"An American Werewolf in London" wasn’t just a hit
with audiences — it also inspired the King of Pop to make one of his most
iconic videos. Keep watching for more inside information on this horror-comedy classic.
“Can I have a piece of toast?”
In an interview with IndieWire, director John Landis described how he began working
on the screenplay for "An American Werewolf in London" in 1969, when he was still a teenager.
While serving as a production assistant during the filming of "Kelly's Heroes" in Yugoslavia,
Landis and a coworker were traveling down a road when they witnessed a gypsy funeral.
The recently deceased man was wrapped in garlic and buried feet first in an abnormally deep
grave with the hope that the precautions would prevent his rising from the dead.
"I kept thinking...what if he did get up?"
The experience inspired Landis to start writing a horror story, and it didn't take
him long to finish the script. Convinced that an encounter with the undead was one of the
most terrifying things he could experience, he was intrigued with the idea of how an
18-year-old like himself would deal with such a horrifying situation. However, the idea did
not garner much interest at first, so he was forced to stow it away for more than a decade.
Over the course of that decade, Landis made a name for himself with a string of well-received
comedies that included "The Kentucky Fried Movie," "Animal House," and "The Blues Brothers."
With his career established, the director was finally able to make his werewolf film in 1981.
Even though the funeral rites that inspired Landis were driven by a fear of zombies,
he wanted to go in another direction for his film. He later explained that he
picked werewolves because of their international appeal, with stories in just about every culture.
Landis was also more interested in the complex
nature of the werewolf character for the featured monster. As he later explained:
"I really took from the Lon Chaney 'Wolfman' picture because what that added was this element
of tragedy. Historically, people in France and Wales were burned to death for being
werewolves or witches and the film made it a curse, where the wolfman himself is a victim."
All this history and complexity means werewolves are never too far from the popular imagination.
Although Landis had to wait years before he could get "American Werewolf in London" made,
it arrived at a real moment for the beasts — "The Howling," "Wolfen," and
"Full Moon High" were all released the same year.
“Nice doggie. Good boy.”
John Landis wanted poor weather throughout the movie, so he scheduled filming for February and
March. This was especially difficult for lead actor David Naughton, who had to run around
without clothing outside in the freezing cold. In an interview with The SF Site, the actor recalled,
"That's rather difficult to do because it's cold and you've got no shoes on
and I don't jog in bare feet in any weather, even back in California."
While the production was set up in a small town in Wales,
there was such bizarre weather that at one point it snowed, sleeted, rained,
and had periods of clear sunshine all in the same day. Landis always wanted the right look,
even if it was very uncomfortable for the actors. As Naughton recalled,
"We were in England and it's not raining so they made rain.
Why would you make rain in England? We're out there on the moors with these rain machines.
It was so cold the rain machines were freezing.'"
Renowned makeup and special effects expert Rick Baker put in meticulous detail to create
the "American Werewolf" visuals that are still admired today. Horror site
Bloody Disgusting later recounted the many months of prep work for the transformation
scene when the audience first sees Naughton's painful and frightening
metamorphosis into a werewolf. When Baker met David Naughton for the first time,
he knew what he was going to put the actor through and said, quote, "I feel sorry for you."
To get into his werewolf makeup, Naughton left for work at 4:30am and sat still in a chair for
10 full hours until he was ready for filming, a process he described as being similar to a long
flight that never actually landed. The actor reportedly complained so incessantly that
during a panel, Landis and Baker once told him to stop making it sound like he survived torture.
"Ah! You're not real"
"Ah, don't be a putz, David."
Co-star Griffin Dunne's experience was also unpleasant, but not as bad
as Naughton's. When talking about Baker and the process, Dunne later recalled,
"I hated the makeup. I loved Baker; he made the six hours bearable. The makeup's on,
and then it constricts and then it pulls on your skin and then it has to be loosened up;
you have people fussing with you; you want to pass out from the fumes."
David Naughton may have been vocal about the torturous process he had to endure,
but there's no doubt that he respected Rick Baker's impressive techniques,
as did the rest of the film community. Not only did Baker win an Oscar for his revolutionary
makeup effects, but, as noted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, he was the
first to ever earn an award for an entirely new category that was created in 1981 for his craft.
"American Werewolf in London" continued a partnership that Landis and Baker struck up
on the director's first film, 1973's "Schlock," when both men were barely in their 20s.
Even back then, Landis was pitching Baker on his revolutionary transformation scene,
telling him he wanted the film to, quote, "show the pain."
It paid off, and remains one of the most memorable scenes in horror movie history.
