An American Werewolf in London - UK Poster ??

[moonfleet]

Was this one of the official posters in UK ??

[jimw1]

In dont remember having seen it before moon...but its an excellent Design.......

[moonfleet]

Was it this one then??

american_werewolf_in_london_poster_03.jpg

[markrgv]

The first poster is a very clever design, and I've seen it before. I would say it was for the US as it has the US classification at the bottom as being "R - Restricted"

I can remember the original video cover, but don't know what was used as the main cinema poster. I'll also try and see what I can find out.

[markrgv]

This is the original UK quad poster.






This is the original one-sheet poster. It was the standard poster in the US and from what i can find out it was also used in the UK.

[moonfleet]

Thanks for the info Mark

[Rowdon]

I remember John Landis talking about this at the NFT after the Werewolf premiere (1980?): he said that the UK poster showing the two leads (the first of Mark's images above) had been withdrawn in what I believe he said were known as "urban" areas (that's mainly black areas, it seems) because the reaction had been "That's just two white guys walking through Harlem!", so they brought in one that was more "RRRWOOAAARGH!!!" (Landis' term) for that market. Which struck me at the time as a surprise because the only poster I'd seen up until then, on the underground and around London, was the "RRRWOOAAARGH!!!" one (the second image in Mark's post). As far as I was concerned, the wolf face was the only poster used in the UK at that time.

[moonfleet]

I thought John Landis (might be some comment I read) didn't like the chosen poster because it shows too much of the "transformation" of

  Spoiler:

David

so the surprise is not the same....


Got this nice digipack edition

[Rowdon]

Moonfleet's comment reminds me that - as I'm sure everyone knows - Landis wanted to make "An American Werewolf in Paris"; simply dropping "Werewolf" into the Gene Kelly title, but he couldn't get past the fact that everyone except the protagonists would have to either speak French with subtitles, or go all "Inspector Clouseau" with comedy accents. So he moved it to London.
The 1997 sequel "An American Werewolf in Paris" got round the problem by making everything in the film rubbish, so accents weren't an issue anymore.

[moonfleet]

I never thought about the link with An American in Paris

And thanks for that: it was not set in Paris, thanks we escaped of a full cast with "Clouseau nasal accent" (one Pink Panther is Ok and funny, three is boring, sorry Blake) you're right Rowdon, it would have been a complete different thing

[christoph404]

Moonfleet's comment reminds me that - as I'm sure everyone knows - Landis wanted to make "An American Werewolf in Paris"; simply dropping "Werewolf" into the Gene Kelly title, but he couldn't get past the fact that everyone except the protagonists would have to either speak French with subtitles, or go all "Inspector Clouseau" with comedy accents. So he moved it to London.
The 1997 sequel "An American Werewolf in Paris" got round the problem by making everything in the film rubbish, so accents weren't an issue anymore.

Thats funny because in a filmed on stage interview with critic Kim Newman, Landis states that he wrote the script in 1969 while in London. At the time he was working on Kelly's Hero's in Yugoslavia but during his time in London he felt inspired by the Gothic history of London, the home of Hammer horror and Dracula etc ( as he puts it) so decided to write a horror film set there. In the interview he even mentions the cinema in Piccadilly Circus which he wrote into the screenplay, in 1969 the cinema was showing cartoons so he originally thought of a Roadrunner cartoon showing onscreen as the horror unfolds, of course when he went back to film in the 80s it had become a porno cinema so he decided to go with that theme. What is certain is that when Landis was preparing to film in London he ran into huge problems with Equity and the British Government who objected to him importing two USA based actors for the leading roles, it was felt that a british based actor albeit with American accent should be cast and getting a work permit for Griffin Dune was proving impossible..until Landis threatened to re write the script as "American Werewolf In Paris" and move the whole production to France. That threat and his real intention to do so solved the work permit problem. As for the sequel, I believe it was mainly shot in Luxembourg doubling for Paris. Maybe Landis likes to tell a different story every time but to be honest I'd never heard that he had always wanted to film it in Paris.

