After the utter failure of “The Mummy” and The Dark Universe, and the big success of “The Invisible Man,” Universal is shaping up to add yet another monster to their revival of classic monsters. Next in line will be Ryan Gosling, who is attached to star in a new version of “Wolfman.”
Variety has the scoop, reporting that Universal is pushing ahead for a reboot of “Wolfman” based on an original pitch by Gosling and a script by “Orange Is the New Black” writers Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo. There’s no director attached to the project just yet, but the studio is on the hunt for one. According to the report, one of the directors being considered is Cory Finley, who recently directed HBO’s “Bad Education” which stars Hugh Jackman, who already played a werewolf in the underrated “Van Helsing.”
Plot details are vague at this time, but Variety reports that the new take is “believed to be set in present times and in the vein of Jake Gyllenhaal’s thriller ‘Nightcrawler,’ with an obvious supernatural twist.” Gosling originally considered to direct it himself, but ultimately decided against it. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gosling would play “an anchorman who gets infected in what has been described as having a NETWORK/NIGHTCRAWLER vibe.”
Last time Universal tried to remake the classic werewolf tale was with 2010’s “The Wolf Man” directed by Joe Johnston and starring Benicio del Toro, which had fantastic makeup effects and an eerie gothic atmosphere, but ultimately became a critical and box office disappointment.
Hopefully this time Universal will get it right, as “Wolfman” would join Paul Feig‘s “Dark Army,” Dexter Fletcher‘s “Renfield,” Matt Stawski‘s “Monster Mash,” Elizabeth Bank‘s “The Invisible Woman,” and the reported James Wan‘s take on “Frankenstein” as a resurgence of classic monster films.