Werewolf by Night is a breath of fresh air for Marvel Studios. The upcoming MCU Special Presentation is the first complete venture into the world of horror and homage to classic genre entries.
Director Michael Giachinno looks to make his mark as a filmmaker with this project. His trick to making Werewolf By Night stand out is ensuring it’s an authentic horror experience for Marvel fans. That means including things such as blood and gore like some of the most popular horror films.
In a new interview, Giachinno spoke about his need for gore in the film but also retained that it would still be faithful to the MCU brand.
“Well, it was one of those things where no one said no,” he told IGN. “I just kept pushing. I knew that we were going to balance that with heart and humor and humanity and empathy and all of that. And as long as we kept that balance in tow that, I felt like we had some leeway to push on the horror side.” ”
He adds, “And look, we’re dealing with monsters, monster movies, and I felt like we needed to just go into that realm, just not be afraid of it. And if that meant, ‘Sorry, you’re going to have to edit this,’ somebody came into my room. And if that meant that we were going to try some new things, we were going to try some new things.”
The director’s need for upping the violence also became a gag on set, with the crew knowing his taste for the blood: “The big joke on set became when they would be like, ‘All right Michael, how is this? Is this good?’ I’d be like [Giachinno grimaces], I would start to say something, and they’d go, ‘Let me guess more blood. You want more blood, right?'”
Giacchino was aware that this bold style made the crew nervous but kept the vision going forward. “I think there was an air around the production of, ‘What’s going to happen? Are they going to let us do this while we come back with all this footage that is so violent? What’s going to happen?’ But I knew in my heart that what we were doing was not sadistic, says Giacchino.
He continues, “We weren’t creating a film that was all about just indiscriminate killing. It was about the people. And I feel like if you keep it about the characters and the people, then you’ll have some leeway to do some other things that you normally wouldn’t get to do.”
He added that a key was that the movie’s look naturally takes away some of the impacts of gore, too: “And being in black and white didn’t hurt us either.”
Directed by composer Michael Giacchino, Werewolf By Night stars Gael Garcia Bernal (Old) as Jack Russell / Werewolf By Night, Laura Donnelly (The Nevers) as Elsa Bloodstone and Harriet Sansom Harris (Desperate Housewives) as Verusa.
Marvel’s Werewolf By Night will stream on Disney+ on October 7th.
