adminDirected by Steven C. Miller and starring Frank Grillo (The Purge: Anarchy, Captain America: The Winter Soldier), Werewolves follows a group of scientists who are trying to stop a mutation that turns people into werewolves during a super moon. Blending action and horror, Werewolves is the type of movie that delivers exactly what it promises: 90 minutes of exhilarating, turn-your-brain-off fun.
Steven C. Miller Werewolves Interview
Yet as influential as the werewolf subgenre is for horror, it’s not one that sees many new entries. You might see dozens of vampire movies or zombie movies in any given year, but very few — if any — werewolf films. Werewolves director Steven C. Miller explains why he thinks more filmmakers don’t attempt to tackle the werewolf subgenre:
“First of all, they’re just hard to make,” says Miller. “They’re difficult to get right, so I think that deters a lot of studios — even independent financiers — from trying to make them because they’re so difficult to get right. Because if they get wrong, they’re really wrong, and they can go really bad. So it’s one of those genres that really rides that line of being decent or bad, and trying to make something that’s good is difficult.”
Director Steven C. Miller’s WEREWOLVES, a Briarcliff Entertainment release. Credit: Courtesy of Briarcliff Entertainment © 2024 All Rights Reserved.
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Werewolves is also a rarity in that it heavily emphasizes practical effects. The werewolves we see in the film are not CGI — they are stunt performers dressed up in impressively designed creature suits. And for Miller, there was no other option.
“I think practical allows the audience to really feel like they can almost touch it or feel it,” says Miller. “And I think there’s something about that on screen that people gravitate to. I mean, they know that it’s probably a guy in this suit, but for some reason, they love it, and it allows them to maybe be a little bit more immersed than something that was digitally created. So for me, that was always something that I was wanting to do from the start.”
What makes it even more impressive though, is that they only had six suits — this is a small film on an indie budget, after all — and yet they managed to make the world feel much larger than it actually is. We asked Miller how he pulled this massive scale off:
“I mean, that’s what’s so much fun about indie filmmaking, right?” he asks. “And you get a chance to really sort of play with different perspectives, turn the camera to what maybe the audience doesn’t see, and shoot something a different way. But also with our werewolves, what allowed us to do that was giving them such different personalities. It was almost ‘Let’s change the clothes on this guy. It’s a different werewolf. Let’s give him a different haircut.’ There were those kinds of things that we were doing to try to make it feel like a lot more.”
Director Steven C. Miller’s WEREWOLVES, a Briarcliff Entertainment release. Credit: Todd Stefani / Briarcliff Entertainment. © 2024 All Rights Reserved.
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Werewolves isn’t just a horror movie, though; it’s also an action movie with some impressive combat. We asked Miller about how he pulled off the balance between these two genres.
“The great thing is horror and action are all about timing, in my opinion,” says Miller. “So it was a little bit of the same world where I know if I want to get that scare, I gotta be at a certain timing. If I want that action to work right, it’s gotta be a certain timing. So for me, it was actually a great pairing, and I had a lot of fun doing it.”
The other balance that Werewolves pulls off extremely well is being a classic werewolf film while also feeling refreshing and new in its own right. Miller was very particular about achieving this balance:
“For me, it was about giving the audience what I feel like they wanted to see, but then adding on to that,” he explains. “Not really winking at them, but allowing them to discover all of those things and within the movie, and really feel like they’re in this classic werewolf movie, but we’ve added something on top of it. And as long as they’re learning throughout the movie and having fun, I feel like I’m doing my job.”
Frank Grillo as Wesley Marshall in director Steven C. Miller’s WEREWOLVES, a Briarcliff Entertainment release. Credit: Courtesy of Briarcliff Entertainment © 2024 All Rights Reserved.
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The final piece of the puzzle for Miller was finding the right people to bring these characters to life, and Miller had nothing but great things to say about the cast of Werewolves:
“I mean, Frank Grillo was the first guy to go to and I knew he was the guy, the vibe, the tone that I wanted this movie. I knew Frank could deliver that, and he delivered,” Miller asserts. “And then it was easy from there, because I had talked about Katrina Law on a few other movies before and Ilfenesh Hardera on a few other things before, so to be able to get them on set, I knew they were going to be able to deliver as well.”
“And you also got to be able to stand there with Grillo and be able to go toe to toe with Frank in places that they needed to,” he adds. “So then you bring in Lou Diamond Phillips, and Lou is able to do that and give you sort of that gravitas the movie needs. So it was really fun to play with all the characters.”
Frank Grillo Werewolves Interview
FandomWire also spoke with the star of Werewolves, Frank Grillo, about his role in the film. Grillo is known predominantly for gritty action films, so we asked him about the difference in how he approaches a role in one of those films compared to something like Werewolves that is more fantasy-based.
“It’s a good question. I approach them all the same way,” Grillo explains. “I have my own stuntman, Greg Fitzpatrick, who’s with me on every movie. We break the script down the same exact way, whether it’s real intense action or it’s just kind of peppered.”
“And action is a language, and it’s got to be authentic,” he continues. “Just the way you say lines, the action has to be authentic. So that’s our goal — to always make it authentic and put my spin on it. And I love it. I’m sad that I’m getting older because soon, I’m gonna look like an idiot trying to be the action guy. But I really do enjoy doing it because I love watching action movies.”
However, whether it’s a movie like Werewolves or something grittier, action cinema serves as a favorite form of escapism for many. When asked about the escapism that action films provide, this is what Grillo had to say:
“People don’t get off their butts enough, and they want to imagine that if they were put in that circumstance, that they would react similarly, which is not true because none of us would, but I think that’s what makes it so fun,” says Grillo. “You know, Liam Neeson has been a great actor for so long, and then Taken came out and he became a movie star, right? And why was that? He represented this thing that women wanted him to save them, and men wanted to be the guy saving the women. So it’s kind of amazing, and I think we all fantasize of being the, you know, the Navy Seal, you know what I mean?”
Still, an action movie like Werewolves doesn’t work unless it’s rooted in emotion. Great action leading men — including Grillo — must be able to deliver dramatic moments just as powerfully as the action in the films. We asked Grillo why this is an important quality for action heroes to have.
“Yeah, because otherwise you have a one-dimensional film and a one-dimensional actor,” Grillo responds. “And I take nothing away from him, but Chuck Norris, he never really learned how to act, but he was a great martial artist, right? I never want to be that. It has its place, but I never want to be that. I love what Liam Neeson did with Taken because he brought the dramatic aspect to the action, and it made the movie very successful, made him a big name in the action world, and he’s done 30 of those movies since. So I think you need to have really good actors who are believable in the physical part of it.”
Frank Grillo as Wesley Marshall in director Steven C. Miller’s WEREWOLVES, a Briarcliff Entertainment release. Credit: Todd Stefani / Briarcliff Entertainment. © 2024 All Rights Reserved.
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And while Werewolves might be Grillo’s first time fighting lycanthropes, it’s not his first bout against canines, as the actor starred in the Liam Neeson thriller The Grey. We asked Grillo what’s going to come next in his encounters with wolves.
“I’m gonna fight flying wolves,” he says with a laugh. “I hope, knock wood, that Werewolves does really well in theaters because we have some ideas for another one or two possibly. Because this can travel well. I think there’s some story to be told here. So that’s what I’m hoping for. I’m hoping, like Purge, to do several of them.”
Werewolves hits theaters on December 6.
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