Wolf Man Star Christopher Abbott Talks His 7-Hour Transformation

Christopher Abbott was the first actor that Leigh Whannell spoke to for the titular role in Wolf Man, and while the project changed hands for a period of time, the universe brought the star and filmmaker back together in the end. 

In Whannell’s long-awaited follow-up to his widely acclaimed The Invisible Man (2020), Abbott plays Blake Lovell, a writer turned stay-at-home girl dad, who, in a bid to save his marriage, convinces his journalist wife, Charlotte (Julia Garner), to temporarily relocate from San Francisco to his childhood home in rural Oregon. Charlotte reluctantly agrees to the change of scenery, but just as soon as their moving truck arrives in the remote area, the Lovell family is attacked by something.

From there, Blake discovers a wound on his arm, and he quickly begins to degenerate in heartbreaking fashion, mirroring the experience of losing a loved one to a sudden (or yearslong) terminal illness. Abbott’s physical transformation was broken up into a handful of stages, the last of which took up to seven hours to complete. Needless to say, the lengthy makeup and prosthetics work put Abbott through the wringer before he had to go film for hours on end. 

“It looks beautiful, and I’m grateful that we did real prosthetics. The film is all the better for it. But it’s tedious and arduous,” Abbott tells The Hollywood Reporter. “Just wearing the prosthetics for hours is more tiring than you think. Parts of the prosthetics are heavy, and they weigh you down. Physically, you feel like you’re trapped a little bit, so it’s a mental marathon as well.”

During the pandemic, Abbott lived with The Brutalist’s brain trust of writer-director Brady Corbet and co-writer Mona Fastvold, having introduced the life and creative partners to each other roughly 15 years ago. Thus, he has a vested interest of sorts in the success of their epic drama, as it continues to be one of the odds-on Oscar favorites this awards season. 

“I’ve always believed in them and knew they were great, and it’s nice to see the world catching up now,” Abbott says. “I was privy to all the conversations and the frustrations of getting money and losing money and getting it back and cast changing. So, in a very strange way, I feel very much a part of that film just from hearing phone conversations in the other room.”

Below, during a recent conversation with THR, Abbott also discusses how Wolf Man’s prosthetics altered his acting technique, before shedding some light on the historical musical he just wrapped with Fastvold.

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Please forgive me if you’ve gotten this cheeky question already, but was Leigh Whannell inspired by the end of Poor Things? Did that brief moment get the ball rolling on your casting?

(Laughs.) I’ve said a few times in interviews that I’ve never been asked to play an animal before, but I’d forgotten. I was like, “Oh, right. I played a goat in Poor Things.” So now I have to be worried about being typecast. [Writer’s Note: Whannell was already a fan, but Abbott’s stage performance alongside Aubrey Plaza in Danny and the Deep Blue Sea was the clincher.]

Whenever acting class is depicted on screen, there’s usually a scene involving animal work. Was that part of your training when you were coming up?

Yeah, I definitely did it in school. You get to be an animal, a tree, for sure. “Do this scene as if you’re a gorilla.” There was tons of that stuff, so it was nice to tap into that old training.

You’ve done a lot of off-the-wall material in your career, but between the makeup/prosthetics and the feral performance, were you pretty intimidated by this role?

I was just excited to be able to focus on the physical more. It’s definitely the most physical role I’ve done in that way, or it’s the most [physical] work I’ve had to do. It forces your brain to think differently and approach things differently. For anything else, I would never look in the mirror and practice my lines, but for Wolf Man, because of the prosthetics, you have to see how your face moves underneath the prosthetics and what it conveys. So I thought that was interesting.

Did the prosthetics hinder anything that you would normally do? 

It didn’t hinder me, but it changed how I would act without any prosthetics or makeup. How one would convey sadness or anger changes when you have prosthetics. So you have to be a little bit bigger in terms of what you do with your face underneath, but that’s really it.

Most films are shot out of sequence, but given the methodical transformation that Blake undergoes in a single location, were you able to film most of your arc chronologically?

No, not really, but the good thing is that there were specific prosthetic stages. So, whatever tracking I had to do on my own and in my own brain was easily remembered based on what prosthetics I was wearing that day. I was like, “Oh, right. When I look this way, I’m at this level.” So it was a team effort in terms of tracking that stuff.

Up to seven hours in the makeup trailer sounds particularly exhausting. How much gas did you have left in the tank once you were done? 

It looks beautiful, and I’m grateful that we did real prosthetics. The film is all the better for it. But yeah, man, it’s tedious and arduous. It takes hours, and then you have to go shoot. Just wearing the prosthetics for hours is more tiring than you think. Parts of the prosthetics are heavy, and they weigh you down. Physically, you feel like you’re trapped a little bit, so it’s a mental marathon as well.

Did you burn through lots of podcasts and audiobooks to pass the time in the chair?

I got along so well with Arjen [Tuiten], the [prosthetics & special make-up effect] designer, and [key prosthetic/makeup artist] Pam [Goldammer]. The three of us did the prosthetics together all the time, and we would play music, talk and create a mood. So I didn’t do that zone-out kind of thing.

Knowing how good the creature effects look in the movie and how much effort was put into them, were you pretty frustrated when people’s first glimpse was a less than idealized version at a theme park?

