Development
The Marvel Comics character Werewolf by Night was planned for a feature film by May 2001, to be licensed from Marvel Studios and distributed by Dimension Films, with a story developed by Marvel Studios' Avi Arad, Kevin Feige, and Ari Arad. Hans Rodionoff was writing the script by June 2002 following several drafts by John Fasano, and Crystal Sky Pictures was set to co-produce the film. By February 2003, Robert Nelson Jacobs was writing the film, with Steven Paul and Patrick Ewald producing for Crystal Sky alongside Brad Weston and Nick Phillips for Dimension Films. In early March 2004, the project was advertised at the American Film Market for distribution, and by November, Crystal Sky was preparing to shoot the film in the United Kingdom over the following six months. The next November, Crystal Sky was planning to announce a director and cast shortly, and start filming in 2006, but this did not materialize. Marvel Studios had intended to use the character in a Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) project as early as February 2019, when Kevin Smith was informed that he could not feature Werewolf by Night in his then-planned Marvel Television animated Howard the Duck series due to Marvel Studios' own plans. Additionally, Howard the Duck along with M.O.D.O.K. (2021), Hit-Monkey (2021), and Tigra & Dazzler were planned to lead to a crossover event The Offenders, which would have been titled The Offenders: Giant Sized Man Thing, with the characters all meeting the swamp monster Man-Thing; the crossover was cancelled in part once again because of Marvel Studios' plans for the character.
By August 2021, Marvel Studios was developing a Halloween-themed television special for Disney+ that was reportedly centered on Werewolf by Night, though it was unclear if either the Jack Russell or Jake Gomez versions of the character would be featured. Michael Giacchino was hired to direct the one-hour special by March 2022, after previously scoring several MCU films, and having been rumored to be directing a Marvel Disney+ project since December 2021; Giacchino previously directed the 2018 short film Monster Challenge and the animated Star Trek: Short Treks episode "Ephraim and Dot" (2019). When Feige asked Giacchino which Marvel Comics property he wanted to work on, the producer was initially surprised to hear Giacchino's interest in Werewolf by Night, but was enthused after further discussing his ideas for it. The project was being referred to by some as Werewolf by Night, although The Hollywood Reporter noted that it could have a different title. Giacchino confirmed he was directing the special in June 2022, calling it an enjoyable but "challenging process".
That September, Marvel Studios officially revealed the special, titled Werewolf by Night. The special was described as Marvel Studios' "first-ever special presentation", and was marketed as a "Marvel Studios Special Presentation"; it is 53 minutes long. There was no mandate for how long the special should be, but the creatives all believed it should be around an hour. Giacchino approached the special like an episode of The Twilight Zone, in that it would present "one night in the life of [Jack Russell and Elsa Bloodstone ], and see what happens". This allowed them to avoid needing to cover more of an origin story than needed, or setting up what would happen after the events of the special. Marvel Studios' Feige, Stephen Broussard, Louis D'Esposito, Victoria Alonso, and Brad Winderbaum serve as executive producers.
Writing
Heather Quinn and Peter Cameron co-wrote the screenplay, from a story by Quinn; Quinn previously wrote for the Marvel Studios Disney+ series Hawkeye (2021) and Cameron wrote for WandaVision (2021) and Moon Knight (2022). Quinn was asked to pitch for the special while she was working on set of Hawkeye in early 2021. She worked closely with Giacchino to craft the story of the special.
Giacchino said the special was inspired by horror films from the 1930s and 1940s, comparing it to the film Poltergeist (1982), which was a major influence for the special, in that it would have "the right level of scares". Other inspirations included The Twilight Zone, King Kong (1933), and The Wolf Man (1941), with Giacchino calling Werewolf by Night a "love letter" to these horror inspirations. Additionally, Giacchino tried to approach the special with a "moral center" beyond "just blood and guts". Disney+ stated that the special would "evoke a sense of dread and the macabre, with plenty of suspense and scares along the way". Feige called the special "fun", adding that it was also "a little darker [and] a little scarier" than the studio's other content. Elements of the Werewolf by Night character were altered from the comics to allow the story to work in a more modern setting; Quinn cited the Werewolf by Night issues "Carnival of Fear" and "The Danger Game", and Man-Thing, Bloodstone, and Monsters Unleashed titles as inspiration from the comics for the special. The special also features Man-Thing, at the suggestion of Feige. Man-Thing is only referred to as Ted in Werewolf by Night, with Giacchino wanting to call him by his actual name as "a way to humanize him". There were also considerations to refer to him as a "Giant-Size Man-Thing" (a reference to one of his comic book titles) but this and others "never felt quite right" and seemed "a little too cheeky".
Casting
A search for a male Latino actor in their 30s to portray the lead role in the special was underway by the end of August 2021, with Gael García Bernal cast in the role in November. In January 2022, Laura Donnelly was cast in an undisclosed role. Bernal and Donnelly did not have to audition, with Giacchino directly reaching out to Bernal and choosing Donnelly given he was a fan of her previous work. In September, Bernal and Donnelly were respectively confirmed as Jack Russell / Werewolf by Night and Elsa Bloodstone. Additional castings include Harriet Sansom Harris as Verussa Bloodstone, Al Hamacher as Billy Swan, Eugenie Bondurant as Azarel, Kirk R. Thatcher as Jovan, Leonardo Nam as Liorn, Daniel J. Watts as Barasso, Carey Jones as Ted / Man-Thing, with the special's editor Jeffrey Ford providing additional vocalizations, and Richard Dixon voicing Ulysses Bloodstone. Jovan was loosely based on and inspired by the comics character Joshua Kane.
