Julia Garner Joins Blumhouse Thriller ‘Wolf Man’

in Movie

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Julia Garner in ‘The Royal Hotel.’ Photo: Neon.

Preview:

Julia Garner is the latest addition to ‘Wolf Man’.
Christopher Abbott is aboard to star in the horror.
Leigh Whannell is directing the movie for Blumhouse and Universal.

Universal has once again turned to the Blumhouse team –– and to director Leigh Whannell, who did such a successful job updating ‘The Invisible Man’ –– to finally crack a new version of werewolf story ‘Wolf Man’, another take on one of the studio’s classic monsters.

With Christopher Abbott already aboard to star, the cast is growing to include ‘Ozark’ break-out Julia Garner.

What’s the story of ‘Wolf Man’?

1941’s ‘The Wolf Man.’ Photo: Universal Pictures.

This new take on the hairy tale will follow a family threatened by a lethal predator; Abbott is playing the father of the clan while Garner will be the mother.

That’s about all the studios will say about the movie –– though you have to figure that Abbott might end up howling at the moon.

The casting marks a reunion between Garner and Abbott, as the two worked together alongside in Sean Durkin’s 2011 drama ‘Martha, Marcy, May, Marlene’, which was Garner’s first professional acting job.

Who is making the new ‘Wolf Man’ movie?

Leigh Whannell as Adam Stanheight in ‘Saw.’ Photo: Lionsgate Films.

As mentioned, Whannell is aboard to direct, and he’s worked on the latest draft of the script with actor Corbett Tuck (a frequent collaborator on the ‘Insidious’ movies and ‘The Invisible Man’).

They’re re-writing work already completed by ‘Dumb Money’ script duo Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo.

But the movie’s history stretches back farther than that…

What’s the history of ‘Wolf Man’

Benicio del Toro as The Wolfman in 2010’s ‘The Wolfman.’ Photo: Universal Pictures.

At one point, the movie was going to be a fresh opportunity for director Derek Cianfrance and star Ryan Gosling, who have previously collaborated on the likes of ‘Blue Valentine’ and ‘The Place Beyond The Pines’. But that has since lingered in development, with rumors swirling of creative differences between Gosling and executives.

And Whannell was actually attached to the project before Cianfrance and Gosling boarded it, so this its current state is something of a full circle. Gosling will still score an executive producer credit, which we suppose will have to be “Kenough” for him.

If you dig even further back, there was also talk (around the time Universal’s much-touted “Dark Universe” monster franchise was still a going concern) of Dwayne Johnson taking the lead in a Wolfman movie. While that would have been something to see, our fear would be for something more along the lines of ‘Van Helsing’.