It may have been cheaper to film the movie in the UK, but John Landis ran into some serious
problems, including a major casting issue. Landis wanted to put people of color in the film in order
to reflect the cultural diversity of London in real life, but it was hard to find actors that
were members of local unions and also people of color. Still, the director didn't take no for an
answer. Landis spent much of the production fighting to show the, quote, "multicultural"
nature of the title city, and kept fighting until he got the faces he wanted onscreen.
While Landis was making sure all the necessary steps were taken so that the film could
be made in the United Kingdom, the British government informed him that he needed four
work permits — for himself, Rick Baker, David Naughton, and Griffin Dunne. Things got testy
when the director later learned that, despite the requirement, the government didn't want to give
out more than three permits. While Naughton, Landis, and Baker easily got the permits,
the local actors union initially prevented Dunne from working in the country because
it preferred the role to be played by an American actor already living in the UK.
Again, Landis remained firm, threatening to change the location of the story to France and
modify the screenplay accordingly. As a sign of how serious he was, Landis even scouted
possible places to shoot in the rival country instead, according to Total Film. In the end,
Landis' hardball tactics worked, and Dunne was awarded his permit.
France lost the first round, but when "An American Werewolf
in London" received a long delayed sequel in 1997, Landis' threats proved inspirational.
"An American Werewolf in Paris" moved the story's action across the English Channel.
The tense climax of "American Werewolf in London" takes place at Piccadilly Circus,
which is an often chaotic intersection bustling with traffic. In order to film
scenes of the werewolf rampaging through the crowded area, Landis needed to prove
to the right people that he could pull it off without shutting the whole place down.
Landis already had success working with the Chicago police for "The Blues Brothers," which
seems likely to have been useful when approaching officials in London.
After inviting 300 police officers to attend a free screening of "The Blues Brothers," the
director was allowed to film at the Piccadilly Circus — the first time that had been allowed
in 15 years, according to Dread Central. To help seal the deal, Landis recreated the whole
area on a stage so the crew could rehearse and get it perfect before filming actually began.
For the movie soundtrack, Landis wanted to highlight the werewolf themes with songs that
had the word "moon" in the title. He managed to get the rights to three versions of "Blue Moon,"
Van Morrison's "Moondance," and Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Bad Moon Rising," all
songs that fit the theme. The first rendition of "Blue Moon" used in the film is Bobby Vinton's,
followed by Sam Cooke's and then the version performed by the Marcels.
Landis may have succeeded in securing those tracks, but he failed to secure others he
wanted very badly. Possibly on the top of that list was "Moon Shadow" by Cat Stevens,
who had recently converted to Islam and had some objections. Not only was Stevens opposed to having
his work associated with supernatural themes, but he didn't want any of his songs featured
in a movie that was rated R. Similar to Stevens, Bob Dylan refused to give permission to use his
version of "Blue Moon," and Elvis Presley's rendition was simply unavailable to anybody.
"See You Next Wednesday" is a short adult movie within the film that the "American Werewolf" crew
actually made. Landis originally planned to have his hero visit a cartoon theater
in London's Piccadilly area because he'd seen such venues in the 1970s.
By the time the 1980s rolled around and he returned to London, though,
all the local theaters had begun showing adult movies. Landis changed the script to reflect the
local landscape, and "See You Next Wednesday" was one of the first things shot for the film.
“Good movie.”
"See You Next Wednesday" is playing at the Piccadilly Circus cinema near the
end of "An American Werewolf in London" when the protagonist is confronted by
the undead specters of the innocents he slaughtered in his beastly form.
John Landis wanted "An American Werewolf in London" to be a true horror film that terrified
audiences, but he was careful to make sure it was also tame enough to secure an R rating,
meaning the sex scenes weren't too gratuitous, and he had to lose a shot showing a piece of
toast falling out of Griffin Dunne's ripped open throat. There were other
gory shots and scenes that Landis did film, but ended up removing before the theatrical release.
A longer scene showing the werewolf brutally killing a group of three homeless men was
also taken out because there was such a negative reaction from test audiences.
Landis got his R rating, but he later admitted that he regretted toning down the horror.
"An American Werewolf in London" took some time to acquire its cult status,
but it had some major fans right away — including pop star Michael Jackson,
who liked John Landis and Rick Baker's work so much that he asked the filmmakers to make
the music video for his song "Thriller" in 1983. Jackson reached out to Landis directly,
and had just one major request at first: He wanted to turn into a monster himself in the video.
Landis and Baker were quickly on board for the collaboration with the King of Pop,
along with fellow "American Werewolf" veterans,
producer George Folsey Jr. and Landis' wife, costume designer Deborah Landis.
The team also included cinematographer Robert Paynter and composer Elmer Bernstein,
making "Thriller" a mini-"American Werewolf" reunion. The pop star was certainly pleased with
the results — he had Landis direct another one of his music videos, "Black or White," in 1991.
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