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January 30, 2008

No sooner was it reported yesterday that filmmaker Mark Romanek had exited Universal's remake of The Wolf Man -- starring Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, and Emily Blunt -- than rumors surfaced about who might replace him in the director's chair.

Romanek's departure left the re-imagining of the 1941 horror classic in a lurch given its March start date. Variety reported yesterday that a replacement would be hired by week's end, and now Ain't It Cool News claims that they have heard of two possible contenders that the studio is considering for the job.

According to AICN, Universal is eyeing Breck Eisner (Sahara) and Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) as possible replacements. Eisner has been developing a remake of The Creature From the Black Lagoon, while Reeves is preoccupied with a possible Cloverfield sequel as well as an Invisible Woman project for producer J.J. Abrams.

Eisner may have the inside track since the long-gestating Creature From the Black Lagoon is, like The Wolf Man, based at Universal.