We first heard that Ryan Gosling (Barbie, Drive) had signed on to star in Universal and Blumhouse's Wolfman reboot (now seemingly known as Wolf Man) back in 2020, and updates have been practically non-existent since.
Now, THR is reporting that the actor has parted ways with the movie, and Christopher Abbott (Girls, Poor Things) is set to take over as the lead. Not only that, but Invisible Man helmer Leigh Whannell - who was originally attached to direct - is now back on board after his replacement, Place Beyond the Pines and Blue Valentine director Derek Cianfrance, followed Gosling out the door.
No reason was given for the shake-ups, but with no movement on the project for such a long time, we had assumed that scheduling became an issue. However, there may be a little more to it.
Jeff Sneider has heard that "Blumhouse had been subtly trying to move Gosling off the project for quite a while, as the actor was giving really bad notes and they were getting annoyed.”
It sounds like Gosling may have wanted more creative input in the direction of the story/character than the studio was comfortable with!
Wolf Man has also been given an official release date, and is set to howl into theaters just in time for Halloween on October 25, 2024.
It sounds like this version of the film is still working off the script by Whannell, Corbett Tuck, Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo, but there have been some story changes.
The original premise was said to be a modern-day retelling of the classic tale, and was described as being "in the vein of Jake Gyllenhaal’s thriller Nightcrawler, with an obvious supernatural twist." Gosling would have played an anchorman who is bitten by a werewolf and embarks in some carnivorous lunar activities of his own.
Now, the plot will focus on "a man whose family is being terrorized by a lethal predator."
The "Dark Universe" may be no more, but Universal is still hoping to follow up the success of The Invisible Man with an entire series of films based on the classic monsters. Along with Wolf Man, the likes of Elizabeth Banks' The Invisible Woman, Karyn Kusama's Dracula, and Paul Feig's Dark Army are also said to be in development.
You can check out a synopsis for the 1941 classic below.
"When his brother dies, Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney) returns to Wales and reconciles with his father (Claude Rains). While there, he visits an antique shop and, hoping to impress Gwen (Evelyn Ankers), the attractive shopkeeper, buys a silver walking cane. That same night he kills a wolf with it, only to later learn that he actually killed a man (Bela Lugosi). A gypsy (Maria Ouspenskaya) explains that it was her son, a werewolf, that he killed, and that Larry is now one himself."