WHEN THE MOON IS FULL THE LEGEND COMES TO LIFE.
In 1891, actor Lawrence Talbot (Benicio Del Toro) leaves London for his childhood home to find out who killed his brother in the most beastly way possible. This remake of the 1941 classic was panned by many critics, but deserve an audience. The normally family-friendly Joe Johnston crafted a bloody tale that relies on the strength of Danny Elfman’s score, Rick Baker’s excellent makeup effects, Rick Heinrich’s overwhelming, dark production design, as well as many details that reveal the filmmakers’ fondness of the old predecessors. Plenty of scares, good CGI and even a sense of playfulness – and how can you resist a movie that adds to the cast the man who hunted Jack the Ripper?
2010-U.S. 102 min. Color. Produced by Sean Daniel, Benicio Del Toro, Scott Stuber, Rick Yorn. Directed by Joe Johnston. Screenplay: Andrew Kevin Walker, David Self. Music: Danny Elfman. Production Design: Rick Heinrichs. Makeup: Rick Baker, and others. Cast: Benicio Del Toro (Lawrence Talbot), Anthony Hopkins (John Talbot), Emily Blunt (Gwen Conliffe), Hugo Weaving, Art Malik, Geraldine Chaplin. Cameo: Max von Sydow.
Oscar: Best Makeup.
Last word: “I had three weeks of prep on ‘Wolfman’, a ridiculously inadequate amount of time to try to bring together the fractured and scattered pieces of the production. I had taken the job mostly because I had a cash flow problem, the only time in my career I’ve ever let finances enter into the decision process […] Money is always the wrong reason for doing something that requires passionate devotion. The production was a leaky, rudderless ship in a perfect storm suffering from bad decisions, infighting, reluctance of the powers-that-be to take responsibility, and too many under-qualified cooks in the kitchen.” (Johnston, Den of Geeks)
