”
It was not to be, though. After talking to Wright about it, Slashfilm called up their own old interview, in which he talked about the film:
“Off the top of my head, my favorite needle drop, and I think it’s magical, is the cut to the end credits of An American Werewolf in London,“ Wright said. “Every time I watch that movie, I just think it’s the perfect, perfect ending. I don’t know how to talk about it without ruining it for someone who has never seen it. It’s such a tragic, heartbreaking ending and then a cut to black and the most upbeat, doo-wop version of “Blue Moon” by The Marcels. I remember the first time I saw it, it gave me such a rush and goosebumps. And it still does. I think it’s the greatest cut-to-black credits song ever. It sort of sums up the mischief of the movie. There’s real alchemy in that movie. It somehow manages to do everything. It’s funny and scary and heart-wrenching at the same time.”
No word yet on when the Max Landis version of American Werewolf might show up in theaters.
