John Landis advised his son against remaking An American Werewolf in London

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Over three decades have passed since John Landis first unleashed AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON on the world, and the film is still held in high esteem, especially due to Rick Baker's masterful werewolf transformation sequences which continue to be imitated to this day. Naturally, this means that a remake is in order, but in the case of AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON, that remake will be coming from John Landis' son, Max Landis.

Max Landis teased his intentions of remaking one of his father's movies last summer, and it was later confirmed that the film in question was AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON. Set to both write and direct the remake, Landis said that his pitch for the project was "same movie takes place now" with "a few new jokes." He'll also be keeping things "practical as much as possible" when it comes to the werewolf transformations. As for how involved John Landis will be in his son's project, Landis told Collider that his only involvement was getting paid. Turns out, he actually advised his son not to remake the film.

Truthfully, I’ve not seen his script. I advised him not to do it. I think he’s putting himself in a bad position. My son is brilliant, he really is, and he wants to do it. So what am I going to say? No? I know it won’t be as bad as An American Werewolf In Paris, which was shit. So, I don’t know. He’s a great writer. He’s been writing since he was 7. He wrote a whole series of scripts about these characters called Yelp and Dopey, two dumb dogs, when he was under ten. They were so funny.

I can't say I disagree. Even if Max Landis' remake does somehow justify its existence, how is it really going to stand against a classic with decades of history behind it? John Landis' AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON followed two Americans, David and Jack, as they set off on a backpacking holiday in England. After a werewolf attack left Jack dead and David laying in a London hospital, a series of disturbing apparitions of his deceased friend informed David that he was now a werewolf and would transform at the next full moon. Cue Rick Baker's extraordinary werewolf transformation sequence.

Max Landis' next project, BRIGHT, will be debuting on Netflix on December 22, 2017. The David Ayer directed flick takes place in an alternate world full of orcs, elves, and fairies and follows two cops from very different backgrounds, Ward, a human (Will Smith), and Jakoby, an orc (Joel Edgerton), as they embark on a routine night patrol that will alter the future of their world as they know it.