The Reel Rejects - RAW, TERRIFYING, & RELATABLE!! Meeting The WOLFMAN & Its Director Leigh Whannell

Starting point is 00:00:00 Did you know that at Chevron, you can fuel up on unbeatable mileage and savings? With Chevron rewards, you'll get 25 cents off per gallon on your next five visits. All you have to do is download the Chevron app and join to start saving on fuel. Then you can keep fueling up on other things like adventure, memories, vacations, daycations, quality time, and so many other possibilities. Head to your nearest Chevron station to fuel up and get rewarded today. Terms apply. See Chevron Texciscorewards.com for more details. Introducing the new Volvo XC90 with seven-seat versatility,

Starting point is 00:00:35 Google built-in, and advanced safety features for all your precious cargo. The new Volvo XC90, designed for life. Visit volvocars.com slash us to learn more. At Sierra, you'll always find apparel footwear and gear for 20 to 60% less than department and specialty store prices. But right now it's clearance time, so you can save even more on everything you need to get active and outside. Visit your local Sierra store today. This idea that Wolfman and the other characters have different perspectives

Starting point is 00:01:10 with something that was really interesting to me from the very beginning. You know, I'm always trying to find something different. You know, movies take a long time to make. So you want to know that you're trying for something unique. At least I do. I like to hang on to that unique thing like a life raft. You know, and for me, in this piece, particular movie, that unique thing was the idea of shifting between perspectives and that when

Starting point is 00:01:35 you're in this animal perspective, you could not understand human beings. And you could see differently. You can see in the dark. You're seeing different things. Your color spectrum is different. And then the camera could float around the room and switch into a different, into a more human perspective. I just couldn't wait to shoot that. And it was really important to me to get that Right. I adored this movie and I am such a fan of the Universal Monsters and you've done, I think, the impossible in modernizing something that is so beloved without sacrificing either. So thank you.

Starting point is 00:02:09 Oh, awesome. Thank you. That's great for you to say that. Now, it opens for me in a way that I really love that there's a kinetic pacing, but then the hallucinogenic imagery really threw me in a wonderful way and that lack of comprehension. And that really puts you in a place where the POV is from the Wolfman. And I think that really served the narrative in a unique way. when did that idea come to add the hallucinogenic elements and that comprehension to throw you into his headspace?

Starting point is 00:02:33 I think that was the first idea. That was it. Like when I was, I always like to start a film by just collecting ideas, like building a collage. You know, I like to delay the part where you actually have to sit down and write as long as possible. Yeah. I think the scientific term for it is procrastination. So I, it's like cleaning your house before you start with the work. 100%. So I'm like, I make a playlist. You know, I'm very particular about what goes in the playlist. Then I start taking notes in a notepad. And I'm basically building this picture in my mind of what the movie is before I actually start putting it down.

Starting point is 00:03:08 And I think during that process, the first image I had in my head was of this language separation, you know, between someone who could not understand what their fellow human was saying anymore because they were now in the animal world. And that really stuck with me. And that stayed there right from the start all the way through all the way through all the drafts and all the editing and changes, that was always there.

Starting point is 00:03:30 The paranoia that comes from that, it's amazing. And then the conceit of that stays with you, so you've got that, that beating heart. And I love that things like this can have the Trojan horse morality, these themes, like with your Invisible Man, I love that it was about stalking. And this can be about so many different things because it's such a broad archetype. And with the family and generational trauma and with this being, I know, born out of the pandemic, have you found any closure that you got as a creator in getting through the work of discovering the trauma and processing it?

Starting point is 00:03:57 I think so. I mean, you know, I lost my brother-in-law close to the start of this shoot. It was a really shocking time. And it was, you know, pretty soon after that happened, I was shooting the movie. And I felt it was very cathartic. It was a way of processing it. And I realized how good art, whether it's making a film or whatever it is, writing, it's it's very cathartic and it's a good way to process grief you know yeah um so i found the i found

Starting point is 00:04:32 the film was a unique experience in that way because i was experiencing in a way what the characters were experiencing i was feeling this like grief but i was putting it all in the film you know i was trying to work through it you know on the job so yeah that that's that's the one thing i think i'll really take away from this movie is that kind of memory of that of that time there's so many great moments of parenting there's a a scene on a street in New York that is one of my favorite parent scenes. I've seen in years, and it's really powerful because it's conveying the theme of the film in a moment, which is always the goal of, especially in the beginning of the film, getting that

Starting point is 00:05:04 across. Was there anything that informed your life in real life now after discovering something through a character, like, whether as a parent or your relationship to your parents, is there anything that's affected you with your lineage? Yeah, I think so. I mean, one always informs the other. It's like when you write a scene, you write this version of real life that you can control. So I can make myself the perfect dad or the worst dad.

