“Gil’s All Fright Diner” To Be Animated By DreamWorks

According to this little Variety snippet, DreamWorks Animation is producing an adaptation of A. Lee Martinez’s novel Gil’s All Fright Diner. If you haven’t heard of the book (I hadn’t, but then, there’s a lot I don’t hear about), here’s what you need to know:

Something Evil (that’s with a capital E) is stalking Gil’s All Night Diner in Martinez’s terrific debut, a comic horror-fantasy novel. Heading the delightfully eccentric cast are buddies Earl (aka the Earl of Vampires) and Duke (aka the Duke of Werewolves), who are looking for a place to eat as they drive through Rockwood, a small desert community besieged by cosmically weird stuff. Soon after stopping at Gil’s Diner, the pair help Loretta, the formidable owner-operator, fend off a zombie attack. Determined to do the right thing, the two supernatural misfits take on further challenges, such as trying to prevent Tammy (aka Mistress Lilith, Queen of the Night) and her loyal but dumb boyfriend, Chad, from ending the world.

The screenplay is being adapted by Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris (who also wrote Kung Fu Panda for DreamWorks) and the film will be directed by Barry Sonnenfeld (it’s been 11 years– I think we can forgive him for Wild Wild West now). With the right character design and an adherence to what sounds like a dark Douglas Adams style of humour, this could be pretty good. Have any of you read the book? What’d you think?

Jan. 21st 2010

Danny Elfman’s Score WILL Be Used In The Wolfman!

Okay, everyone, you can relax! According to MovieScore Magazine, Universal has confirmed that they will not be using Paul Haslinger‘s music to score The Wolfman. In a twist that would be crazy for any other film but which seems to be par for the course on this one, Danny Elfman’s back in… or at least, his ideas are. Elfman is still too busy with Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland to return to his work on The Wolfman, but Cinemusic.net reports that a number of additional composers (including Conrad Pope) will be brought in to stitch together the material Elfman’s already recorded with another 25 – 30 minutes of music. Word is that test audiences didn’t like Haslinger’s score, which (given his history with Tangerine Dream and his work on the Underworld films) may have been a bit too bleepy-bloopy for such a gothic, old-world looking film.

So, uh, yeah!

Jan. 21st 2010

Our Dog Needs Help

We have a dog, Keesha, who has been my wife’s close companion for over 16 years. While I’ve been abroad, Keesha has developed significant breathing problems, and after a trip to the vet it was ascertained that she either has pneumonia or cancer. An expensive test is required to determine which it is, and by extension whether we can help her get better or simply help her be comfortable.

This has hit us both hard, but particularly my wife, who has never experienced the mixed blessings of a senior-aged pet. I won’t be home for another three days so if you have a few moments, it would mean a lot if you could visit the little site we’ve set up, to leave a kind comment. We’re accepting donations to help pay the $1,000 + bill, and any Werewolf News readers who chip in will get a stupid little thank-you doodle from me, plus an entry to win a copy of The Werewolf’s Guide To Life.

Thanks for your time, and we now return you to our regularly scheduled Werewolf News.

Jan. 21st 2010

“Wolfman” Howl Try-Outs, Featuring Rockers & Opera Singers

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!

Jan. 20th 2010

Husband and Wife Writing Team to Script Syfy’s “Being Human” Remake

Details about Syfy’s immanent Americanization of BBC’s hit series Being Human are scarce, but The Futon Critic has shed a little light on the writing situation. “Husband-and-wife duo Jeremy Carver (“Supernatural”) and Anna Fricke (“Privileged”) have been tapped as the writers”, Syfy’s Mark Stern said. “[He’s] kind of got the genre cred and Anna comes out of a more character-based drama world so between them they’ll be really interesting.”

I’ve got to admit I’m not too familiar with the work of either writer, but my immediate reaction to this news is a little on the “meh” side. Perhaps their joining forces to work on the show together will being some magic to the writing.

Jan. 20th 2010

Del Toro Enjoyed Getting His Wolfman On

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.

Jan. 19th 2010

Six Photos of Being Human’s George in Werewolf Form

George fans rejoice! Here are some new photos of your favourite Being Human werewolf, taken from episodes 1 and 4 of Series 2. Click for larger versions.

Jan. 16th 2010

Gorgeous New Wolfman Poster Painted by Basil Gogos

We’ve seen Universal promote The Wolfman with theatrical posters both awesome and dull, but this latest is anything but traditional. Legendary painter-of-monsters Basil Gogos was commissioned by Universal to paint a vibrant, fantastically retro Wolfman poster, shared with you here in all its hi-res glory courtesy of CHUD.com. You can enter to win a signed, limited-edition print through the Lunar Phases widget on the official Wolfman Facebook page. In addition to getting the scoop on this sexy poster, CHUD also has nice little interview with the artist himself. Check it out!

Jan. 16th 2010

The Evolution of the Movie Werewolf

There are more werewolf movies out there every year, and it’s getting tougher and tougher to keep track of them all. Which ones are good, and which ones are so bad that they’re good?  Which ones have actual werewolves in them, as  opposed to big dogs or guys in business suits? Terry over at Rouge Joker is here to help. He’s assembled The Evolution of the Movie  Werewolf, a great article that provides synopses, photos and video clips of 27 different werewolf films. Check it out!

Jan. 13th 2010

Werewolf News Interviews “13Hrs” Cinematographer Jordan Cushing

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! (more…)

Jan. 4th 2010