Comments on: Should Mark Romanek Have Stayed On Board ‘The Wolfman’?

By: Aaron Soto

Aaron Soto — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 07:25:02 +0000

I agree with you Nikki, I talk to Rick Baker and he say that he wished that Romanek could stay.

BTW I love "One Hour Photo", is a creepy atmospheric cool film and his videos might not be films but still are more innovated then many films.

Romanek rules!

By: Nikki

Nikki — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:59:22 +0000

first off, let me say that i know mark personally, though i haven't spoken to him since he wrapped on Never Let Me Go.
Universal totally pulled a fast one on him in the production of WolfMan; luring him in with absolute artistic control, only to throw the daunting of budget refinery on his back at last second.
he didn't want Benicio to turn into a 'wolf', jesus. the design you see in the film is what Romanek and Rick Baker spent 6 months designing. Romanek told Rick to "let go and go crazy with it".
you can thank Mark for wholeheartedly convincing the studio to keep it in the Victorian Age. you can thank Mark for the insertion of Gothic imagery and themes (unfortunately almost half or more is stripped from the final product).

as having seen the film with some co-workers, I can say that Mark's version would've blown this away. he wouldn't have used a crane to photograph the film, he wouldn't have used a horrid ending, and he certainly wouldn't have re-writes on set. Mark is usually very faithful to the script at hand, with some lenience towards Robin Williams improvising a tad on "One Hour Photo".

Mark was not upset when he left "WolfMan"; "Never Let Me Go" was a thread of the many reasons he left "WolfMan", and I can definitely say I'm glad he did. I'm sure by now you've read about Spike seeing some footage and his reaction.

I apologize if I come off demeaning, it's just that Mark worked very hard on this, and silly rumors like the above spread like wildfire on the internet.

-N

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:47:52 +0000

You guys might be giving Romanek too much credit. He apparently wanted the lead to turn into an actual wolf, which, as you know, makes perfect sense in a movie called Wolf-MAN. Word has it that he was impossible to work with, butting heads with the cast and that he spent far more time wanting to replicate period handbags on the extras than spend time working on the script. Stuff like that.

Basically, he did himself no favors.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:45:07 +0000

I don't know why Mark Romanek gives you guys a collective boner. I didn't buy one minute of One Hour Photo - it was overwrought, poorly scripted, and obvious. A fifth generation xerox of Taxi Driver. Even the art direction, with its sanitized settings, made the film feel like it was directed by a poor man's Marc Forster film - and I hate Marc Forster's films.

I don't think Romanek is any better of a filmmaker than Johnston.

By: Scott Mendelson

Scott Mendelson — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:30:33 +0000

I've said this any number of times (think the two versions of Exorcist IV), but I can't understand why studios spent millions in extra cash to 'fix' a genre picture in the first place. Sure the film may have had issues, but instead of releasing it as is for $90 million, you spend two years tinkering, adding another $60 million to the budget (or enough to make a whole new movie) and end up with the same $30 million opening and $80-100 million gross you would have gotten in the first place.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:30:00 +0000

What a waste.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:26:46 +0000

Word from preproduction was that Romanek wasn't doing himself many favours by constantly changing designs and making random choices. In hindsight, it might not have made any difference whether he went or not but it could also have been far worse.

By: Monty

Monty — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:16:37 +0000

Well who knows if Romanek could have done much better man... I don't get all the love this guy gets.
"One Hour Photo" was an OK debut, but had many, many flaws, and was deeply overrated.
His music videos are fine, but hey, a music video is not a film.

Not saying he would't have done a good job, just saying he still needs to prove himself as a director.

By: Martin

Martin — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:54:14 +0000

(sigh) Frackin' Hollywood, man.