Leigh Whannell did such an incredible job course-correcting Universal’s monster menagerie with The Invisible Man, that the news he’s no longer directing their next creature feature, the Ryan Gosling led Wolfman, is quite disappointing. However, his replacement should get you howling at the moon because the studio have chosen to reunite Gosling with his Blue Valentine and Place Beyond the Pines director Derek Cianfrance.
According to Deadline’s sources, Cianfrance is in talks to replace Whannell as not only the director, but also the writer of Wolfman, which will be produced by Gosling, Ken Kao and Jason Blum.
The Invisible Man grossed almost $150M at the worldwide box-office from a $7M budget, and who knows how much more it might have managed had the pandemic not struck during its theatrical run.
Wolfman was originally pitched to Universal by Ryan Gosling, so you can imagine it must have fit nicely with their re-branded ‘monsterverse’ following the disaster of The Mummy, and that the idea to bring Cianfrance on board, with whom the actor has created a pair of five-star films, would align with their vision. A vision we know very little about beyond the fact that this is thought to be a modern interpretation of the classic tale, an approach which served The Invisible Man‘s tech-terror #MeToo narrative very well indeed.
Cianfrance, who hasn’t made a film since 2016 heartbreaker The Light Between Oceans said “Horror movies were my first love — my entry into what cinema was capable of narratively, psychologically and aesthetically. Coupled with the opportunity to collaborate with Ryan again, this is truly a dream come true. I’m thrilled and inspired to work with the good folks at Blumhouse and Universal to bring this monster back to life in our collective unconscious.”
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