Max Landis teases changes for American Werewolf remake
Last year, screenwriter Max Landis confirmed the rumors that he would be rebooting his own father’s film, An American Werewolf in London. Now, the writer has offered an update on his progress and even teased some changes he may have already made.
“Finishing my first draft of An American Werewolf In London today,” he wrote on Twitter. “Took me way longer than usual because every time I opened the Final Draft file my laptop would slam closed under the weight of my father’s expectations.”
A fan posed a question to Landis about a sequence in the original film, specifically about the village of East Proctor, its citizens, why they didn’t attempt to stop the werewolf before the events of the film, and whether they knew him as a person or not. Landis replied:
“Answering this question and the nature of the village’s role in the plot in the second and third act as of now are the biggest changes I’ve made to the original structure…I always wondered about that Pentagram. Doing some fun stuff.”
Starring David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, and Griffin Dunne, the original An American Werewolf in London was the winner of the first regularly-given Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling (previous winners Planet of the Apes and 7 Faces of Dr. Lao were honorary awards) for Rick Baker‘s effects work on the titular Lycanthrope.
The American Werewolf remake is set up at Universal Pictures with Skybound Entertainment‘s David Alpert and Robert Kirkman. The Walking Dead pair are producing alongside Broken Road‘s Todd Garner with John Landis himself executive producing with Andy Trapani, Circle of Confusion‘s Matt Smith and Broken Road’s Sean Robins.
Max Landis made his feature film directing debut with the 2015 comedy drama Me Him Her. Mostly recently, Landis served as creator of the American television adaptation of Douglas Adams Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. He’s also the original screenwriter on Bright, the fantasy actioner from Suicide Squad‘s David Ayer that premieres on Netflix next week.