Three years ago, Hollywood started buzzing about an untitled movie project getting shopped around town, written and directed by Jon Watts and set to star George Clooney and Brad Pitt. Every studio in town was reportedly bidding on the film, and eventually, when Apple secured the distribution rights, a priority in the plan was made clear: a “robust theatrical release,” as Deadline put it. That was woven into the deal between the filmmakers and the studio, with Sony Pictures later attached to handle theatrical distribution. Just last year, Clooney said, “Brad and I made the deal to do that movie where we gave money back to make sure that we had a theatrical release.” And when the film, later titled Wolfs, was announced to make its world premiere at this year’s Venice Film Festival, everything seemed to have fallen into place along those lines.
Plans, however, can change fast in Hollywood. Earlier this month, Apple announced that Wolfs’ wide theatrical release had been canceled, with plans instead to put it out on a handful of big screens for just a week before streaming it on Apple TV+ starting September 27. Across the Atlantic, plans for theater runs were scrapped entirely. This wasn’t for lack of faith in the movie, exactly, as the studio confirmed plans to make a sequel in the same breath.
Speaking with Vanity Fair in the aftermath of the pivot, Watts says in no uncertain terms that he made this movie for the big screen—and that’s evident in the final product. Following two fixers (Clooney and Pitt) inadvertently hired for the same job—cleaning up the fallout of a hookup between an ambitious DA (Amy Ryan) and a younger man (Austin Abrams) gone terribly wrong—Wolfs is a sharp, well-executed thriller from the director, who spent the last decade revitalizing the Spider-Man series for the MCU. Watts applies his blockbuster bona fides to a leaner, meaner story taking place over one night in snowy New York, captured in long takes and glistening with movie-star magic.
“One thing that you learn from making a Spider-Man movie is about all the different kinds of harnesses an actor has to wear in every direction,” Watts says with a laugh.
Watts is careful with his words as to his own feelings around the current release situation, but confirms he found out about the change only days before the rest of the world did. He also makes clear where his priorities are. “What it really takes is for the people that pay for the movies to back theatrical distribution,” he says. “It’s not up to the filmmakers. Filmmakers have been making great movies.”
Vanity Fair: This movie reminded me of your pre-superhero days—your 2015 movie Cop Car especially, as it’s very tight and there’s a feeling of rigorous simplicity to it.
Jon Watts: That was our thing. We had this sort of mentality of always trying to do things as simply as possible, trying to not cut unless you have to cut, reflecting the worldview of these kinds of guys. How do we do this? How do we get rid of the body in the simplest way possible? That became an aesthetic approach as well. But yeah, to my friends, I call this my next movie after Cop Car.
Were you eager to get back to that kind of filmmaking?
Yeah, absolutely. I had no idea that Spider-Man was going to become three movies when I first got into it. This was a way for me to get back to my vision and my style, and I was really just getting started when I did Cop Car. I was starting to make movies and then Marvel happened. And I take total creative ownership over those movies, but it’s always going to be Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s creation, so this was my chance to do my thing, which feels good. It’s also about two boys getting into trouble. [Laughs]
George and Brad have a history together onscreen. How did you want to pay homage to that? How did you want to reference that?
Well, I think it’s interesting because they’re only in three movies together. They’re in one scene together for Burn After Reading. But I think in people’s imagination, they have a longer, richer history than they actually do. So to me that was just so ripe. It felt so much easier to be writing in the voice of Brad Pitt and in the voice of George Clooney because I know that voice. I’ve seen every movie that 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 was great because they were like, “Yep, these are things we can say.” And they worked the rhythms out on their own. They would always sort of be off to the side running lines and developing that rhythm and that pattern.
But you get to draw on everything that they’ve ever done, and it’s like a shorthand in a movie. You don’t have to explain who they are or where they came from or where they’re going, or even who are those people that they’re talking about, all these offscreen stories that they’re telling. They bring along their entire cinematic lineage with them.
Jon Watts with Zendaya and Tom Holland at the premiere of Spider-Man: No Way Home.
