FILM · 1994 · USA
Wolf
68 archived facts 7 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (68)
- #001
James Spader's stunt double performed all of his appearances without wires or protection, and nearly injured himself badly in a scene in which he is thrown down the stone steps of Stewart's guest house.
- #002
Director Mike Nichols initially wanted Michelle Pfeiffer to wear a red-hooded sweatshirt for the film's final act. She refused because she thought it would hurt the film's credibility.
- #003
In the original screenplay, Will was a lawyer. The character's profession was changed to publishing because it was thought to be a fresher approach.
- #004
Jack Nicholson had been trying to get the film made for twelve years with his friend, screenwriter and co-producer Jim Harrison.
- #005
In his new memoir, Christopher Plummer revealed that while shooting one scene he became so immersed in his character that, instead of faking it, he slapped Michelle Pfeiffer across the face.
- #006
For a time there was uncertainty over whether Raymond Alden would be Laura's brother or her father, and screenwriter Wesley Strick argued strongly for the second option. At the same production meeting where producer Douglas Wick, director Mike Nichols and Strick decided that Raymond Alden would be Laura's father, Nichols's assistant interrupted to tell him that Mick Jagger was waiting outside. When the role was written as Laura's brother, Jagger had shown great interest in playing Raymond Alden. Since changing the character was mainly his idea, Strick was given the task of telling Jagger that he was no longer suitable for the role.
- #007
During the making of the film, Michelle Pfeiffer adopted a baby girl, got engaged and got married.
- #008
Although the film is about a werewolf, that specific word is never mentioned. Instead, the phrase "demon wolf" is used several times.
- #009
Despite their on-screen relationship, Michelle Pfeiffer and James Spader became friends during the making of the film, and Pfeiffer's husband, television producer David E. Kelley, was still friends with him while he was looking for the male lead of Boston Legal (2004).
- #010
Vijay Alezais (Om Puri) tells Will Randall (Jack Nicholson) that on the night he was bitten, March 8, the moon was at its closest position to Earth for the first time in a hundred years. March 8, 1993, was the date of a super perigee moon (perigee means the point in the moon's orbit at which it is closest to Earth).
- #011
The black wolf in the scene where Will Randall accidentally hits it with his car was actually an Alexander Archipelago wolf/German Shepherd mix. It had previously lived at Steve Earl Martin's Hollywood animal shelter, "Working Wildlife."
- #012
Producer Douglas Wick described the character Laura Alden as a privileged, lost woman, while Michelle Pfeiffer described her as a woman naturally drawn to wounded animals.
- #013
This was Allison Janney's (Party Guest) first feature film.
- #014
One of the police officers who tries to arrest Will at the zoo was played by David Schwimmer, who was only months away from becoming a star with the imminent release of Friends (1994).
- #015
Before Christopher Plummer was cast, Marlon Brando called producer Douglas Wick to express interest in the role of Raymond Alden.
- #016
Jack Nicholson had the final say on who would direct, and one of his preferences was Mike Nichols.
- #017
The horses that react to Will Randall in the garden of Raymond Alden's mansion were guided by three assistants dressed as grooms. The assistants directed the horses to walk backwards, and, as the horse had been trained, one of them gave a horse the signal to back up.
- #018
John Williams was initially hired to compose the music. He left the project shortly after the film was postponed, and after winning an Oscar for Schindler's List (1993) he needed to take some time off because he had been working on Jurassic Park (1993) and Schindler's List (1993) and overseeing the Boston Pops Orchestra in Boston.
- #019
Producer Douglas Wick says there were two perspectives on the film: director Mike Nichols saw it as a film about loss and death, while Jack Nicholson, screenwriter and co-producer Jim Harrison and Wick saw it as a celebration of oblivion and redemption.
- #020
One of Jack Nicholson's daughters, Jennifer Nicholson, played an office worker in the film.
- #021
Mike Nichols shot this film together with his editor and gave notes from start to finish. It proved to be the last of twelve Nichols films edited by Sam O'Steen.