Starting point is 00:05:27 It's all about that pen, right? So it's a good way of, when you put something down in a film, you can step back from it and look at it and step outside yourself. And I realized, you know, there's a scene in the film where the father is shouting at his son. And when you're stepping outside of that, you see how ineffective that style of parenting is. Interesting. So you learn from the character in real life? Yeah, I'm like, I mean, I'm the one writing it, but I'm also learning from it.

Starting point is 00:05:53 That's amazing. I love that. Now, the idea to make this more grounded in modern day versus doing it in a period, but also to make it more grounded in less of the supernatural elements, I really personally enjoy the disease elements. I think that adds to the tendency to carry things through family lineage and the way we have trauma that we can't solve. What was that impetus in your storytelling narrative? You say you always start with visuals and like sound and creative procrastination, but when did the idea of making it something that was not supernatural come to? to you? I think it was pretty early on. You know, I was thinking about the invisible man and I was thinking about the way I like to tell stories. And I think I, for whatever reason, I'm just magnetized towards grounding something in reality. As a filmmaker, as a viewer, I like to watch, you know, all sorts of things, you know, as garish, as bigger production as possible. But as a filmmaker, for some reason, that seems to be my language. And so immediately I was thinking, like, how do I take this out of the realm of the occult and bring it more into a design? disease. So that was everything. Even the visuals of the little things that I would find on the

Starting point is 00:06:58 internet and sort of build a collage, it was all medical stuff. Interesting. It was nothing, there was none of the law. It was more about medical, you know, disfiguring diseases and things like that. And that translates, and it feels so practical and real, which I love superhero stuff. I love temple stuff, but it's nice to have the dichotomy in film, especially in a big movie like this that feels small and big simultaneously. Yeah. And I love that to me, there's an Easter egg, I don't know if it was intentional, but I got to know, to a film of yours I adore. There's a certain set piece that ties into animal lore of, you know, the way animals can do things to show their animalhood. How early on in the script process was the decision to kind of tie into your own lore of your filmography.

Starting point is 00:07:36 It was pretty like, because I was writing it with my wife and as we were going through it, you know, you're doing two things. You're building these characters and making them authentic, but I'm also thinking about set piece scenes, big moments in the film. Because you want to give people, you know, popcorn's expensive these days, right? If you're going to get them into a theater, I want to give them their money's worth. I want them to come away, having been on this big ride. So I'm thinking about these set pieces. And when I got to that moment, I was like, could I? This is sitting right there.

Starting point is 00:08:04 Yeah, could I? Would I? I couldn't. But no, I thought of it more from the animal angle. And then when I was on the set, it really hit me like that this was a full circle. It's so perfect. And it's an Easter egg without being an Easter egg without directly being. It's so perfect.

Starting point is 00:08:21 There's one direct Easter egg in there that you might admit there is a little jigsaw puppet. Oh, is there? Yeah, there always is. In every film, I put one. You can look for it when it comes out after you've seen it. Yeah, pause again. I'll be there tonight. Yeah, exactly.

Starting point is 00:08:33 So my last question for you, tying into that, actually, you work with James Wan a lot and have from the beginning and you guys were filmmakers coming up together, but I also know you used to interview filmmakers for Australia. And I'm wondering, and especially West Craven, were there any directors you interviewed on your come-up that you'll hear the advice of when you're. your filmmaking, and have you worked with anyone that you interviewed before that now your work associates with? Ah, it's interesting.

