“The Wolfman” Cast Howls, “Percy Jackson”‘s Star and Director Enlighten us, and Oscar’s Coulda-Shoulda-Woulda-Second-Guesses
“Last weekend, the cast and crew of “The Wolfman” sat down to talk about their new film. Though inspired by the original 1941 film, “The Wolfman” includes some unique new choices to alter the feel and the shape of the material, including setting the film in Victorian England.
The film’s settings are all stark moors and glorious country estates, and this, according to Sir Anthony Hopkins — “Call me Tony,” Hopkins says, with the charming grace of someone giving you permission to not call him by the title the Queen bestowed on him — was actually the best possible preparation for his performance: “When you’re working on a big set you don’t have to act; you don’t have to do much. It’s like John Wayne said: ‘When you’re in Monument Valley, you don’t have to be bigger than Monument Valley.’ The great American actors, like John Wayne and Gary Cooper … they didn’t act; they just did. That’s the best kind of acting. When you’re in the middle of Old England in the old manor house … you don’t have to act. You just meld in with the place, and the sinister beauty.”
Emily Blunt also had thoughts on the setting and how it informed her work as Gwen, who feels an undeniable attraction to Lawrence (Benicio Del Toro), the brother of her dead fiancé. When I mention that the Lawrence-Gwen relationship feels like something out of “Wuthering Heights” dipped in blood, she laughs. “It’s so weird because I read ['Wuthering Heights'] around when we did it, and ‘Hound of the Baskervilles,’ and those books that were relevant to that time period,” Blunt says. “And I think that’s what we wanted to create: something that had tension, and suspense, but was gothic with something repressed about it. And I think setting it in Victorian times is cool because it was a superstitious time … And I think that’s what’s part of this movie, because it was a time when village gossip ruled the world, and I think that was a good backdrop for the film. ”
Of course, some actors got to walk in that world, and some had to wear it; I asked Hugo Weaving, who played Police Inspector Aberline, if his elaborate period facial hair made him think, each time he saw it in the mirror, about his character and the film. “It was a four-month shoot,” he said, “and every time I looked in the mirror I thought, ‘Why did I make this stupid decision?’”
Period ‘stache-sideburns combo aside, Weaving also talked about his character as the voice of Victorian reason and as an anti-villain to Del Toro’s anti-hero: “I think what’s interesting about Aberline is that in many ways he’s your eyes as you’re watching the film; he represents that view of life: ‘There aren’t werewolves. Of course there aren’t. Superstitious people abound, but you can’t take them seriously.’ … And then he has to see a transformation in front of his eyes and has to completely change his worldview and jump into action.” ”
– From The Rundown, MSN Movies
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