“X-MEN” BEAST DESIGNER CRAFTS ORIGINAL CREATURES IN “WOLVES”

Movie release material

 Lucas Till who played Alex Summers aka Havoc in “X-Men” movies once again gears up for a preternatural character in his latest horror thriller film, “Wolves.”

Photo courtesy of Pioneer Films

                “X-Men’s” (First Class) Beast creator Dave Elsey joins Till in the production unit of “Wolves” who designed the original wolf creatures in the movie.  Directed and written by David Hayter (who also co-penned blockbusters such as “X-Men 2,” “Watchmen” and “The Scorpion King”), the movie is a contemporary take on classic monsters. 

                “Wolves” finds popular high school student Cayden Richards (Till) waking from a horrific nightmare, only to realize that he's living it – a football star with a bright future and the hottest girlfriend in campus, but with one glitch – he’s a werewolf.   Learning the hard way of his true identity, he changed into something vicious one night and attached his parents and girlfriend.  Frightened by this realization, Richards runs away from town and finds himself in Lupine Ridge, a town where he is about to find answers on his newfound strength and identity.

Finding his way around Lupine and to Angelina (Merritt Patterson), a young woman caught between two ancient clans of "wolves,” Richards finally discovers the shocking truth behind his ancestry and soon realize the danger that awaits them and the woman he loves.

Hayter recalls on making the movie, “We did years of sketches, designs.  It took me a long time to refine what I wanted out of it. I looked at pretty much every werewolf movie ever made. I said okay, where are the places, where are the traps in this creature. Big pointed ears that stick straight up kind of look like elf ears to me. A long snout looks like a big nose, and the long fingernails can look like those of a transvestite. If you look, you’ll see the ears on my wolves, which were made by Academy award winning master monster creators. The ears go back instead of up. They’re angled back, which gives the wolf a sleeker look, but it also calls to mind when a wolf is angry or a dog is angry, their ears flatten back against their skull and gives them a more threatening look. And then the claws, instead of long, straight claws they’re curved. They’re hooked, like wolf claws are so that they can dig into your skin and hold you. So there were a number of ways that we went about the design, and then we also were very careful not to put too much stuff across the actor’s face, so that the prosthetic is glued down to the face where the face is going to move, so it allows them to act or to emote in a way that is not obstructed by all the latex and fur. t was really a matter of trying to discover what wolves are all about rather than classic movie werewolves. Let’s say that actual wolves are quiet and beautiful and sleek and intelligent. They’re not crazy, out-of-control monsters like they’re usually portrayed, so that helped out a lot.”