Wolf (film)

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Wolf
Theatrical release poster.
Directed by	Mike Nichols
Produced by	Douglas Wick
Written by	Jim Harrison Wesley Strick
Starring	Jack Nicholson Michelle Pfeiffer James Spader
Music by	Ennio Morricone
Cinematography	Giuseppe Rotunno
Editing by	Sam O'Steen
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	June 17, 1994
Running time	125 minutes
Country	USA
Language	English
Budget	$70,000,000
Gross revenue	$131,002,597

Wolf (1994) is a satirical horror film directed by Mike Nichols and co-written by Jim Harrison and Wesley Strick, with music by Ennio Morricone and cinematography by Giuseppe Rotunno.

The film featured Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer and James Spader in the lead roles, alongside Kate Nelligan, Richard Jenkins, Christopher Plummer, Eileen Atkins, David Hyde Pierce and Om Puri.

Plot

Will Randall (Jack Nicholson) is bitten by a wolf while driving home on a country road in Vermont. Shortly afterwards, he is demoted from his job as editor in chief of a publishing house when the company is taken over by wealthy business tycoon Raymond Alden (Christopher Plummer), who replaces him with Will's own protegé Stewart Swinton (James Spader). Stewart also happens to be having an affair with Will's wife Charlotte (Kate Nelligan). The former editor-in-chief soon starts to feel revitalized, and becomes more aggressive and assertive, taking on the characteristics of a wolf.

With the help of Alden's headstrong daughter Laura (Michelle Pfeiffer), Will sets out for the new life ahead of him. His first escapade as a werewolf takes place at Laura's countryside cottage, where he wakes up in the middle of the night and predatorily hunts down a deer. In the morning Will finds himself on the bank of a forest stream, dunks his head in water and realizes he has blood all over his face and hands.

He visits an Indian healer, Dr. Vijav Alezais (Om Puri), who gives him an amulet intended to protect him from turning completely into a wolf. Alezais asks Will to bite him as a return favour, as Alezais himself does not have long to live, and would prefer "demonization to death."

Will's professional life is gradually restored and, in his aggressive avatar, he fires his young nemesis Stewart, deepening the hatred between the two. Will inadvertently bites Stewart, who then becomes a wolf and subsequently murders Charlotte Randall. In the police investigation, Stewart ends up attempting to frame Will in order to seize his job at the publishing house again.

Horrified that it might have been his alter-ego that killed her, Will goes back with Laura to her cottage, where he agrees to be locked up in the barn. Laura gets a call from Detective Bridger (Richard Jenkins) who is investigating Charlotte's murder, and learns that it was a canine attack that killed her. Alarmed that Will might be the unknowing perpetrator, Laura goes alone to the police station to find out more. There she runs into Stewart, who makes an animal-like pass at her, revealing himself to also be affected by the wolf-changes Will is affected by. Laura hurries off from the station, making arrangements for her and Will to leave the country.

Stewart follows her to the cottage and kills her two guards. After a brief struggle in the barn where Will is locked in, Stewart tries to rape her, but Will frees himself from his stall, and they do battle as werewolves. Stewart is then shot to death by Laura. After he returns to normal, Will has brief moment with Laura and then runs off into the forest.

Minutes later, Laura shows signs of a wolf's heightened senses when the police arrive, telling the lead detective that she can smell the vodka on his breath. The last scene is a close-up of her face fading into dark, lupine eyes, preceded with previously-shown shots of a close up of Will Randall completing his transformation into a full werewolf.

Cast

• Jack Nicholson as Will Randall
• Michelle Pfeiffer as Laura Alden
• James Spader as Stewart Swinton
• Kate Nelligan as Charlotte Skylar Randall
• Richard Jenkins as Detective Carl Bridger
• Christopher Plummer as Raymond Alden
• Eileen Atkins as Mary
• David Hyde Pierce as Roy MacAllister
• Om Puri as Dr. Vijav Alezais
• Ron Rifkin as Doctor Ralph
• Prunella Scales as Maude Waggins
• Brian Markinson as Detective Wade
• Peter Gerety as George
• Bradford English as Keyes
• Stewart J. Zully as Gary
• Thomas F. Duffy as Tom