- #022
When the wolf lies on its side on the road in front of the car, there is a close-up of the wolf's head with its tongue hanging out. Will Randall starts to drag the wolf to the roadside. The next cut comes very fast and a snarling wolf attacks Will. The wolf then runs off toward the snowy forest. When Will gets into his car to set off, two wolves watch him. Then there is a close-up of a wolf's face and eyes. Both real and mechanical wolves were used for this scene. The scene in which the wolf is first seen in the car's headlights was shot on a soundstage. The wolf was positioned by its trainer to stand on a mark and look at one of the trainers. The wolf that was hit was a fake one. When you see the wolf lying on the road, you can tell it is the real wolf, trained to "lie down." The close-up of the wolf's face with its tongue out was the face of the mechanical wolf. Both the real and the fake wolf were dragged to the roadside. When the wolf snarled and attacked, the trainers responded by saying "teeth." The wolf was also filmed as it jumped over the camera. The camera was placed low, and while one trainer released the wolf, another trainer held a food reward behind the camera. For the short attack, a trainer doubled for Jack Nicholson. The trainer held a bone that the wolf tried to bite. When the wolf ran away, it was actually running from one trainer to another. At the second trainer's call, the first trainer released the wolf. The several wolves seen watching Will as he drives away were mechanical wolves.
- #023
One version of the script ended with a transformed Will kept on a secluded estate while Laura made periodic visits by helicopter.
- #024
Special Makeup Effects Supervisor Rick Baker created a small device that made Jack Nicholson's ears move and showed that his senses were changing.
- #025
The exteriors of Raymond Alden's country mansion were shot at Old Westbury Gardens in Nassau County, New York. Will Randall's publishing offices are in the Bradbury Building in downtown Los Angeles, which is often used in films.
- #026
A large part of this film was shot on a soundstage in Los Angeles, California.
- #027
According to Special Makeup Effects Supervisor Rick Baker, the werewolves' makeup was largely inspired by Jack P. Pierce's work on Werewolf of London (1935). The makeup consists mostly of hair and small appliances (pointed ears and a small piece between the eyebrows). James Spader had more facial appliances than Jack Nicholson because his face needed more structure to match the strength of Nicholson's face.
- #028
While Wesley Strick was writing the deer's death in this script, a real deer appeared outside his window.
- #029
A scene with a lion, bears and chimpanzees at a zoo was shot at the Central Park Zoo in New York City.
- #030
There is a popular fan theory that Laura is actually the wolf that bites Will in Vermont.
- #031
Bo Welch's production design was meant to signify elegance but also to convey the feeling that the people in this film are lonely and inwardly somewhat dead.
- #032
Fred Newman provided the werewolf howls for Will Randall. At the time this cinematic production was being made, he was voicing the animated characters of Nickelodeon's series "Doug."
- #033
According to a 2021 Total Film interview, Richard Jenkins partly improvised his role. When Mike Nichols asked him what his character was like, Jenkins surprised him by saying, "I don't think he's too bright." In his first scene, Nichols spontaneously added that a call from his mother arrives that is not in the script. To amuse Nichols, Jenkins improvised the entire interview and went along with him, explaining that the character lives with his mother.
- #034
Mia Farrow was planned to play Charlotte Randall. Mike Nichols had to fight for Farrow to get the role because of Columbia Pictures' hesitations about how controversial she was at the time (because of the then-current Mia Farrow and Woody Allen case). He was willing to take a pay cut, but in the long run she still had to drop out because of scheduling conflicts due to her ongoing dispute with Mr. Allen.
- #035
Sharon Stone and Annette Bening turned down the role of Laura Alden.
- #036
Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer and Richard Jenkins all appeared in The Witches of Eastwick (1987).
- #037
This was the last collaboration between director Mike Nichols and Jack Nicholson.
- #038
Rick Baker stated that he really enjoyed working with Om Puri. The makeup was a flexible, stippled foundation along with a bald cap made of foamed latex and hair pieces that aged him by twenty years. Puri was equally excited to work with Baker and to go through the makeup process.
- #039
This is the last horror film in which Jack Nicholson starred.
- #040
The film was shot from early April to late July 1993. Its release was delayed by six to eight months in order to reshoot the poorly received ending.
- #041
Wesley Strick was hired to rewrite the script because Jim Harrison's screenplay was considered to read too much like a novel. According to Strick, the two never met, but he got the feeling that Harrison was angry about his involvement. Adding to the oddity was the fact that Jack Nicholson had been a close friend of Harrison's for many years. Mike Nichols, however, was pleased with Strick's involvement. Strick found another ally in Michelle Pfeiffer, with whom he had worked while writing Batman Returns (1992).
- #042
The scene in which Will hunts a deer was shot both day and night.