[Moor Larkin]

Thats funny because in a filmed on stage interview with critic Kim Newman, Landis states that he ..................................he felt inspired by the Gothic history of London, the home of Hammer horror and Dracula etc ( as he puts it) so decided to write a horror film set there. ....................................Maybe Landis likes to tell a different story every time but to be honest I'd never heard that he had always wanted to film it in Paris.

Given that all the Gothic Hammer stuff seemed to be in Yorkshire, I think you might be right..................

All I recall from London was the usual sights and lots of interiors that could have been a motel in Vegas to be honest.



The only poster I recall was the one with the big wolf face on it. The stretching effects were it's main claim to fame as I remember it. The actual big hairy black alsation it became, was positively naff - on a par with one of those Baskerville hounds of yore.

The beetlejuice effects of the zombie ghosts went largely unremarked at the time but I found those the most effective parts of the film. The actual metamorphosis used to make me more queasy than *scared*.

[Rowdon]

Thats funny because in a filmed on stage interview with critic Kim Newman, Landis states that he wrote the script in 1969 while in London. .... Maybe Landis likes to tell a different story every time but to be honest I'd never heard that he had always wanted to film it in Paris.

No, you're probably right. I can't remember where I heard the story about wanting to make An American Werewolf in Paris, and the accents question, so I'm sure your source and story are more reliable. I heard it somewhere though, and credited to Landis, so I might find it again.

As for the effects; I remember (actually, perhaps I should stop saying "I remember" since I obviously don't, but surely 49 is too young for "I seem to have a vague recollection echoing around the increasingly empty hall of my memory ... ") it being said that Landis was angry with Rick Baker because they'd planned this werewolf project for years, and Baker had been working on revolutionary effects with 'their' film in mind, and then he went and used them on The Howling, convinced that An American Werewolf wasn't going to be made (although it must have been more complicated than that, because surely An American Werewolf was close to production when The Howling was in production, because they were both 1980/81 ... I must be wrong again ... but I do have this vague recollection echoing around the increasingly empty hall of my memory ...)

And while I'm here, I fully agree with Moor Larkin about the alsation. They should never have shown the wolf so clearly - one reason being that 4-legged monsters just aren't as scary as two legged monsters. I want a Wolf-Man, not a wolf.

When I saw Landis' talk, which I've mentioned so often, I really wanted to say that the only unbelievable bit in the whole film was not the transformation or even skull-headed Jack who, despite having no lips can still pronounce his 'm's, but was the fact that the chocolate machine on Tottenham Court Road station worked (just before the businessman gets killed). Ruined the film for me. I didn't dare say anything, of course, as the Q&A was dominated by very knowledgeable film people, and Jenny Agutter fans.

[christoph404]

I think mentioning the chocolate machine that is working is a valid point, it would have got a good laugh and certainly appealed to Landis' sense of humour I'm sure.

[markrgv]

As for the effects; I remember (actually, perhaps I should stop saying "I remember" since I obviously don't, but surely 49 is too young for "I seem to have a vague recollection echoing around the increasingly empty hall of my memory ... ") it being said that Landis was angry with Rick Baker because they'd planned this werewolf project for years, and Baker had been working on revolutionary effects with 'their' film in mind, and then he went and used them on The Howling, convinced that An American Werewolf wasn't going to be made (although it must have been more complicated than that, because surely An American Werewolf was close to production when The Howling was in production, because they were both 1980/81 ... I must be wrong again ... but I do have this vague recollection echoing around the increasingly empty hall of my memory ...)

Rick Baker was working on The Howling - maybe pre-production, and then left to work with Landis. Baker suggested an understudy named Rob Botin to continue effects work on The Howling, which in turn gave him his big break and he went on to be a top effects man.

[Rowdon]

Rick Baker was working on The Howling - maybe pre-production, and then left to work with Landis. Baker suggested an understudy named Rob Botin to continue effects work on The Howling, which in turn gave him his big break and he went on to be a top effects man.

It worked out for everybody then! But I still have the feeling that Landis felt Baker had taken 'their' ideas to The Howling, rather than keeping them under wraps.