Benicio Del Toro has always been considered a fairly hairy actor. And now he’s getting the chance to put that shaggy mane to good use.
He’ll star in a remake of Universal’s classic horror film The Wolf Man. Del Toro, a Wolf Man fan (he collects Wolf memorabilia, the big geek) will play the part originated by Lon Chaney in the 1941 original.
Andrew Kevin Walker is writing the script, which will use the Chaney film’s plotline – a British man returns home to Victorian England from America, only to be bitten by a werewolf and start the painful transition from man to beast – but with several new plot twists and characters that will create the opportunity for some distinctly 21st century effects.
There’s no director attached yet, but Universal hopes to have the film shooting in early 2007, once Del Toro finishes work on his Che Guevara film Guerilla with Steven Soderbergh.