'Werewolf By Night' Writer Talks Marvel Special and Potential for More

When Werewolf By Night landed on Disney+ it changed the Marvel Cinematic Universe, introducing new characters in a fresh way: with a special inspired by classic horror movies.

The special stars Gael García Bernal and Laura Donnelly as Jack Russell and Elsa Bloodstone, respectively, who encounter one another on the night of a competitive hunt of a monster to earn the powerful bloodstone following the death of its former owner, and Elsa's father, Ulysses Bloodstone.

Co-writer Heather Quinn spoke to Newsweek about creating the special, the potential for the characters to return in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and reaction to fans interest in a romance between Jack and Elsa.

'Werewolf By Night' Writer Breaks Down Marvel Special and Potential for More

Quinn first came on board Werewolf By Night whilst she was working on the set of Hawkeye, the Disney+ show that introduced Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) as a successor to Hawkeye himself, Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner).

At that stage it was already decided that Werewolf By Night would be a one-off special, which Quinn said she would always call a movie "because it has a beginning, middle and end."

It came with its own challenges, like trying to include enough information without detracting from the story at hand, but also not leaving viewers frustrated.

"I think we just kept zooming farther in, [...] further and further in to be like, 'Okay, what moment are each of these people at in their lives? And how can we convey that?' And if we know how they feel about this night that we're in, even if we have no idea what happened to them before, what's going to happen next?," Quinn said.

In Werewolf By Night it is revealed that Jack is actually a monster hiding in plain sight, and he joined the hunt simply to save his friend and fellow monster Man-Thing, whose real name is Ted.

Quinn shared her delight at introducing Man-Thing into the MCU, and several models of the creature were built for real on set and the writer would often hold its hand even while having conversations with her colleagues, she said.

Quinn also showed Newsweek a small figure of Ted that she keeps in her office.

The writer went on: "I think the fun thing is it makes you wonder about that origin story, makes you wonder when you see Gael choose to perform and bring Jack Russell [to life] in such an interesting way. To me, at least, it I'm intrigued about 'how did you become this way?

"How are you a person, a monster, with the experience that when you're trapped in a mausoleum with the daughter of the best monster hunter your instinct is to ask her if she needs help?' Hopefully that's what you get, this intrigue of wanting to know them better. You got one cool night with them and then they disappeared, and now you're like, 'wait! I want to hang out with you.'"

She joked that Newsweek should "tell Marvel" she's interested in writing a follow-up to the special, saying of the characters: "I just love them all so much. I mean, I love the last scene with [Jack and Ted] in the little camping space. How could you not want more of that?

"I love where Elsa ended, I think a big question is 'okay, she has the stone, what does that mean? What does she want? What is she going to do with it?' I'm excited to see where she [goes], when you have power what are you going to do with the power, you know?

"I can't help but hope that the three of them meet up again, I want all the things, and I want all the things right now."

Creating Classic Horror

Werewolf By Night takes inspiration from a number of classic horror movies, with director Michael Giacchino previously naming Poltergeist, The Twilight Zone and The Wolf Man as just some of the influences.

Quinn said she found it "so beautiful" to give the MCU a classic horror feel, adding: "Michael knew he wanted that look and feel early on. But the interesting thing is too, I think, for the most part, a lot of our big conversations for a lot of months were really more about humans than they were monsters.

"I think he had that landscape and look and feel in his mind, especially with the scary moments and things like that," Quinn said. "But it was nice, we have a very aligned sensibility of how we think of story and in our conviction from the start [that] we weren't really thinking of Jack as a monster.

"We're thinking of him [in terms of] what is the metaphor that I can identify with and that's relatable to people? What is it like for a person with a secret, and a dark secret that's gotten him hurt and judged, and what's that shame like?

"It was really about finding who are these people and what is their emotional relationship? And what is the emotional arc throughout? Because I think that you can have a beautiful cool old-school throwback look but, again, if you don't care about the people you're in the story with you're not charmed by it. I think it feels like you're being played with."

On Monsters and Romance

Another aspect of the special that fans have taken to is the chemistry between Jack and Elsa, and the potential for romance between their characters.

Quinn said it was "thrilling" that people felt connected enough to the characters to want to see them in a relationship, and admitted she also wanted "them to fall in love," saying of fan reaction: "I'm all for it, I love it, I love love."

"I've been pleasantly surprised by that, because I've had so many versions of this story in my mind and because I know so many of the conversations and watching it unfold on set, sometimes I'm a little biased watching it," Quinn said.

"I've been excited that people feel that way because part of what that tells me is that people feel the connection between them and believe it, and that's why I say that, it might sound funny, but that's why I say that the conversations and the work for a long time was not really about monsters, it was about their relationship and, so, that's exciting and so satisfying that people find the connection between them."

She added: "It was very moving watching Gael and Laura find it, so much of that becomes performance. Like the mausoleum scene, how that's played, how they move with each other, how he responds, with a certain laugh, rather than the judgement, all of that kind of thing.

"I think so much of that is them selling that, that they're seeing each other, that they're starting to see each other in a way that feels authentic. So, yeah, I'm thrilled, I love that people believe it and that they like them together, and I like them together. It's so sweet, they're so good together."

The writer said of the actors: "I'm so honoured that I got to write for them and that they were so it was so fun working with them on set and collaborating with them.

"For Laura, in the comics part of what we liked from there is [Elsa is] funny and she's incredibly sharp, and she's pretty no bullshit, and she's going to be really tough, we knew these pieces of her. I think one of the things that I was most impressed with Laura was just so surprised with is her also bringing through the warmth and the vulnerability, which it's only a few peeks in."

"As far as Gael, I just love how he saw Jack and how he wanted to bring him in and I think there's so much warmth and innocence to the way that he kind of chose to play him," Quinn went on, saying she found rewriting lines to fit Bernal's interpretation of the character "so fun."

"[A great] moment for Gael was when Man-Thing comes through the bush and grabs him, and it's a jump and then there's a pause, and then his reaction to it was laughing and patting his hand and hugging it. We all kind of swooned, and we were like, 'Oh, that's the heart of Jack, that moment is incredibly [important]. Like if you don't love Jack there, then you're a monster."

Of revisiting the characters again in future, Quinn added: "I love them now. I love the characters, we've become so connected, and it was so fun working with actors. So, I can only be so lucky to get to help or participate in whatever they're doing down the road."

Werewolf By Night is out on Disney+ now.