Design
Maya Shimoguchi served as the production designer, having previously worked on Hawkeye. Prior to that, she also served as the supervising art director for the MCU film Thor (2011). Shimoguchi created "a richly textured environment" out of concrete for the rotunda and garden that evoked film noir. The fresco in the hallway of Bloodstone Manor that referenced the history of monsters in the MCU was inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry.
For the werewolf design in the special, Giacchino enjoyed being able to see an actor's face and eyes in the designs for older films such as Werewolf of London (1935) since they "kept the human qualities", with Werewolf by Night looking more like Larry Talbot / The Wolf Man from The Wolf Man than a more monster-like design created through CGI in more modern films. Mayes C. Rubeo served as the costume designer, after doing so for the MCU projects Thor: Ragnarok (2017), WandaVision (2021) and Thor: Love and Thunder (2022). Russell wears face paint that he claims is to "honor [his] ancestors", while his outfit consists of a detailed coat and tie. Elsa wears a bright orange coat that pays homage to the character's iconic comic book look, which consists of an orange jumpsuit under a trench coat.
Filming
Filming was expected to begin in late March 2022 at Trilith Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, under the working title Buzzcut, and had begun by March 29. Zoë White served as cinematographer. Filming was previously expected to begin in February to last for a month until March. Werewolf by Night employed many practical effects, such as Russell's transformation into a werewolf. Visual effects supervisor Joe Farrell assisted with this, which "took months to design and figure out" how to execute. The transformation is seen mainly from Elsa's perspective, which was done because Giacchino felt this would be scarier if the audience was not fully shown the transformation. The only CGI elements were the cage bars, as the practical ones had to be removed when shooting to achieve the proper shadow projection from the projector. Another practical technique used was filming various moments backwards to then be reversed during editing, such as Verussa being grabbed by the werewolf; actress Samson was filmed starting against the cage and then was pulled away from it.
Man-Thing was realized through a combination of actor Carey Jones in a practical suit, animatronics, and practical and CGI effects. KNB EFX Group created all of the practical monsters and animatronics for the special, including a life-size practical Man-Thing animatronic that was used for an on-set reference. Giacchino noted the other monsters in the special were created with practical effects and that CGI elements were only used for Man-Thing because they would have not been able to create him without them, though they had attempted to use the animatronic for the entire special. Ulysses Bloodstone was an animatronic puppet, which came at the suggestion of Cameron late in the production process. Some of the "more brutal elements" in the special and its fight sequences were conceived on the day of filming. The fight between the guards and the werewolf was filmed as a continuous shot, with the stunt performers in the scene only needing two takes for it. Filming lasted 18 days, and had
Post-production
Jeffrey Ford served as the editor for the special, after previously doing so for prior MCU media. The special was shot in color and early edits were also in color. Giacchino hoped to be able to release it in black-and-white, and eventually created a black-and-white cut to show Feige; he explained that Marvel Studios was on board with the special being in black-and-white after they saw it that way, noting it was "the right thing to do for the spirit of the story we were telling". Co-executive producer Brian Gay further noted that the black-and-white cinematography paid homage to classic monster films and emphasized the special's uniqueness from other MCU properties. The end of the special transitions into color, with Giacchino doing this to show the "nightmare is over" for Elsa and "things are now changing and evolving and hopefully the future will be a brighter place". The special was printed to black-and-white film and then scanned back in digitally to achieve a film look and quality to it. Reel change markers were also added in to enhance the stylistic look. Visual effects were created by JAMM, Zoic Studios, Base FX, SDFX Studios, and Digital Domain.
Music
Giacchino also scored the special in addition to directing, and wrote the theme for the special prior to filming, allowing him to modify it during that process. He would present musical excerpts during meetings in pre-production or ahead of filming to help convey the tone he was envisioning for what was being discussed. Much of the score was composed while Giacchino was editing the special, which allowed him to present new ideas to Ford in the moment, who would subsequently suggest another edit based on that new music. While much of the score is orchestral, Giacchino uses synthesizers and drum machines in the end credits music. He did this to "shake things up" musically after much of the presceding music was more classical, and to remind audiences that the special was still a modern story despite its older feel and influences. The special also featured the songs "I Never Had a Chance" by Irving Berlin, "Wishing (Will Make It So)" by Vera Lynn, and "Over the Rainbow" by Judy Garland. The score for the special was released digitally by Marvel Music and Hollywood Records on October 7, with four additional tracks released on October 27, 2022, as part of an updated edition of the soundtrack album.
Two "live-to-picture" performances occurred in October 2023, with the Minnesota Orchestra on October 4 and the National Symphony Orchestra on October 21. The first half of the performance examined old horror films and how music was used with them, while the second half saw the orchestras performing the Werewolf by Night score live to a screening of the special.
