With star Ryan Gosling and director Derek Cianfrance (The Place Beyond the Pines) leaving Universal Pictures and Blumhouse’s upcoming horror film, a new werewolf is coming to town.
The Hollywood Reporter dropped the scoop yesterday, marking a huge creative shakeup for the long-gestating project, which was quickly put into active development following the unexpected success of its latest installment, The Invisible Man, in early 2020.
Universal and Blumhouse originally wanted filmmaker Leigh Whannell to return to Universal’s Monsterverse, and that was the plan until he stepped down as director in 2021. At that point, Gosling was locked in as a movie star and brought past collaborator Derek Cianfrance with him. Now that they’ve all departed the film, it’s back in Whannell’s hands. It’s unclear if they left the project due to creative differences or scheduling issues (Gosling is very busy right now).
Christopher Abbott takes center stage, and many may look a lot like Kit Harington at first glance, but he’s actually a completely different actor known for starring in independent films and working with directors Known for collaboration. This year, you can see him in Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things and the critically acclaimed Apple miniseries The Crowded Room.
THR’s exclusive report also confirms that Gosling will receive executive producer credit, with Whannell also part of the writing team on the current script, which is said to now focus on “a man whose family is terrorized by a deadly predator.” . The question now is: Is Abbott playing a werewolf? To add to the headache, Universal and Blumhouse have now set a release date for the monster movie of October 25, 2024, effectively turning it into something of a speedrun.