Wolf Man Star Christopher Abbott Talks Becoming a Creature of the Night

Universal Pictures’ The Wolf Man was one of the later additions to its roster of Universal Monsters, but no audience would argue that the titular lycanthrope is a fan favorite. Even though the specific character might not have been directly revived in big-screen adventures as often as figures like Dracula or Frankenstein’s Monster, it would inspire decades of werewolf cinema. In a new take on the material, Christopher Abbott plays a man who has a violent encounter with an unseen beast, igniting within him a terrifying transformation while in his family’s farmhouse. Wolf Man lands in theaters on January 17th.

“Research-wise, it’s the first time I’ve had to research more National Geographic-type stuff than other movies,” Abbott explained to ComicBook of how the primal nature of the role changed his preparation methods. “There’s different levels as the process is happening. There’s maybe 80% human, 20% animal, and then that shifts. So to track how a human would react to something as opposed to an animal, a human reacts one way, if it feels ill or if it’s scared, as opposed to how does an animal act, how, if it feels ill, all its little levels.”

Wolf Man is described, “What if someone you loved became something else? From Blumhouse and visionary writer-director Leigh Whannell, the creators of the chilling modern monster tale The Invisible Man, comes a terrifying new lupine nightmare: Wolf Man. Golden Globe nominee Christopher Abbott (Poor Things, It Comes at Night) stars as Blake, a San Francisco husband and father, who inherits his remote childhood home in rural Oregon after his own father vanishes and is presumed dead. With his marriage to his high-powered wife, Charlotte (Emmy winner Julia Garner; Ozark, Inventing Anna), fraying, Blake persuades Charlotte to take a break from the city and visit the property with their young daughter, Ginger (Matlida Firth; Hullraisers, Coma).

“But as the family approaches the farmhouse in the dead of night, they’re attacked by an unseen animal and, in a desperate escape, barricade themselves inside the home as the creature prowls the perimeter. As the night stretches on, however, Blake begins to behave strangely, transforming into something unrecognizable, and Charlotte will be forced to decide whether the terror within their house is more lethal than the danger without. The film co-stars Sam Jaeger (The Handmaid’s Tale), Ben Prendergast (The Sojourn Audio Drama), and Benedict Hardie (The Invisible Man).”

[RELATED – The Invisible Man and Wolf Man Director Reveals Next Universal Monster He Wants to Adapt]

Despite the movie being filmed out of sequence, Abbott recalled how the prosthetics used in filming would help serve as a quick shorthand to remind him where he was in his character’s frightening transformation.

“You do all the work beforehand, so you have to track it mentally, but the good thing is that the prosthetics can easily remind you of what stage you’re meant to be in,” the actor expressed. “[Makeup designer Arjen Tuiten] did such a great job. His focus on detail is really specific. Once I can see myself in, let’s call it stage one, two, or three, I knew I can just remember where I’m supposed to be at mentally.”

Lon Chaney Jr. played Wolf Man in the original 1941 movie, while Benicio del Toro took on the part for the 2010 remake. Dozens of actors have played werewolves in a century of horror cinema, but the pedigree of a proper Wolf Man made this project a bit different.

“I’d seen most iterations of Wolf Man and, the nice thing is, I think they’re all quite different, whether it’s the original, whether it’s the Wolf Man with Benicio, whether it’s Jack Nicholson [in Wolf], whether it’s An American Werewolf in London, which is a comedy,” Abbott detailed. “I think, while the character more or less remains, the allegories and the themes around that have all changed, so I didn’t feel like I needed to like, repeat a role. It doesn’t feel like it’s, I don’t know, Batman or something like that. You can have your own spin on it because it’s such a different story around it.”

Wolf Man lands in theaters on January 17th.

Are you looking forward to the movie? Contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter or on Instagram to talk all things Star Wars and horror!