Composer Michael Giacchino may not be known for directing. His scores from movies like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and The Batman along with series like Lost tend to speak for themselves. But when he was asked to direct a Marvel Studios project, there was only one story he immediately wanted to do. The new Disney Plus special Werewolf by Night caught many viewers by surprise in both its release and its quality, but they weren't the only ones.
At this point, many people are aware of the surprisingly excellent yet mysterious Werewolf by Night. Giacchino's directorial debut for Marvel Studios immediately evokes memories of classic horror films through its black-and-white color palate down to the shooting style itself. It turns out that this wasn't just something he happened to find himself working on, however. Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige straight up asked Giacchino what he'd like to direct, and he had an answer ready, even if he hadn't expected the question.
In an interview with Collider, Giacchino spoke about how Werewolf by Night came about as his own project. "Kevin and I were walking across the lot one day," he explained. "We had briefly talked about directing for me in the past, and he said, 'Well, if you want to direct, what is it you would want to do?' I was like, 'Werewolf by Night.' And it was like instant. I was like, 'That's a no brainer for me.' He looked at me, it was just like, wait, really? Wait, what? He was kind of surprised because it was such a left field sort of choice. And I was like, 'Yeah, think about it. That's an area of the Marvel universe that no one's touched. It's just lying there waiting to be explored.'"
Giacchino had previously revealed how Marvel Studios allowed him to push the gory limits with Werewolf by Night, and it looks like that confidence in his expertise comes from his own history with the comics. "I have a bunch of [Werewolf by Night comics], I still do from when I was a kid," Giacchino continued. "So that was always a huge deal to me. So I thought if I'm going to do something, I wanted to do something that was well off the beaten path and gave me a challenge that struck fear in my heart if I screwed it up. You know what I mean? I didn't want the easy get. I wanted something that was like, Oo, you want to do that? Okay, good luck. That kind of a thing."
The Easter egg-laden Werewolf by Night stars Gael García Bernal, Laura Donnelly, and Harriet Sansom Harris among others in a consistently impressive cast. Centering on a monster-hunting secret society, the story follows Jack Russell (Bernal) as he takes part in a hunt to determine the group's new leader after the death of its previous one. But it turns out he's hiding several secrets, not the least of which is the fact that he's a werewolf. He also entered the hunt in order to rescue the target, his friend Man-Thing/Ted. Naturally, this reveal doesn't particularly go over well with the group. But the former leader's daughter Elsa (Donnelly) could be the precious ally he needs.
Based on the finished product, it looks as though Giacchino was the right choice for the job for Werewolf by Night. The fact that he got to choose the project rather than joining one that was already in production may have made the difference as well. Perhaps Marvel Studios can take that as a cue to let artists be more artistic. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is fun and all, but sometimes, people just want to watch monsters do monster stuff.
Werewolf by Night is available to stream on Disney Plus.
Source: Collider