Hollywood.com has an interview with Rob Zombie in which he talks about wanting to shoot a low-budget, deliberately retro feature length version of Werewolf Women of the S.S. (one of the faux trailers that ran as part of Grindhouse). His comments seem half-serious, but here’s the interview– judge for yourself!
Werewolves on the Moon: Versus Vampires – Read the 1st Issue For Free
Dark Horse Comics has put the entire first issue of Werewolves on the Moon: Versus Vampires online so you can read it for free. Go and read it. Now. Go on. I’ll wait.
Now, how many of you would have been happy to have been on that shuttle from Earth? Yeah, I thought so.
Werewolves on the Moon is now up to issue three, and if your local comic shop doesn’t carry them, you can order them online from Things From Another World.
Damn It – Werewolf Series DVD Postponed until at least 2010
I missed this last week, with all the Wolfman trailer and Warcraft hoopla. ArcLight wrote in with the not-awesome news that the DVD release of Werewolf: The Series has been officially postponed and won’t be coming out in 2009. It seems that there are some problems licensing some of the music used in the show’s soundtrack, and the way the sound was mixed makes it impossible to replace / remove the music. Brian Ward, one of the DVD producers at Shout! Factory, posted an explanation in the Shout! Factory forum:
In order to extract the music, we would literally need to extract the scenes completely. And these are some fairly important scenes that, in some cases, run several minutes. So we’re still working on figuring it all out. It’s a great set and I hope to see it released shortly. But it doesn’t look like it’s going to be on the books for ’09… There are only a couple songs giving us trouble, but they’re EXPENSIVE songs and we’re just not sure we’d sell enough to meet the record labels’ prices and still make any money whatsoever. We’ve not stopped pursuing it. We’ve put together a great set with some cool extras and a BEAUTIFUL cover, in my opinion. I want people to own it. Hopefully, sometime soon, they will.
Thanks, record labels. You guys just keep on finding ways to endear yourselves to the public, don’t you?
Fangoria Interview: Wolfman‘s Hugo Weaving Wishes Film Press Would “Get Their Shit Together”
In a recent interview with Fangoria, Hugo Weaving talks about his experiences playing Scotland Yard detective Aberline in the new Wolfman movie. Weaving has consistently been one of my favourite actors (come on, the guy has played a drag queen, a murderous computer program and an ageless elf king). In this exclusive interview he talks about bringing life to a character that wasn’t in the original 1940’s Wolfman, his enthusiasm for a well-written script, and what it was like to work with (and be a subject of) special effects artist Rick Baker. He also comments on the negative effect that press and distribution delays can have on the public’s enthusiasm for a film– something we’ve all seen with the repeated delays The Wolfman has been subject to. But with the recent trailer generating a lot of excitement, The Wolfman is starting to generate some positive buzz again– hopefully that will only increase as the February release date approaches. Thanks for the link, ArcLight!
World of Warcraft Cataclysm: Worgen Confirmed As Playable Race for Alliance
The official presence of the werewolf-like Worgen as playable characters in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has been confirmed by everyone and their mom, including Blizzard. Check out the official Cataclysm site for more details on the Worgen, including backstory, player models, screenshots and concept art. The official sites seem to be suffering periodic downtime as a result of all the interested visitors, so be gentle. Below are some locally-hosted (hi-res!) copies of the Worgen concept art, in case your refresh button isn’t working.
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Official Wolfman Trailer
It officially debuts online and in theatres tomorrow, but Bloody Disgusting has got an early scoop on the official theatrical trailer for The Wolfman. This trailer leaves little to the imagination– werewolf attacks, multiple transformations, and a handful of scenes that I can’t wait to watch play out in their entirety. Personally, I’m stoked. Without further ado, here you go: The Wolfman trailer, courtesy of Bloody Disgusting! Watch it and post your comments– what do you think?
Werewolf Concept Art for I, Frankenstein
Have another helping of Tatopoulos werewolf character design! Earlier today it was the Lycan costume from Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, and now I’m pleased to share a concept illustration of the Werewolf character from the forthcoming film version of Kevin Grevioux’s I, Frankenstein comic. This artwork was originally sent to Bloody Disgusting, so props to them for posting it!
The film is to be directed by Patrick Tatopoulos, who designed the werewolves in the first two Underworld films, then went on to direct Rise of the Lycans. Grevioux and Tatopoulus have worked together before: Grevioux developed the story for the first Underworld and was heavily involved in script-writing and co-producing throughout the series. Oh yeah, and he played the lycan Raze. So basically these guys know werewolves.
Life-Size Lycan Display by Tom Spina
Tom Spina spends a lot of time around werewolves. Last year he did some major restoration on “Oscar” from An American Werewolf in London, and now he’s just completed a custom mannequin to display an original Underworld: Rise of the Lycans werewolf costume (scroll down a bit for the link) for a private collector. Tom contacted me to let me know about this project, thinking that readers of Werewolf News might find it interesting, and he also kindly took the time to answer a few questions I had for him about the project.
Werewolf News: In what condition was the costume when you first received it from the client? Had it seen production use, and been banged up at all?
Tom Spina: The costume saw extensive use in the film (and we verified that with someone on-set who could ID this particular costume) and the condition was actually very good.
Beneath the fur, there’s a lot of skin exposed, and not a lot of places to hide seams. How many pieces did the costume break down to, and did you have to do anything out of the ordinary to create such a seamless result?
Some minor cracks and rubs but still supple and flexible. It breaks down into 4 pieces: The bodysuit with attached arms, the stilt feet (seem hidden by fur) and the head. Our responsibility was to find a means of displaying an otherwise awkward and difficult costume to display. The nature of the costume required some careful planning when creating the support structure, as a “normal” mannequin would never be able to navigate its way inside the bodysuit.
What level of creative freedom did you have when it came to determining the pose and the details of the base? Were there any other aspects of the project that allowed you to add some creative, personal touches?
As always, we worked closely with the client to determine the pose. That process is always a balance between the look desired and the needs of the wardrobe. In this case, dealing with foam and such, you don’t want anything overly extreme, as you can cause unnatural wrinkles in the suit. We settled on something with “quiet menace” rather than dynamic action. There’s a bit of attitude in the torso and some more in the head positioning, with the legs and arms at interesting angles, but relatively neutral to keep the costume’s skin properly aligned and supported. The base was the client’s idea and something we actually consider temporary. Eventually, we’ll likely do a dark stone block look for the base.
Is it tough to say goodbye to a piece when it’s finished and the client ships it out?
YES, it’s always tough to say goodbye to these pieces!
As always, incredible work, Tom! Thanks for sharing your time and work with us werewolf fans.
World of Warcraft Cataclysm Expansion to Include Werewolves as Playable Race
Blizzard is getting ready to release an expansion for World of Warcraft, and rumour has it that one of the new playable races will be werewolves in all but name. WoW.com is reporting that World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will allow players to play as Worgen, “large, lupine humanoids reminiscent of a werewolf that walks upright, but lopes on all fours to run.” At the moment Worgen are merely NPCs, but if the rumours are true and Cataclysm really does let you choose Worgen as a race, I might have to close down Werewolf-News.com and quit my job, because there won’t be time for anything other than World of Warcraft.
McGinty & Hughes: Amateur Thespians
My favourite web comic, Scary Go Round, is coming to an end. Its creator John Allison intends to begin a new comic in its stead this September. He won’t divulge the new comic’s title or subject, and has been teasing his readers about it via his blog. Yesterday he posted this, along with the message “Without further ado, here for the first time I reveal: THE NEW COMIC. Oh hang on that isn’t it. Not at ALL.”
John, why you got to play me like that?