It seems like only yesterday that The Wolfman looked to be in trouble. Mark Romanek quit when he realised that his vision couldn’t be met with a measly $100 million and for a brief moment in time it looked like Bret Ratner would helm the horror remake. However, nothing could stop Universal from bringing one of their most iconic characters into the 21st Century. Not even Van Helsing. Journeyman director Joe Johnston was hired to helm the project after the studio called up every director with a union card.

Hugo Weaving has now been cast as Detective Aberline, the detective hot on the tail of Benicio Del Toro’s Wolfman. Weaving has no experience what-so-ever when it comes to making big budget films, having starred in low budget efforts like The Matrix and Lord of The Rings.

The cast of the film also includes Anthony Hopkins and Emily Blunt.

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It must have been a busy week for the guys at Universal. When Mark Romanek dropped out of directing The Wolfman, it seemed that every unemployed director in Hollywood was approached to direct the feature, as staff scrambled around to stop the project from falling apart.

Everyone from the universally loathed Brett Ratner (geddit- universally) to fan favorite John Landis, director of An American Werewolf in London were mooted.

And the man who will end up with his name on the directors chair? Drum roll please… Jurassic Park III helmer Joe Johnston.

What an anti-climax.

When I wrote my first story on The Wolfman little did I know that it would consume most of my week. Since Mark Romanek quit the production it seems that every director in Hollywood has been mentioned in relation to the film.

What? You think that I’m kidding? Really? Want to see the list?

Okay, now deep breath. The list goes like this:

Brett Ratner, Frank Darabont, James Mangold, Breck Eisner, Matt Reeves, Joe Johnston, Martin Campbell and Bill Condon.

An interesting list and one that is sure cause a lot of fan discussion. However, it won’t cause as much excitement as a name that is being mentioned by Collider as a strong contender; John Landis.

Werewolf - There wolf!

Just a bit of Young Frankenstein to get the ball rolling!

The other day we posted that Mark Romanek had quit The Wolfman because he couldn’t make the film for under $100 million. The film is due to go into production soon, so there was a major scramble to find a director to replace him.

Then Quint at Aintitcool reported that the two contenders for taking over the helm were Breck Eisner (Sahara) and Cloverfield director Matt Reeves.

Now Aintitcool is reporting that fan favorite (cough, cough) Brett Ratner has taken over directing duties on the film.

For the last few years Universal Pictures have been raiding their vaults and trying to find different ways of revitalizing their old horror icons. We’ve had the Mummy movies (the third is out this year) and Van Helsing tried to merge Dracula, Frankenstein and The Wolfman, but the final product wasn’t a huge success (that’s a tiny understatement, but lets not get into that).

The latest feature in the pipeline is The Wolfman, which is about the, er… Wolfman. The film is due to star the powerhouse acting combo of Benicio Del Torro and Anthony Hopkins, with make-up by the legendary Rick Baker.

Until today the film was due to be directed by Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo), but now he has quit the project over the film’s budget.