Blumhouse’s Wolfman reboot has been a long time coming. Following the success of The Invisible Man, director Leigh Whannell was quickly hired to revive another legendary movie monster. Ryan Gosling joined the cast shortly thereafter, only for Whannell to drop out and be replaced by Gosling’s Blue Valentine director, Derek Cianfrance. And then…well, nothing. But it seems Universal is going back to square one on the project, with a new actor and a familiar face as director.
THR reports that both Gosling and Cianfrance have exited Wolfman, only to be replaced by Christopher Abbott and a returning Leigh Whannell. Abbott is one of the best actors working today, and can be seen right now opposite Emma Stone in Poor Things. Whannell is obviously talented in the genre space as one of the creators of the Saw and Insidious franchises, but also his recent sci-flick Upgrade which needs a damn sequel already.
As for why Cianfrance and Gosling left the project? Who knows? Cianfrance has never done anything like Wolfman before and perhaps he had a change of heart, with Gosling deciding he didn’t want to do it without him? Or it could just boil down to scheduling or creative direction?
Personally, I think this is a compelling project either way. I would’ve loved to see what the Gosling/Cianfrance combo would do with a Blumhouse-style horror, but Whannell rarely misses and I expect he’ll be on point here, too.
The good news is that all of these moves have actually kicked things into overdrive. Wolfman is now scheduled to arrive on October 25th 2024, just in time for Halloween.
