Brad Pitt and George Clooney want their new movie ‘Wolfs’ to hit theaters. Apple has other plans.
Three years ago, Hollywood began buzzing about an untitled film project being touted around town, written and directed by Jon Watts and set to copy George Clooney And Brad Pitt. Every studio in town was reportedly bidding on the film, and when Apple finally secured distribution rights, one priority in the plan was made clear: “a strong theatrical release.” as Deadline said. That was included in the deal between the filmmakers and the studio, with Sony Pictures then tasked with theatrical distribution. Last year alone, Clooney said“Brad and I made a deal to make that movie, where we paid back the money to make sure we got a theatrical release.” And when the movie, later titled Wolf, Announced to have its world premiere at this year’s Venice Film Festival, everything seemed to be going in the right direction.
However, plans can change quickly in Hollywood. Earlier this monthApple has announced that Wolf‘wide theatrical release has been canceled, replaced by plans to release on a handful of big screens for just one week before streaming on Apple TV+ starting September 27. Across the Atlantic, plans for a theatrical release has been completely eliminated. This wasn’t necessarily due to a lack of faith in the film, as the studio confirmed plans for a sequel shortly afterward.
Talk to Vanity Fair After the change, Watts made it clear that he was making this film for the big screen—and that shows in the final product. It follows two fixers (Clooney and Pitt) who are accidentally hired for the same job—cleaning up the aftermath of an affair between an ambitious DA (Amy Ryan) and a younger man (Austin Abrams) has become extremely bad—Wolf is a sharp, well-made thriller from the director who has spent the past decade reviving Spider-Man series for the MCU. Watts applies his blockbuster experience to a more compact and intimate story set on a snowy New York night, captured in long, sparkling takes with movie star magic.
“One thing you learn from creating a Spider-Man “The movie is about all the different seat belts an actor has to wear in every direction,” Watts laughs.
Watts was careful to talk about his own feelings about the current distribution situation, but confirmed that he only learned about the change a few days before the rest of the world did. He also made his priorities clear. “What really matters is that the people who pay for movies support theatrical distribution,” he said. “It’s not up to the filmmakers. The filmmakers make great movies.”
Vanity Fair: This movie reminds me of the time before he became a superhero—his 2015 movie Police car especially it is very tight and has a simple yet rigorous feel.
Jon Watts: That’s our thing. We have this mentality of always trying to keep things as simple as possible, trying not to cut unless you have to, which reflects the worldview of people like this. How do we do this? How do we dispose of the dead body in the simplest way possible? That also becomes an aesthetic approach. But yeah, with my friends, I call this my next movie after Police car.
Are you excited to get back into that genre?
Yeah, sure. I didn’t know that. Spider-Man would be three films when I first started. This was my way of getting back to my vision and my style, and I was really just starting out when I did Police car. I started making movies and then Marvel came along. And I had full creative control over those movies, but they were always Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s creations, so this was my chance to do my own thing, which was great. It was also about two troubled boys. [Laughs]
George and Brad have a shared on-screen history. How did you want to pay homage to that? How did you want to reference that?
Yeah, I think it’s interesting because they’re only in three movies together. They’re only in one scene together. Burn after reading. But I think in people’s imaginations, they have a much longer and richer history than they actually do. So for me, that was ripe. It was a lot easier to write in Brad Pitt’s voice and George Clooney’s voice because I know that voice. I’ve seen every movie they’ve been in. You’re always a little nervous when you give someone a script that you’ve written for them in their voice. And it’s great because they’re like, “Yeah, these are things we can say.” And they create the rhythm themselves. They’re always on the side running lines and developing that rhythm and pattern.
But you can draw everything they’ve ever done, and it’s like a synopsis in a movie. You don’t have to explain who they are, where they come from, where they’re going, or even who the people are that they’re talking about, all the off-screen stories that they tell. They carry their entire cinematic pedigree.
