Wolf Man director wants to make original monsters for the movies

Leigh Whannell has written and directed The Invisible Man and Wolf Man, but now believes it’s time to make new monsters for the movies.

Leigh Whannell started out creating his own monsters, in movies like Saw, Dead Silence, and Insidious. While more recently, he’s been digging around in the Universal vault, taking The Invisible Man in a new direction, and putting a fresh spin on the Wolf Man.

That new movie is influenced by the likes of Jaws, The Fly, and An American Werewolf in London, but also leans into the tragedy of the 1941 original.

Now however, Whannell says he’s done with the past, and is planning to tell original tales going forward.

Leigh Whannell wants to make his Substance or Longlegs

“My first love really is an original screenplay,” says Leigh Whannell of his plans. “People always talk about the movie industry and where it’s at right now. That it’s too IP focussed. That that whole middle ground of movies that used to be released in theaters has now gone to the streaming networks. It’s an interesting time. I’m sure you and I could have a whole separate discussion about this topic and the state of the movie industry.

“I’ve actually had people say to me ‘Well only IP works now.’ And I keep thinking ‘What about The Substance? What about Longlegs?’ There are examples of movies – Oppenheimer – there are original stories that still get people into theaters.

“I refuse to believe the argument that people only want to see IP. I believe there will always be a world for big IP franchise movies, but to me, I love the idea of the type of movies you and I grew up with. Where we took it for granted that these original movies would be blasted at us all year round. I refuse to believe that that’s completely over, so I would love to write an original screenplay, and just conjure something out of nothing.”

Sadly however, it doesn’t look like Leigh will be making a sequel to his last original movie, due to Hollywood not wanting an Upgrade 2.

Wolf Man is released on January 17, 2025. Head here to find out how the death of the Dark Universe breathed life into Leigh Whannell’s recent monsters movies. While for more scary stuff, check out our list of the best horror movies releasing this year, or click here for more great movies out this month.