Allison Janney (later famous for her role on The West Wing) briefly appeared as one of the party guests.^[1]

David Schwimmer (later famous for his role on Friends) had a small role as a cop.^[1]

Production

Mia Farrow was an early contender for the role of Charlotte Randall, but was apparently considered too controversial a choice by the film company due to the then-current Woody Allen and Soon-Yi Previn affair.^[2]

Sharon Stone turned down the role of Laura Alden, eventually played by Michelle Pfeiffer.^[2]

The film's release was delayed for six to eight months, in order to reshoot the poorly-received ending.^[2]

Reception

Box office

The film grossed $65,012,000 domestically and $131,002,597 worldwide, while making another $34,000,000 on US rentals.^[3]

Critical reaction

Wolf holds a score of 60% on Rotten Tomatoes.^[4]

Janet Maslin in the New York Times wrote:^[5] "So long as it stays confined to the level of metaphor, as it does in the first hour of Wolf, this idea really is irresistible. And Mike Nichols's own killer instincts as an urbane social satirist are ideally suited to this milieu... Only later, when the wolf motif is allowed to become literal, does Wolf sink its paws into deep quicksand... Mr. Nicholson, who actually totes a briefcase for this role and gives one of his subtlest performances in recent years, is well suited to the conversational savagery that marks Wolf at its best... Unlike Francis Ford Coppola, who revealed a surprising enthusiasm for horrific vampire tricks in Bram Stoker's Dracula, Mr. Nichols shows no great gusto for the supernatural... there are admirable performances from Mr. Spader, still turning the business of being despicable into a fine art, and Kate Nelligan, as Will's deceptively brisk and efficient wife... Ms. Pfeiffer's role is underwritten, but her performance is expert enough to make even diffidence compelling. Mr. Plummer, as he should, radiates a self-satisfaction so great it actually seems carnivorous."

Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times wrote:^[6] "Wolf is both more and less than a traditional werewolf movie. Less, because it doesn't provide the frankly vulgar thrills and excesses some audience members are going to be hoping for. And more, because Nicholson and his director, Mike Nichols, are halfway serious about exploring what might happen if a New York book editor did become a werewolf... The tone of the movie is steadfastly smart and literate; even in the midst of his transformation, the Nicholson character is capable of sardonic asides and a certain ironic detachment... What is a little amazing is that this movie allegedly cost $70 million. It is impossible to figure where the money all went, even given the no-doubt substantial above-the-line salaries. The special effects are efficient but not sensational, the makeup by Rick Baker is convincing but wisely limited, and the movie looks great, but that doesn't cost a lot of money. What emerges is an effective attempt to place a werewolf story in an incongruous setting, with the closely observed details of that setting used to make the story seem more believable."

Hal Hinson in the Washington Post wrote:^[7] "In its own delightfully peculiar way, the film is the only one of its kind ever made - a horror film about office politics... The movie isn't wholly great; it starts to unravel just after the midway point. Still, there are charms enough all the way through to make it the most seductive, most enjoyable film of the summer... The main attraction, though, is Nicholson - first, last and always - and it's his modulated suavity and wit that make the film so sublimely entertaining... Though Randall becomes more formidable as the movie progresses, Nicholson sustains his low-key, self-effacing style, and somehow the more he keeps his natural dynamism in check, the more his charisma increases... As the world-weary Laura, Pfeiffer doesn't have nearly as much to work with, and so, ultimately, she lends more of her beauty than she does her talent. But with beauty like hers it would seem churlish to complain. Even so, she does bring a ring of true emotion to this bad girl's jaded snarl. Chemistry between the two stars is essential here, and Pfeiffer makes us believe in this improbable love affair. It's Pfeiffer's combination of compassion and terror that carries the last section of the film and gives it class."

Peter Travers in Rolling Stone wrote:^[8] "The writer and director are an odd coupling. Harrison, the Michigan poet and novelist (Legends of the Fall), hunts his dinner. Nichols, the urban sophisticate (The Graduate, Working Girl), dines out... No one puts more wicked zest into playing yuppie scum than the gifted Spader - he's a roguish delight... Nichols is a master of the telling detail, and his vision of the New York publishing world as an urban jungle is elegantly stylized and bitingly funny... Nicholson is amazing, finding humor and poignancy in a role that could have slid into caricature. His scenes with Pfeiffer, who gives a luminous performance, have a welcome edge, aided by some uncredited scripting from Nichols' former comedy partner Elaine May... a rapturous romantic thriller with a darkly comic subtext about what kills human values."