I was away working when that happened. What happened? I don’t even know what happened exactly.

While I have great affection for Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights, they had a Wolf Man attraction with a Wolf Man that wasn’t a reflection of the work you created on screen. So the Internet had its way with it, but all’s well that ends well. 

Oh, I see. I’m a Luddite, so I don’t know what’s going on anywhere at any time, truthfully.

Wolf Man is the third time you’ve played a character who’s lived under the same roof as a Julia Garner character, but it’s the first time you’ve actually interacted on screen. 

The third time? There was Martha Marcy May Marlene.

She also played your character’s roommate during your comeback episode on Girls season five [2016’s “The Panic in Central Park”].

Oh, right. Wow. (Laughs.)

Have the two of you felt like ships that pass in the night? 

I guess so! I mean, clearly. (Laughs.) That first movie we did together [Martha] was filmed a long time ago [in 2010]. That was both of our first films, and I’ve known Julia over the years. We have mutual friends. So, if we were going to reunite on anything, it was nice to do it on this one and have plenty to do together.

That spotlight shot of Blake is really impressive. Were they able to achieve that lighting change on the day?  

Yeah, that was on the day, for sure. That made it feel kind of theatrical, which I liked. It felt like a classic kind of stage spotlight. So I thought it added to the theatricality of the performance in a way, or at least the physicality mixed with that theatricality.

For the wolf vision, most of that effect must have been created in post, but did you have to do anything unusual on the day to account for it? 

A lot of that was done in camera, too. When the camera would turn and change perspectives, there were pretty dramatic light shifts that would happen on set. So that also added to the reality or, essentially, the non-reality of the whole thing, which was great.

I also really liked that shadow shot in the bedroom when Blake was early in his transition. His posture is beginning to change, so his shadow reflects the way his arms and hands are hanging differently.

Yeah, the progression is very gradual in this movie, so being able to play with how much he progresses was really interesting. It starts with just the fingers, and then it eventually just works its way up through the arms and the rest of the body. So there was a lot to keep track of, but it’s fun to play with physicality like that.

Blake’s family needs a change of pace, so they temporarily relocate to the Oregon boonies. Could you live this remotely? 

No, I live in New York. It’s quite the opposite. I like having friends around, and I like being close to them. I don’t mind a little beach respite or something like that, but no, I’m alright.

The production notes reference Blake’s mother having ALS, but I don’t recall any mention in the movie. Did that piece hit the floor?

Yeah, I think so. There was a scene where she was in bed or something like that. It wasn’t much. It was already only a little bit, but the essence that something was wrong still comes across. So that’s a good pickup, but it’s really a Leigh question. [Writer’s Note: Whannell will have a lot to add on Jan. 17, when THR publishes its interview with him.]

Before we shift gears, what day best sums up your escapades as Wolf Man? 

For whatever reason, everyone is grabbing onto the arm-chewing scene, So maybe it’s through other people that I keep thinking about it, but I think that’s the one.

It was just reported that you shot another project with Mona Fastvold [Ann Lee]. You’ve been close to the Fastvold-Corbet household for a long time, so are you happy to see all the accolades they’re receiving? 

Yeah, I’m very, very proud. Proud is almost a strange word because they’re contemporaries. But Brady and Mona have been longtime friends, and Mona was one of the first friends I made when I moved to New York. Shortly after, I met Brady separately. So I’ve always believed in them and knew they were great, and it’s nice to see the world catching up now. [Writer’s Note: Abbott actually introduced Corbet and Fastvold to each other roughly 15 years ago.]

I recently learned that you lived with Brady and Mona during Covid, so were you pretty familiar with The Brutalist before it finally got off the ground? 

Yeah, as friends, I was privy to all the conversations and the frustrations of getting money and losing money and getting it back and cast changing. So, in a very strange way, I feel very much a part of that film just from hearing phone conversations in the other room.

Is Ann Lee your first musical of any kind?

I’d never done a musical, and Mona’s newest film, sure, it’s a musical. But without giving away too much — from the spectrum of Dancer in the Dark to Wicked —  it’s much closer to Dancer in the Dark’s territory.

I watched Josh Mond’s James White after you mentioned it in our previous interview. What’s the story behind your latest film together, It Doesn’t Matter?

He spent a lot of time on it during 2020 and 2021. It’s a very avant-garde piece. There’s even animation in it. I actually don’t do very much in it. I have a small little role, but it’s a hodgepodge of everything: animation, documentary, fiction.

Alessandro Nivola and I talked about Kraven the Hunter recently, and I thought you both created memorable characters. But despite a great cast, a talented filmmaker in J.C. Chandor and plenty of resources, every movie is still just a roll of the dice, isn’t it? You just never know. 

Yeah, you never know, man. Absolutely. That’s the thing. This business is inherently the most collaborative art, and, essentially, the most expensive. So there’s a lot of cooks in the kitchen, sometimes, and whether that’s the actors, the director or whoever else is around, it takes a village.

Lastly, how’s East of Eden treating you?

I’m going back soon to do what is essentially the second half of it. So I’m in the middle of it now, and it’s exciting.

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Wolf Man opens in movie theaters on Jan. 17.