How Jaws and Finding Nemo influenced Wolf Man’s opening scenes

Wolf Man writer-director Leigh Whannell explains how his vision for the Wolf Man was influenced by Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, and to a lesser extent Pixar favorite Finding Nemo.

Jaws casts a long shadow over the horror genre, and movies in general. Steven Spielberg’s shark movie has influenced celluloid sound and visuals ever since, while his approach to character development has rarely been bettered in the blockbuster realm. All of which earned the 1975 classic a spot on our list of the best horror movies ever.

But the movie was beset with behind-the-scenes problems, largely because of the shark not working. So Spielberg had to shoot around his lack of villain, keeping the killer offscreen for much of the movie, and using John Williams’ iconic score to suggest the shark’s presence.

Monster movies have duly followed his lead ever since, keeping their antagonist in the shadows for as long as they can, to build both expectation and suspense. And the new Wolf Man does just that, to startling effect.

Leigh Whannell on how Jaws influenced his Wolf Man edit

Dexerto spoke to Leigh Whannell about how The Fly inspired his Wolf Man movie, as well as why he wanted to avoid comparisons with American Werewolf in London. But we also asked if Jaws was an influence on efforts to keep his wolf just out of shot in the film’s terrifying opening scenes.

“Yeah I think it was,” came the response from Whannell. “It’s funny, I don’t know if Jaws has ever not been an influence for me, just in my whole life. That movie for me is such a touchstone. It’s the movie I watched the most when I was a kid.

“Weirdly I also grew up in that Lucas-Spielberg era, and a lot of my friends were obsessed with Star Wars and collecting all the toys, and I was too, but I was way more obsessed with Jaws. That was the number one. More than Indiana Jones, more than Han Solo, Jaws was it. And if I had to pick a favorite movie of all time, it’s still Jaws.

“Right before we started editing the film, I went and saw Jaws in 35mm at a theater in LA and it’s all in there – those lessons of what you hold back. He pretty much dropped the mic on the monster genre in a way.”

How Finding Nemo inspired Wolf Man on “a subconscious” level

Disney Pixar

I also asked Leigh if Pixar masterpiece Finding Nemo influenced the relationship between over-protective father and son early in the movie. The writer-director wasn’t convinced, but did explain where that approach came from.

Leigh Whannell: “I wouldn’t say a direct influence but I love that movie so a subconscious influence. For me there’s a lot of my own childhood in there with my Dad. And the journey between my relationship with my Dad then and now, which has changed a lot, and also how I parent.

“Sometimes I’ll be parenting my kids, and my Dad will just come out of my mouth. It’s amazing. It’s so baked into my muscle memory that I might tell them off about something, and then go ‘Oh my God, that was Jeff Whannell talking.’ He was a good Dad, but it’s this constant tug-of-war between how you were parented, vs how you think you’re going to parent, that’s kind of interesting to me.”

Wolf Man is released on January 17, 2025. Head here to find out how the death of the Dark Universe breathed life into Leigh Whannell’s monsters movies or here for his update on Upgrade 2.

For more scary stuff, check out our list of the best horror movies releasing this year, or click here for more great movies out this month.