Michael Giacchino, director and composer of Marvel Studios‘ television special Werewolf by Night, shared some insight as to how the black-and-white horror film got a colorized version.
In an interview with Marvel.com, Giacchino talked about “messing around” in the final stages of making Werewolf by Night. “We started doing some tests, and we were like, that’s cool. We were well into this a year ago — wanting to do this and share this.” Since it’s been available for fans to watch over the past year in its original format, Giacchino said the team thought, “…It would be fun to reintroduce it in another way — in another version of what horror really is, which is in those old movies that I used to love growing up from Hammer horror films, which were these saturated colors and stark lighting.”
Werewolf by Night, Marvel’s horror throwback
Released as a Disney+ exclusive in October 2022, Werewolf by Night stands apart from other Marvel Cinematic Universe projects thanks to being shot almost entirely in black and white like early film and television. Last month, Marvel announced that the special would receive a fully-colorized version to celebrate its first anniversary.
“When we shot it, we tried to— at least in my head, I always knew black and white was foremost, the first version we were going to do,” Giacchino explained. “But I also kept an eye on what we were doing color-wise, in hopes that if we did a color version, it could be fun.” So I think it’s just a fun, nice way to reintroduce it to the world in a different way for them to experience Werewolf By Night.”
He also hopes that the tribute to classic horror will spark some interest in fans. “Maybe they’ll go back and check out some of those crazy Hammer horror films and things like that, which are nuts.”
Marvel Studios’ Werewolf by Night stars Gael García Bernal as Jack Russell, the titular shape-changing monster, and Laura Donnelly as Elsa Bloodstone. The original black-and-white version of Werewolf by Night is currently streaming on Disney+, and also available to watch on Hulu until October 31.
Werewolf by Night in Color arrives on Disney+ on Friday, October 20.
