I‘m still wading through a bit of the straggling pieces of goodness that came out of SDCC and one of the things that has come up repeatedly in both written reports and podcasts is just how great the trailer for The Wolf Man looks.

A remake of the 1940′s classic, this new incarnation stars the fantastic Benicio Del Toro as the changeling, Anthony Hopkins as his father (and wow, he looks like he’s actually acting rather than phoning it in!), Hugo Weaving as the man tracking the killer and Emily Blunt brilliantly cast as the love interest. With this caliber of cast, I’m not surprised at the reaction from fans – this must be a great script to attract such talent but indeed, it does seem that a few people were bracing for the worst.

The project is being directed by Joe Johnston who has been hit and miss over the years, bringing projects as good as The Rocketeer and October Sky and then just as mediocre with Jurassic Park III and Hidalgo (though the latter did have a great performance from Viggo Mortensen). Johnston was noticeably missing from the Comic-Con panel which was led instead by make-up artist Rick Baker, considered a leader in the business, who gushed over the fact that they had chosen to go with make-up rather than CG effects for nearly everything – except the transformations.

The trailer is cam-corder quality but this under-cover brother managed to keep the thing still and quiet so the quality is better than some of the other leaked footage we’ve seen until now. The first thing that came to mind was that the it vaguely reminded me of From Hell which is a very good thing. I can’t wait to see the “official” release of the trailer.

The Wolf Man opens April 3rd, 2009.

Trailer is tucked under the seat!