How The Wolf Man’s Design Will Be Different From Other Werewolves Teased By Reboot Director: “Just Looked Perfect”

The Wolf Man director is ready to explain how he developed a new version of the iconic monster’s design. As a modern reboot, the movie aims to reimagine the classic Universal 1941 monster movie, with trailers revealing the film will center on a family fighting for survival after being attacked by an unknown entity, all while one of them undergoes a transformation. After a lengthy development process, the new Wolf Man movie, which hails from Invisible Man writer/director Leigh Whannell, is finally gearing up to hit theaters in January 2025.

During an interview with Screen Rant at New York Comic Con, Whannell opened up about his designs for the character. After compiling a book containing all the different werewolf designs, he settled on a single one. Surprisingly, he also cited Heath Ledger’s Joker as a major inspiration for Wolf Man, noting he didn’t view the Dark Knight villain as a visual concept for the character, but rather he did play into the creature’s nature. He was also surprised to find that he had no reason to contest the make-up artist’s version of the character. Check out Whannell’s full quote below:

It was tough. It was weird, because it was exactly as you said, there’s been so many versions of this. I lined up all the different versions, I had a PDF of everyone from Lon Chaney to David Norton in American Werewolf, The Howling, Dog Soldiers. I had every look in front of me, and I’m kind of staring at it, and I’m like, “All right, so where do I fit in?” You know what a big inspiration to me was, was Heath Ledger’s version of the Joker. Not so much in terms of look, but I had a photo of him on my desk as the Joker because I really love what they did there with the character.

They stayed true to what the Joker is, but they just took it [to another level]. You hadn’t seen that version of the Joker before. Not at that time. People still love it. Do you remember when they first released that image of his face with that one sheet? Social media was not as crazy in 2008 as it is now, but I remember Twitter exploded. It was like, “Is that the Joker?” I find that so inspirational what they did with that character and how they approached it. And I was thinking [about] if I can take their approach to Wolf Man, and I think I did. So that document I had with all the different photos of all the different Wolf Men, when I put my version of it, it didn’t look like any of them. And I was like, “Ooh.”

Credit doesn’t even go to me. It goes to Arjen Tuiten, the makeup artist. I found him and I said, “I want to show you a photo, but I can’t. I want to see something.” He made a model. We were talking a lot, I was telling him what I wanted, and he’s like, “I think I know what you mean. Let me go.” And he ended up making this model of the creature on the ground. He actually built, like, half of a barn, almost like something you would see out on the floor here for sale. It was like a barn with hay on the ground and there’s this creature lying there. It was like this big.

And I was just staring at it for the first time, and I was like, “That’s it. It just looked perfect.” Do you know what? I never had any notes. I was like, “That’s it, that’s what we should do.” It doesn’t [happen often]. Usually in L.A., in Hollywood, it’s like, “Can we change this?” S–t, every screenplay I’ve written has just been absolutely inundated with notes. But when I saw the maquette, the model that Arian had made, I was like, “There’s no notes I can give you that would [improve this]” – I just was like, “Just do this.”

How The Wolf Man’s Design Compares To Other Werewolf Movies

The Wolf Man Is Much More Human

In most werewolf movies, the wolf has fur that sprouts across its body, long fangs, and claws on his hands and feet. Their faces are human-like, but they are rarely entirely human. Instead, they are bulky, double-jointed, and dog-like. Wolf Man looks to be taking a completely different route, as while Whannell only alluded to the appearance, the official design has already been revealed and is available below. It lacks the appearance of typical werewolves, as it features little more than sharp teeth and short claws:

The design is likely partly incomplete here, as it is unlikely that this version of the character will ever be seen in full light. It also lacks the touch of CGI or even VFX trickery. Still, Christopher Abbott’s Wolf Man simply looks nothing like the original character. He is little more than an old man with shaved teeth and well-maintained nails, which is an extremely human Wolf Man, who hardly matches the supernatural horror of previous movies. He looks more fitting for a slasher or psychological horror movie.

Our Take On The Wolf Man’s Design

The Success Of The Design Depends On The Genre

The design is certainly unique, but it hardly evokes any notion of werewolves. The new style shies away from the conventions of the genre, but it may be too much of a reinvention. The long-term impact of the design remains to be seen, given that VFX and CGI could substantially change the creature’s appearance. If Whannell chooses to rely on the idea of a less supernatural version of the character, then this is downright perfect. As Wolf Man is not connected to The Invisible Man, it is not yet possible to know his intentions, and everything will depend on that.