JoeJohnston

Few films run into the monumental production hiccups that have plagued The Wolfman from day one. With directors leaving, budgetary concerns, the firing and rehiring of Danny Elfman, and an emergency clean-up editing session after an LA screening it's not hard to understand why so many people considered this project a sinking ship. I have been following the woes of The Wolfman for some time but despite what I had read, possibly despite my better judgment, I went into the theater optimistic as a die-hard fan of the Universal monsters. Interestingly enough, this film is so patched together, so broken and stitched, that it more closely resembles Frankenstein's monster.

The tragic story of Lawrence Talbot is timeless. Here is a man cursed for reasons beyond his control; victimized by fate in the tradition of the protagonists of Shakespeare or Euripides. He is a man who becomes a monster upon the full moon and commits horrible atrocities that fill his heart with regret once the transformation is reversed. Lon Chaney, Jr., who played this role originally in several Universal films, brought so much sympathy to the part, particularly the scene in Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman wherein he is begging for someone to find a way to kill him, it was heartbreaking. You feel for this man and, though he is also a monster, you make an emotional connection.

Since it's been delayed for a variety of reasons, we've been waiting to see Joe Johnston's rendition of The Wolfman for quite some time now. I'm always skeptical when someone tries to revisit the classic monsters, but I like Johnston's track record ... at least a lot more than I liked the Van Helsing director's track record. (For those who don't memorize these things, Joe Johnston also directed Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, The Rocketeer, October Sky, Hidalgo, Jurassic Park 3, and (ok, fine) Jumanji.)

We know that the new-fangled but old-fashioned remake will run 96 minutes and arrive bearing an R rating for "bloody horror violence and gore," but now comes word from BD.com that the "extended cut" (not "director's cut") will run almost twenty minutes longer. Johnston told BD: "I think it's 17 minutes longer – a lot of it's stuff up front, but there's also, throughout the film, we basically let the scenes play a little bit longer. There's a little bit of action stuff, but it's mostly bits of scenes that worked, but we cut them out to shorten the film. You know, to get down to our 96 minutes." (Click here for more.)

So there's just another reason to keep your fingers crossed on The Wolfman. If this new version (which stars Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Hugo Weaving, and Emily Blunt) is rock-solid, then hooray: We get 17 minutes more of it in a few months.

The Wolf Man has had a spot or two of trouble finding its way back to the big screen. First One Hour Photo director Mark Romanek, who got the remake off the ground in the first place, dropped off the project citing creative differences. Joe Johnston stepped in to fill his shoes and it seemed the wait wouldn't be long before we'd all be reveling in Benicio Del Toro's blood-curdling howls at the moon. Then woe-of-woes struck: the dreaded release date shuffle.

Universal Studios had originally carved out November of '08 to unleash The Wolf Man. Then late winter/early spring of '09. Now we're stuck wait until February 10, 2010. Universal insisted their trepidation to actually put the creature feature in theaters was not out of a lack of confidence, but a stalwart patience for finalized special effects work. And now that the first trailer for Joe Johnston's stab at the classic monster is up on Yahoo I only have one reaction and it's right up there in the title.

The Wolf Man looks stunning. You could never even gleam from the trailer (embedded below) that the production has had such a bumpy ride to fruition. The script, aided by Se7en screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker, seems peppered with chewy bits of quotable goodness. Emily Blunt is a knockout in a corset, Anthony Hopkins feels right at home in a castle and the pain behind Benicio del Toro's eyes looks positively ravaged.

February 10th suddenly feels decades away.

By William Goss

Poor, poor Benicio Del Toro. A former resident of last February, last April and this coming November, his take on The Wolf Man has been bumped back to next February now. That's right: for all the re-scheduling and re-shoots, Joe Johnston's version of the classic monster movie has all but lapped itself on the release slate, hoping to serve as R-rated counter-programming on February 12th, 2010 to Valentine's Day fare and maybe rake in the kind of opening weekend that Friday the 13th had this year ($40 million -- albeit followed by a steep 80% drop in attendance)

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