February 5, 2025

FILMHOUNDS Magazine

All things film – In print and online

Leigh Whannell On The “Pressure” Of Making Wolf Man

Leigh Whannell sat in front of a Wolf Man promotional backdrop

's Dark Universe may be dead, but the studio's iconic monsters live on. Australian filmmaker Leigh Whannell began modernising them with The Invisible Man (2020), a terrifyingly resonant thriller that used the concept to tell a story about stalkers and gaslighting. It was a huge hit, earning a $144.5 million box office against a $7 million budget, and garnering a 91% Rotten Tomatoes score. And so here we are with Whannell tackling another Universal villain: the Wolf Man. 

Hitting cinemas on January 17, Wolf Man is a grounded take on the character that sees a father (Christopher Abbott) transforming into the creature with his wife (Julia Garner) and daughter (Matilda Firth) helplessly watching as other dangers lurk outside the farmhouse they're trapped in. Whannell explained on a video call with FILMHOUNDS how he was initially hesitant to take on Wolf Man “…not because I disliked the character or thought that that wasn't the right story, just because I felt like I had just done a monster movie, so I didn't want to repeat myself.”

Surely the pressure to follow up a hit must have factored into that too? “There was pressure, but it was mainly coming from myself. To be honest, I wasn't feeling pressure from the studio or the producers. I have this, like, self-imposed inner critic. My inner critic is louder than any real critic could be. So that was the pressure, was just me thinking, like, ‘Can I do this right?'”

You can watch his full interview below, where Whannell dives into the innovative technical aspects that brought his vision to life and ponders what classic monster he'd like to tackle next.

Watch our video interview here:

Wolf Man releases in UK cinemas on January 17.