Werewolf by Night Director Shares How Man-Thing Used Practical Effects (Exclusive)

Werewolf by Night director Michael Giacchino revealed that Man-Thing used practical effects on-set during the Marvel special. The filmmaker sat down with Comicbook.com's Phase Zero podcast to share some stories about the first MCU special presentation. In the course of the conversation, Giacchino actually discussed how they made a life-size version of our good friend Ted and why they chose to go that route. A lot of jokes get made about superhero projects and actors playing against blank blue walls and tennis balls. The director wanted no part of that, so he pushed for a full-scale model of the "monster" for this project. It seems like that choice clearly paid off as people just love Man-Thing right now.

"When it started out, I was like, 'Werewolf's gotta be practical, let's build a Man-Thing. Let's see how far we can get with that? The folks with K&B craft studio, they did the most incredible job," he shared. "They built a life-size Man-Thing. It was completely animatronic and its eyes glowed red. It was crazy and the hands were all motorized. So, yeah it was great. Now, it was mostly on-set so there would be something for the actors to work with."

The director continued, "I didn't want there to be a guy with a tennis ball on the end of a stick saying, 'Here's the monster, look at this right here.' I didn't want that, I really wanted them to really engage with the character. Because I knew how big that character of Man-Thing was going to be. So, they could relate to him and be with him in the same space. So, we built all of that and our wonderful visual effects staff went over that with their incredible effects and brought it to life in a whole way."

Where Will These Characters Pop Up Next?

Giacchino also spoke to Collider about the future of Elsa Bloodstone, Ted and Jack Russell sometime down the line. It feels like there are so many more plans for the monster side of the MCU. 

"Well, I love these characters. I mean, the reason I did this was because I love them so much. I think Elsa Bloodstone is an incredible character and Jack Russell," Giacchino said. "These are people that I have such an affinity for. So would I want to do more with them? Absolutely, I'd want to do more with them. I have a lot of ideas of things I'd want to do. We're just in that weird phase right now where it's like, all right, well, let's see what the future holds. And I'm in a place too, for the first time in 20 some years that I don't have a thing to just jump onto next."

Are you surprised they built a real Man-Thing? Let us know down in the comments!