"The Wolfman" heads for re-shoots...and new VFX work?

Source: Slashfilm.com

According to new information from Baz Bamigboye at The Daily Mail, there have been six weeks of reshoots in total, and part of the purpose in the fix-up was the present a new design of Wolfman. Bamigboye quotes an ‘actor’ working on the film as saying “the Wolf was on its heels and it looked daft” and describes the new-look lycanthrope as tougher and fiercer.

The report also confirms that stunt supervisor Vic Armstrong created a face-off between two hairy men for this new material, calling them “the Wolf Man and the Werewolf”. What’s the difference there? Can we divine any plot details from these two, varied handles?

It seems to be being suggested that second-unit director Armstrong was in control of these six weeks of reshooting, with Joe Johnston “back in LA for the past five weeks overseeing the special effects and computer-generated images”. Personally, I don’t think is cause for concern, but I know some will.

Bamigboye looked to the studio for a comment on the new material:

Last night Universal confirmed that additional sequences were shot. ‘The full articulation of the transformational lead character will be realised when the film is completed and we are excited to share his incredible look with the world in the upcoming trailer. ‘I think that means yes, they screwed up the first time.

He might be reading too much into their statement there. I’m sure we’ll judge whether or not they’ve screwed up second time when the trailer hits.

Benicio Del Toro returned to Pinewood for the reshoots with Emily Blunt working “three or four weekends” between full weeks on Gulliver’s Travels and Anthony Hopkins unable to return to the UK at all and therefore doing his “additional filming” in LA. Here’s hoping that all cuts together OK.

One thing I can’t find out is how involved Rick Baker has been with this redesign. Are we really to assume that a Rick Baker wolf looked silly and Universal have had to scrap it and fix it? Either Baker dropped the ball here or his design has been muscled out unnecessarily - a disappointment in any case. Here’s hoping he was at least responsible for the second version too.