Like father, like son. At least that’s how it goes for John and Max Landis it seems. It has been revealed by Deadline that the John Landis classic An American Werewolf in Paris is officially getting a remake and that it will be written and directed by none other than his son, Max. The news comes after the elder Landis and filmmaker Anthony Waller signed a deal with the studio on the rights.
The original film, which is marking its 35th anniversary and came from the mind of writer-director John Landis and starred David Naughton, Jenny Agutter and Griffin Dunne, followed two kids on a hiking vacation in England who are attacked by a werewolf, unfortunately infecting Naughton’s character with a severe case of lycanthropy.
While the first American Werewolf film was not perfect, it has since become a cult classic. The make-up and visual effects in the film were ground-breaking for its time, but the story also had a very human element to it that made the character’s transformation into a werewolf all the more relatable and frightening at the same time. It also featured a decent soundtrack with the likes of Credence Clearwater Revival’s “Bad Moon Rising” being used to great effect. You can see a scene of the epic werewolf transformation below:
The film would go on to inspire a whole host of similar werewolf movies and the transformation scene in particular became an iconic and often mimicked part of cinema. The scene and film also inspired Michael Jackson to approach John Landis to direct his now even more legendary music video for Thriller, which featured a similar transformation scene.
However, Landis’ son Max getting the director’s nod for the film is not just blatant nepotism, as the younger Landis is establishing himself as a more than capable filmmaker. He is a writer-producer for BBC America show Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency and is also currently having one of his screenplays Bright turned into a film by director David Ayer. He also shot to fame as the writer of Josh Trank’s brilliant Chronicle, although his follow-up scripts – American Ultra and Victor Frankenstein – were not received as well.
This remake will also give us an opportunity to see just how far the apple falls from the tree and see if the younger Landis will inspire a similar film or make something completely different out of it. Perhaps the Landis legacy will live on further in the horror genre.
Last Updated: November 8, 2016
