Confirming an earlier rumor that suggested John Landis’ celebrated film was being targeted for a remake, a new report indicates that The Walking Dead producers David Albert and Robert Kirkman are indeed developing a remake of An American Werewolf in London with Max Landis — John Landis’ son — expected to write and direct the film. The elder Landis is also attached to the project as an executive producer.
According to Deadline, Albert and Kirkman — the co-creator of The Walking Dead — will produce the remake through their Skybound Entertainment production company for Universal Pictures.
In August, Max Landis first prompted talk of a potential American Werewolf remake when he offered a vague remark on Twitter about the possibility of tackling any of his father’s films.
“Since I get the question all the time: There’s only one of my dad’s movies I’d ever be willing to try to remake and I’m already doing it,” he wrote in a post that was later deleted.
The original film cast David Naughton as an American tourist whose backpacking trip through England is interrupted by a vicious attack by a wolf-like creature that kills his friend and leaves him gravely wounded. Strange things soon begin happening to him, and he finds himself turning into a bloodthirsty beast that stalks the streets of London when the moon is full.
The film was the first to receive an Academy Award in the “Best Makeup and Hairstyling” category, given to legendary makeup and effects expert Rick Baker, for its memorable transformation sequence — a scene that’s still widely regarded as one of the best werewolf transformation sequences ever created for a movie.
Landis made his feature directorial debut with 2015’s dramatic comedy Me Him Her, and currently serves as the creator of the American television adaptation of Douglas Adams’ Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. He first gained the attention of Hollywood by penning the script for the 2012 sci-fi film Chronicle.
There’s no word on when the remake of American Werewolf in London is expected to begin production.
