Wolf Man brings the iconic Universal Monster back to the big screen, and Julia Garner has teased how the horror reboot brings a fresh take to it.
The new movie sees Blake (Christopher Abbott) take his wife Charlotte (Garner) and their daughter to his rural childhood home in order to salvage their marriage.
However, when they're attacked by an unseen animal, they have to barricade themselves into the home and Blake begins to behave strangely as the night wears on.
Talking to Digital Spy, Garner explained how they wanted to show how Blake's transformation impacted on Charlotte, as well as on their relationship as a whole, rather than just focusing on the monster.
Related: Wolf Man's Leigh Whannell explains Saw reference
"Very early on, I told Leigh that when I read it, it had like seven stages of grief in a way. I knew that it was going to take place in one night, so what I was hoping is that the audience would feel that it was like almost seven stages of grief in one night," she explained.
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"It should feel almost like a disease, like an illness, and that's out of the family's control, and they're dealing with the loss of that."
It's something echoed by co-writer and director Leigh Whannell, who had previously updated another classic Universal Monster with 2020's The Invisible Man.
"It's a story of transformation, it's a disease and so I was just thinking about that and what that looks like in real life," he recalled about his approach to Wolf Man.
Related: Wolf Man lands strong first reactions
"I've had people close to me suffer from degenerative illnesses and in some case terminal illnesses, and you see this slow motion horror story that unfolds. I was thinking a lot about that thematically.
"The first draft was written during COVID and there was all that uncertainty during that time. The world was off its axis. It was a bizarre time, as you would remember, and a scary time, so it's really cathartic to make something that is infused with that feeling that was all around us at that time."
Ahead of its release, Whannell also told Digital Spy about why Wolf Man includes a reference to his breakthrough movie Saw.
Wolf Man is released in cinemas on January 17.
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
