'The Wolf Man' kicks it old-school. Grrr!

Benicio Del Toro
as 'The Wolf Man'There will be very little computer-aided wizardry involved in transforming actor Benicio Del Toro into “The Wolf Man.”

Empire Online recently interviewed a producer on the remake of the 1941 horror classic, Scott Stuber.

Stuber reports “The Wolf Man" relies heavily on the hands-on approach of makeup effects guru Rick Baker. Baker's impressive resumé includes hair-raising work on “The Howling,” “An American Werewolf in London,” Michael Jackson's “Thriller” video and Tim Burton's remake of “Planet of the Apes.”

“We really want to stick to the physical stuff,” Stuber told Empire. “So much of what we’re trying to accomplish is that when Benicio is the wolf, you really know it’s Benicio Del Toro and you have the eyes and the emotion of what he is ... You wouldn’t get that with a completely CG creature who you disassociate from Benicio Del Toro. There will inevitably be some CG work to help with some of the transformation, but it’s a Rick Baker-centric film and that’s what we wanted from the get-go.”

“The Wolf Man" is due in U.S. theaters Feb. 13, 2009 — just in time for Valentine's Day!

(Jorge Sosa is a staff writer for the Hutchinson Leader. He can be reached at sosa@hutchinsonleader.com)