Reports of a new take on the 1941 Universal Monster movie The Wolf Man first emerged back in 2020 with Ryan Gosling slated to star, and while few substantial updates on the project have been confirmed in the years since, Gosling sounds both committed to and excited about the project. Derek Cianfrance has been tapped to write and direct the project, with the pair having previously made films Blue Valentine and The Place Beyond the Pines together. This new project will allow them the opportunity to develop a more literal representation of themes they’ve previously explored figuratively. The Wolf Man doesn’t yet have a release date.
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“I just would do anything with Derek, but the idea of doing something like that just seems really exciting,” Gosling shared with Collider. “It’s new for both of us, but in some way, I feel like it’s kind of the movie we’ve made already a few times, but in literal form. We’ve always kind of made the metaphorical version of it, and it’s sort of like the opportunity to really, to just make the literal version of what we’ve been hacking away at.”
In the 80 years since the release of The Wolf Man, there have been a number of different films featuring werewolves, with 2010 seeing a more literal remake unleashed, which starred Benicio del Toro as the titular character.ย
Back in 2017, Universal Pictures announced the launch of its Dark Universe, which was slated to be a shared universe of Universal Monsters reboots. The franchise launched with The Mummy and plans were in place for new takes on Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but the lackluster response to that debut entry saw all future projects delayed, reimagined, or scrapped entirely.ย
In February of 2020, filmmaker Leigh Whannell unveiled a new take on The Invisible Man, which was a spiritual reboot of the source material and entirely revived the concept. The success of that film resulted in the announcement not only of this new The Wolf Man, but also new takes on Dracula and various other Universal Monsters-related projects. Rather than being part of a shared universe, however, the new films aim to be standalone adventures.
Stay tuned for details on the new The Wolf Man.
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