With the premiere of “The Wolfman” only days away (remember when it was supposed to come out in 2008?) the web is sprouting Wolfman stories like so many tufts of fur from the collar of Benicio del Toro’s vest. Rather than spamming the site with a new post every time something interesting comes up, I thought I’d collect them all here. Enjoy!

• As part of a big press push last week, there were a lot of cast / crew interviews. Dread Central’s got interviews with Benicio Del Toro and Anthony Hopkins, and ShockTillYouDrop.com had a nice chat with director Joe Johnston.
• Namco has released a Wolfman side-scrolling game for mobile devices. If you have a supported phone, you can “play through 10 thrilling stages as both Lawrence Talbot and The Wolfman and experience the brute strength and insatiable bloodlust that launched a legacy of horror!” My carrier isn’t supported, so, uh, if it’s good, let me know. It certainly looks cool!
• Bloody-Disgusting was one of several horror media web sites to get their paws on a recording of the vaunted Wolfman howl. Effective, and much better (in my opinion) than the shrill American Werewolf in London howl!
• Way back in November, Universal released a short “behind the scene” featurette. There are some comments from Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, and producer Scott Stuber, and some trailer-style footage.
• As long as we’re talking about stuff from November, here are two rambling but worthwhile interviews from Ain’t It Cool News: one between Joe Johnston and Harry Knowles and another longer, rambley, spoilerific but fascinating conversation between some of the AICN guys and Rick Baker.
• Internet-to-TV providers Boxee have developed a Wolfman app as part of their public beta.
• Early reviews are starting to arrive. Here’s one from the New York Observer [warning: spoilers!].
• A fifth TV spot has surfaced, but it’s nothing we haven’t already seen: a silhouette of a claw, Del Toro getting dunked in ice water, and Rick Baker’s old-gypsy-guy-getting-killed cameo.

If all of this isn’t enough to keep you busy, stay tuned for more as we get closer to Friday!

Joe Johnston, director of The Wolfman, had some interesting stories to tell in his recent interview with Boxoffice, including an account of how he deliberately modified the script to guarantee an R-rated edit. He also talks about the lengths they went to in order to capture the perfect howl for Lawrence Talbot’s beastly alter-ego. The vocal contributors included Gene Simmons and David Lee Roth!

We had opera singers come in and howl, we had animal impersonators. Gene Simmons and David Lee Roth were pretty near the end of the process. By then we knew what we were looking for, we were homing in on it. And their stuff became the most useful stuff that we did. Like I said, I don’t think they would recognize it after what we’ve done to it because we’ve digitally processed it and added cool overtones and all that stuff. We were basically just looking for a wolf howl you’d never heard before. What we realized is that everybody in the audience knows what a wolfman sounds like. Even if it’s from their imagination, it’s all pretty much the same thing. We just wanted our howl to be the best version of that howl. And I think we’ve come up with something that’s definitely spine-tingling, and at the same time it’s familiar enough that the audience is going to recognize it—it’s what they expect, with enhancements.

There’s a lot of good stuff in this interview, so have a read!

Despite having to rely on crew to remove his fangs so he could speak and his claws so he could use his hands, Benicio Del Toro enjoyed his time as a werewolf while on the set of The Wolfman. He recently spoke to The Daily Record about the experience, which involved scaring the hell out of unsuspecting crew and the occasional walk through London at 5 AM while still made up.

For more on The Wolfman’s makeup and effects, check out last week’s issue of Make-Up Magazine (issue 82), which is dedicated to Rick  Baker’s work on the film.

Tom Felton and Gemma Atkinson are set to star in Jonathan Glendening’s forthcoming horror film “13Hrs“, but beyond the cast, the presence of werewolves and what can be gleaned from a teaser trailer that came out half a year ago, no one seems to know much about it. So when cinematographer Jordan Cushing posted a comment here on Werewolf News confirming a mid-to-late 2010 release (I don’t know about you but I’m thinking Halloween), it was my duty as a werewolf nerd to follow up with some questions about his work on 13Hrs. Read on for Jordan’s gracious responses, which expound upon the challenges of the shoot, the “Jaws” approach to revealing the film’s monster, John Schoonraad’s creature effects, and the pleasure of working with Tom Felton and Gemma Atkinson. He even mentions a sequel! Read more…