Starting point is 00:08:56 You know, one thing that really sticks with me is I was interviewing Tim Burton, and so he was visiting Australia, I think he was promoting Mars attacks, which I think is an underrated Timberton. I completely agree. And so I'm sitting there, and I'm like, wow, I'm interviewing one of my heroes here. And between setups, that's when I would get in my fan question. Well, they're setting up the camera, I'd be like, so tell me here. And I said to him, I was like, what does it feel like to be on the set of Batman?

Starting point is 00:09:20 I mean, that's such a big movie. Like, how do you even steer that ship or whatever? And he said, I never know what I'm doing. He was so honest. I had this moment where I was like, oh, there's not some big secret. Like, none of us know, we're all just grasping at straws.

Starting point is 00:09:37 And it kind of somehow made it more attainable a film career, rather than feeling like this distant island, a VIP club that I'll never get into. His admission that he really just doesn't know what the hell he's doing. and I was like, this is so great. That always sticks with me. I feel like this is into the film, too. Parents are always like, I don't know, there's no book.

Starting point is 00:09:56 There's no book. Adulthood is knowing there's no adulthood. Oh my God, there's no manual. You're constantly screwing it up. Yeah. Same with films. Like, even I saw an interview with Scorsese where he said, it doesn't matter how many films I've made,

Starting point is 00:10:08 I still feel like everyone is the first one, and I'm still learning. I'm a student. And that's true. Like, you just never stop learning about filmmaking. There is no end. No one gives you a certificate and says, congratulations.

Starting point is 00:10:19 You made film. You made film. You graduated. You just, you know, you can be in your 80s and still learning about filmmaking. So, you know, thanks to Tim Burton for opening that door of normalcy. Well, I cannot wait to see the next and the next and the next. This was a masterpiece, man. I really, really loved it.

Starting point is 00:10:34 Thank you. I really appreciate that. Thank you very much. That he is. We don't get to spend too much time with Blake before things start going awry. But again, you just get a sense that he's a man who sort of, loves his family, his daughter, and then pretty quickly things start going wrong. So, I mean, psychology of it for me was, again, just trying to figure out, you know, through

Starting point is 00:11:00 the transition what that would feel like and how much human comes out and then how much animal comes out. Hi, I'm Coy Jondro here with The Real Rejects, and I am so impressed with this work, man. It is not an easy role in being an archetypal role. Can't imagine the stakes. I heard you basically were booked off a small two-person play to Aubrey Plaza, which was the opposite environment, I imagine, being on a contained set. What was it like from the actor's side to hear that a studio approved,

Starting point is 00:11:25 a director was looking at you from doing work that feels like you're doing it to a few people suddenly turns into something like this? Yeah, I mean, I started talking to Lee a little bit beforehand. He came to see me in the play. I was joking around that he saw me overact a lot, and he thought maybe I'll be perfect for it. But then we, you know, we chatted a lot after once he, you know, decided that he wanted to work with me, and we had just a ton of great conversations leading up to it.

Starting point is 00:11:49 And, you know, while we talked a lot about, yeah, we're doing this horror film, it's genre, whatever you want to call it, but sort of maintaining, like, the story of this family and injecting the heart into it. So, yeah, it's a lot to live up to. But also, you know, I think while Wolfman is a very, you know, popular character and an idea, I think all the movies, all the Wolfman movies, whether it's American Werewolf in London, the original, whatever, they're all their own story. and they all of their own iterations.

Starting point is 00:12:19 And I think this sort of is in line with that, is that it's just very different. It's beautiful to not ever feel like a rehashing on iteration seven, but still familiar. Right, exactly. And like there's odes, you know, there's odes still, you know, even down to the prosthetics, you know, I think is a lot of like ode

Starting point is 00:12:34 to like Rick Baker style, prosthetics and stuff like that. So I think, you know, we give nods, but I think still do our own thing. And in that same vein, the physicality of the character, like I'm obsessed the Alexander technique and how a physicality can form a mental and, like, what that does for an actor, heard you broke your knee, like, the day after that performance.

Starting point is 00:12:51 So, you were rehabbing on this film. Yeah, luckily, by the time I came to shoot, I was, like, pretty good. Okay. I was, like, 85% or whatever, you know, whatever you want to call it. So that was lucky. But, yeah, but, you know, we use some of it, too, you know. I mean, I obviously had to change a little bit of my posture and physique and how I walked and stuff like that anyway, so maybe it helped.