Desson Howe in the Washington Post wrote:^[9] "The movie - a reunion of Carnal Knowledge alums Nicholson, director Mike Nichols and cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno - works beautifully when it's rooted in reality, when the Werewolf Thing functions as a multiple metaphor for unleashed-id sexuality and the law of the corporate jungle. It's the underlying threat of Nicholson's transformation that provides the atmosphere. What happens thereafter is best left unrevealed. There are no prizes for guessing that the moon will loom large in Nicholson's life, or that special make-up superstar Rick Baker (who did the hairy-man stuff for An American Werewolf in London) was hired for a reason. Unfortunately, as Nicholson loses his Darwinian foothold in life, the movie takes a backslide too... Pfeiffer's presence seems more the result of agent negotiation than organic storytelling; her character is semi-believable at best - a frigid princess, misunderstood by everyone but instantly amenable to Nicholson partly because there's schizophrenia in her family. Nelligan, Nicholson's wife, has a surprise development (no, she doesn't turn into a werewolf) that's nothing more than plot-convenient. Spader is creepily effective as the ladder-climbing opportunist. He ought to be the poster boy for that T-shirt slogan "Die Yuppie Scum." As for Jack, nobody does it better... Nichols has allowed Wolf to evolve from a well-mounted, supernatural drama to goofy camp."

Todd McCarthy in Variety wrote:^[10] "The studio must convince the horror/special-effects crowd to attend a Jack Nicholson / Michelle Pfeiffer / Mike Nichols picture and persuade the film-makers' fans to see a genre pic... But no matter how snazzy the trappings, when you get down to it, this is still, at heart, a werewolf picture... Nicholson begins his performance in a low key and cranks it up only by degrees... By contrast, Pfeiffer's Laura comes across as very hard and brittle. It's not a rewarding role and, given the grandly romantic goal the film fails to achieve, her character needs more shading and generosity of heart. Spader is back playing the sort of loathsome yuppie he excelled at earlier in his career... Nelligan has little to do as the unfaithful wife... Eileen Atkins and David Hyde Pierce as Will's loyal publishing underlings, are dead perfect."

Time Out wrote:^[11] "Quite frankly, it's hard to fathom why exactly anyone would have wanted to make this slick, glossy, but utterly redundant werewolf movie... Overall, this is needlessly polished nonsense: not awful; just toothless, gutless and bloodless."

Awards and nominations

Wolf won a Saturn Award for Best Writing for Jim Harrison and Wesley Strick's screenplay, and was nominated for a further five Saturn Awards, in the categories of Best Horror Film, Best Actor (Jack Nicholson), Best Actress (Michelle Pfeiffer), Best Supporting Actor (James Spader) and Best Make-up (Rick Baker).

Ennio Morricone was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or Television.

Awarding Body	Award	Nominee	Result
Grammy Awards	Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or Television	Ennio Morricone	nomination
Saturn Awards	Best Horror Film		nomination
	Best Actor	Jack Nicholson	nomination
	Best Actress	Michelle Pfeiffer	nomination
	Best Supporting Actor	James Spader	nomination
	Best Writing	Jim Harrison, Wesley Strick	winner
	Best Make-up	Rick Baker	nomination

External links

• Wolf at the Internet Movie Database
• Wolf at Allmovie
• Wolf at Rotten Tomatoes

References

Films directed by Mike Nichols 1960s Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) • The Graduate (1967) 1970s Catch-22 (1970) • Carnal Knowledge (1971) • The Day of the Dolphin (1973) • The Fortune (1975) 1980s Gilda Live (1980) • Silkwood (1983) • Heartburn (1986) • Biloxi Blues (1988) • Working Girl (1988) 1990s Postcards from the Edge (1990) • Regarding Henry (1991) • Wolf (1994) • The Birdcage (1996) • Primary Colors (1998) 2000s What Planet Are You From? (2000) • Wit (2001) • Angels in America (2003) • Closer (2004) • Charlie Wilson's War (2007)

Related links