- #043
Will does not transform into the devil wolf until the 49th minute of the film.
- #044
At the climax of the film, Laura Alden (Michelle Pfeiffer) locks Will Randall (Jack Nicholson) in one of the horse stables for his own safety. Stewart Swinton (James Spader), who has also transformed into a wolf, finds Will, and a fight breaks out involving Laura, Will and Stewart. The horses in their stables react to all of this with unease and occasional rearing. Various methods were used to make the horses appear agitated. In every case, the trainers were stationed out of camera range, making noises, using whips and giving verbal commands. Trained rearing horses were used. Pigeons also fly inside the stable and near its roof during this fight scene. To achieve the effect of birds flying on the roof, a trainer opened a pigeon crate on one side of the stable and the pigeons flew to another trainer holding an open crate containing food. The same technique was used to make the birds fly to different positions. The American Humane Society was present on set and received assistance from the A.S.P.C.A. at some of the New York shooting locations.
- #045
Stanley Kubrick was considered to direct, but he was not interested.
- #046
The surname of the character played by Jack Nicholson in this film, Randall, means "Shield-Wolf."
- #047
The legendary Bradbury building stood in for the location of Will's publishing house.
- #048
Screenwriter Jim Harrison left the production over creative differences with director Mike Nichols, saying: "I wanted Dionysian, but he wanted Apollonian. He took my wolf and turned it into a Chihuahua. I had fun for about 10 minutes and then I went out into the countryside and stood in front of a wolf den and apologized, while my dog hid under the truck." After his experience on the film, Harrison decided to leave Hollywood.
- #049
According to Rick Baker, Mike Nichols was worried about the film's more "monster movie" aspects, such as the final climax between Will and Stewart.
- #050
Jack Nicholson and Michelle Pfeiffer both appeared in Batman films, with Nicholson playing The Joker in Batman (1989) and Pfeiffer playing Catwoman in Batman Returns (1992). In addition, Ron Rifkin would later have a recurring role as 'Father Creel' in the second season of Gotham (2014).
- #051
Justin Kirk "portrays" Raymond Alden's deceased son in a series of photographs in a photo album. Kirk later worked again with director Mike Nichols on Angels in America (2003).
- #052
Prunella Scales shot her role (Maude) in four days.
- #053
This is the fourth collaboration between Jack Nicholson and director Mike Nichols.
- #054
Om Puri was excited about and interested in taking part in the aging makeup process he had to endure for his role.
- #055
Wesley Strick worked on his contributions to this film for about a year.
- #056
According to screenwriter Wesley Strick, director Mike Nichols saw this film as an opportunity to reinvent himself as a modern, purposeful, big-budget film director.
- #057
The cast includes three Oscar winners: Jack Nicholson, Christopher Plummer and Allison Janney; and four Oscar nominees: Richard Jenkins, Kate Nelligan, Michelle Pfeiffer and Elaine May.
- #058
The opening scene in which a wolf is struck by Will Randall's car was shot with a series of rapid cuts. No actual contact between the car and the wolf is shown. The wolf is visible in the car's headlights for only a very brief moment.
- #059
Wolf opened in theaters on the same night as the OJ Simpson chase.
- #060
Will's car is a 1986 Volvo 240 DL (244).
- #061
Although Michelle Pfeiffer was an early choice, several actresses still came in to read for the role of Laura for Mike Nichols.
- #062
John Williams was initially hired to compose the score for this film. After the film was delayed, he left the project shortly afterward and needed to take some time off after winning an Oscar for Schindler's List.
- #063
While Will Randall (Jack Nicholson) chats with other guests at Raymond Alden's (Christopher Plummer's) dinner party, he mentions "gay senior citizens" as evidence that the world has already ended. Christopher Plummer became the oldest actor, at eighty-two, to win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, for playing a "gay senior citizen" in Beginners (2010).
- #064
Wolf premiered in theaters in and around Los Angeles, California (17.06.1994) on the same day as the famous OJ Simpson Bronco chase.
- #065
Michelle Pfeiffer and Kate Nelligan appeared in Frankie and Johnny (1991) and Up Close & Personal (1996).
- #066
It was the last Mike Nichols film edited by Sam O'Steen.
- #067
Christopher Plummer and Peter Gerety appeared in Asiana (2005), Inside Man (2006) and Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight (2013).
- #068
Will never smokes the cigar Alden lights for him.
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