Starting point is 00:13:14 I was just the mental pain. Like, you had just gone through something so painful and this transformation looks so viscerally painful. I was just wondering, like, how much that informs, and if you use a sense of memory of something that traumatic for your body to be mutilated accidentally. Yeah, I mean, like, I don't want to make, you know, I tore a meniscus in my knees, so I was like, yeah, it hurts,

Starting point is 00:13:30 but it's not overly dramatic, you know, so it's not like, I'm you, oh, I'm going to use this for my character. You know what I mean? Eric Gordon kicking the hell. No, I mean, you know, it's still a lot of pretend and make believe. But, you know, I have to give, I did a lot of work on that, but I give credit to a lot to Arian, the prosthetics designer, Because until you put all those prosthetics on, and that does a lot of work for you,

Starting point is 00:13:51 it helps shape your body a certain way. You know, some pieces are heavy, so your chest caves in and your shoulder rolls over, and it helps you kind of make shapes that you imagined, you know. Now, with that transformation, obviously movies don't, they rarely shoot chronologically. I imagine finding your way into that level of transformation mentally. Did you have like totems or anchors or like this day, I'm this transformed at this point in the movie? because you don't shoot it in a way that your mind would linearly attach to. No, that's, I mean, that's part of the, I think part of the work is you kind of have to,

Starting point is 00:14:21 I have to kind of keep track of that, but I have help with that. Lee, obviously, helps and, you know, the prosthetics also help with that, you know, because there's stages of prosthetics. So it's a good reminder of, like, when I have this stage of prosthetics on, and I go like, oh, right, that's the sort of mental state, whether it's, you know, 80% animal, 20% human, whatever you want to put the levels on, it's a, they're good reminders for that. Was that fun for you as an actor to play the Equalizer, like, to kind of get into it and, like, this day is going to be this?

Starting point is 00:14:48 Yeah, no, I think that's the fun of it, you know, especially because it's sort of like the, we talk about the fly a lot in terms of how, you know, that character sort of slowly is changing and progressing. And it's those little details that you get to show that, I think, are the most exciting things in it, you know. From a directing standpoint, I really love that, speaking of stage plays, the lighting in this often feels like a play. and especially going into your kind of intimate space, like a mind view, when you were reading the script, were there moments that you're particularly attached to that you're curious about seeing on screen

Starting point is 00:15:21 and how do they translate once you did see them on screen? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, like call it whatever you want to, like Wolf Vision kind of thing that's happening. You know, all that stuff, a lot, what I love is that him and Steph, our DP, you know, a lot of that stuff is done in camera and practically. Like, yes, there's visual effects added

Starting point is 00:15:37 to add, you know, certain flavors. But, I mean, on set, a lot of that stuff is happening. happening in real time. The lights would shift, you know, there's, I'm talking about, there's that scene where the change is starting to happen and everything sort of goes dark around him and it then feels like a spotlight. Yeah. You know what I mean? And that's, that's incredibly theatrical, you know what I mean? And juxtaposing that, I love that the horror elements feel like haunted house almost in their set pieces. There's like a roller coaster of a journey through locations. Yeah, exactly. When you're playing in that, reading the script onto actually being

Starting point is 00:16:06 on set, did the moments that you imagined in your mind's eye and then physically being in the space, Did anything change in how you saw, how you'd portray the character between your pre-production to your production once you were physically in a space? Yeah, things change. You know what I mean? And I think that's part of like, that's part of the collaboration and that's part of like the journey of it. I mean, you can sort of, you know, before the movie, you can come in with all the ideas and prep and, you know, things that you think you're going to do. But I kind of like that when you have to sort of throw all those things out the window and just sort of, you know, play the scene that day.

Starting point is 00:16:38 You know what I mean? and or try something that day. Again, like a lot of my preparation was just sort of coming with like a big bag of ideas and being able to pull those out when need be. Now, I don't have any kids, want kids, and one of my favorite kid scenes in years is the one of you and your kid on the street in New York

Starting point is 00:16:56 that's so connecting and so wonderful and immediately reframed in a way that I imagine Lee's talked about reframing parenting is learning from the characters you write. Has that informed anything and how you see, like, raising kids or informed any of that, because it's such a beautiful human moment, and it's scripted, but it feels so real.

