One of the most interesting horror “what if?” in recent years remains the story of Mark Romanek and “The Wolfman.” Originally hired to remake the classic Universal horror film, Romanek exited the project mere weeks before filming was set to begin, being replaced by Joe Johnston. The final product was a box office bomb that shot down Universal’s plans for a shared cinematic universe until the Dark Universe happened (and we all know how that turned out). Nearly 10 years after the release of the film, Romanek discusses what went wrong with the film and whether he’ll direct a horror movie again.
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In an interview with Collider about his TV show “Tales from the Loop,” Mark Romanek talked about whether he’d consider giving the classic wolfman story another go. “Well, no, because it was a perfect storm of potential, and with a perfect storm of kind of shit,” Romanek said. “It was Benicio Del Toro and I collaborating on a vision of the kind of film we wanted to make, and then we got Anthony Hopkins, and we got Emily Blunt, and then we got [production designer] Rich Heinrichs, and I got Milena Canonero to do the costumes and we were really in the process of making this more daring, darker, more mysterious horror film.”
“And it was during the writer’s strike and there were changes of leadership at the studio,” Romanek continued. “And they didn’t seem to really trust what we were doing. And it was costly, the film, and everything started pulling apart rather than coalescing. Everybody started going in opposite directions until it was clear that if they wanted to make their idea of the film, meaning the studio’s idea of the film, my hands were kind of tied because there was a writer’s strike, so we couldn’t really change the script. So I didn’t see a way to give them what they wanted and the only option really was to step away and say, “Do it how you want,” which was very disappointing and that’s the way it went.”
Of course, that wouldn’t be the last time Romanek directed a horror story, as he directed the failed pilot for “Locke & Key” back in 2011. But when it comes to a potential return to horror, Romanek is open to the idea. “Well, yeah, I’m working on some stuff, so I’d love to make one. I’m hoping to make one. I’m talking to a terrific novelist about optioning a book, just this week.”
