Director Joe Johnston Talks The Wolfman

Director Joe Johnston had a tough time filming last year's The Wolfman. He had replaced the film's original director and had only three weeks to prepare before filming. While talking to ComicBookMovie.com about his work on the upcoming Captain America movie, Johnston gave some more information on his experience:

"...I had three weeks of prep on WOLFMAN, a ridiculously inadequate amount of time to try to bring together the fractured and scattered pieces of the production. I had taken the job mostly because I had a cash flow problem, the only time in my career I’ve ever let finances enter into the decision process. Money is always the wrong reason for doing something that requires passionate devotion. The production was a leaky, rudderless ship in a perfect storm suffering from bad decisions, infighting, reluctance of the powers-that-be to take responsibility, and too many under-qualified cooks in the kitchen. The good news and bad news about directing is that when the picture works you’re showered with all the credit and when it doesn’t work you’re dumped on with all the blame. Both scenarios are undeserved. I take full responsibility for THE WOLFMAN not working because it goes with the territory. There were wonderful aspects of THE WOLFMAN experience. I inherited a crew that was the best of my experience, including a first assistant director without whom I could not have made it through the first two weeks. I had the immense pleasure of working with a cast that was as diverse and multifaceted as it could be. I rediscovered all that I love about London and its environs and I made some lifelong friends, on and off the crew."

Although The Wolfman wasn't great, I don't feel that it was as bad as many of the reviews I had read. The Wolfman wasn't the type of movie to bring in a mass audience and justify its budget, but it really felt like a modern day production of a Hammer Horror film and I found it an entertaining, but flawed movie. It is a shame that they had to rush into production or we may have seen a much better film. Thanks to Fangoria for the heads up!