Starting point is 00:17:14 Yeah, no, it's beautiful. And, you know, the theme of, like, that sort of generational parenting thing is very present. Sure. I mean, you see, like, the character of Blake as a young kid, and he has a very militant father, and then flash forward to him now as an adult, and he has a daughter, and he's sort of trying to raise his daughter, not the way his father raised him, but yet you can't help, but certain things that you inherit, inherit. So, you know, he's some, maybe sometimes.

Starting point is 00:17:39 was overprotective of her and he doesn't like that and then you know the events that then take place in the movie sort of force you to sort of jump you know your instincts kick in human instinct and and that's what's sort of beautiful about it it's like the basic things of just protect and survive and that kind of stuff and yeah I think that's very present throughout in that same vein but but for you as a person I imagine the life experiences you brought to the role you know a lifetime of of living the butterfly effect of everything led to this moment. Was there anything that you see the world differently, whether it's a visual or an emotion that you got out of playing something so animalistic,

Starting point is 00:18:15 something that shifted in you, you've noticed since? I'll say something me and Lee talked about, too, again, too, in talking about tragedy to inject. And, like, you know, we related a lot of the wolf transformation to, like, illnesses and real-life illnesses, whether it be, like, Alzheimer's or something like that, You know, where you see, you're like, you can see someone you know and you see, but they're like sort of disappearing before your eyes. You know what I mean? And Lee's dealt with that.

Starting point is 00:18:41 I've, you know, I've seen that in my family too. And it's scary and it's sad. So you like, but so just sort of not live through that, you know, through a heightened movie like this. But, you know, it's sort of, it makes you think about things as you as you play them. Like a perspective of the mortality in general, but especially in a heightened way. Now, the generational trauma elements is one of the things I liked most about this because I thought it was so unique

Starting point is 00:19:05 to this version of the story. And I really think that the bond between your castmates was the only way to sell that. Like, it's a great idea as a log line, but until you actually connect to your castmates, it won't necessarily serve. How did you connect with this intimate of a cast?

Starting point is 00:19:19 Did you guys do a lot of pre-production, a lot of rehearsal? Like, what was the actual connection process? Well, in the nice... Julie and I had known each other before. We both did like our first movie together a long, long time ago. We didn't have much to do together

Starting point is 00:19:30 in that, but I've known her over the years, so it was nice to sort of, you know, reunite on this, and there's plenty to do it together on this one, so that was great. And, I mean, Matilda's just, you know, you're always wary when you're working with kids sometimes, because, you know, you never know, but she's like, she's like more of a pro than anybody, and she, like, she gets it and would, yeah, do these scary scenes, but then have fun, you know, between takes, and so I think, I think really just about keeping the mood light while doing stuff like this, was the important thing, yeah. Now, Spanish and Julia Garner, her physical presence is always so strong and everything she's in.

Starting point is 00:20:04 She just has this force even for such a small human. And I'm really excited to see your movie with Colmini and Barry Keogan, and you're working with these forces of nature actors. Do you find you pick up something that you want to carry on or like something you learn a technique or is anything from Julia you picked up? They're like, oh, that's a cool way to do a thing. Well, I mean, something about Julia that I just appreciate is that she, even when you're doing a genre thing like this, She's always just sort of concerned about, you know, the story and character, you know, what's going on, what's really going on here. Like, yeah, we have to do this scene where, like, he jumps out and I'm not supposed to be scared. You know what I mean?

Starting point is 00:20:38 Like, that's on the surface, it's very simple. But, like, it's all, for her, I think it's always about, like, what's underneath everything, you know what I mean? And I relate to that. I think that's great. And that was totally present with the, I love that you're afraid for you and of you throughout. That's right. There's a beautiful undercurrent of fear in both. ways with your character.

Starting point is 00:20:56 Yeah, exactly. Yeah, afraid of myself. You know what I mean? A lot of ways, too. It's a special film, man. Really great performance. I really love this. Thank you so much.

Starting point is 00:21:04 Appreciate it. Thanks for time.

Your Ad Here

The Reel Rejects - RAW, TERRIFYING, & RELATABLE!! Meeting The WOLFMAN & Its Director Leigh Whannell

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.