Shuler Hensley (Frankenstein's monster) and Will Kemp (Wolf Man) told SCI FI Wire that their performances in the upcoming monster movie Van Helsing don't incorporate much from previous movie versions of their iconic characters. Kemp, who comes to film from the world of ballet, said in an interview that he "watched all the old [werewolf movie] classics, which were fantastic," but added that he was "very keen to not use anything from or be swayed by anyone else's performance." What was really important was focusing on "things like lycanthropy and working out where it comes from, the actual folklore," in order to get a sense of "what it would actually be like to change into a wolf," he said.

Kemp added that previous depictions of the Wolf Man's transformation—such as that in the 1941 George Waggner film The Wolf Man—were "all about the makeup. And so during that transformation [Lon Chaney] hardly moves," he said. "Whereas we were able to do the opposite. I was able to move, to flail around and portray that transformation very physically."

Hensley, whose background is mostly in musical theater, echoed Kemp in saying that he wasn't influenced by previous film incarnations of his famous character. "My first and lasting impression of Frankenstein's monster was not a film, it was the book [Mary Shelley's original SF novel]," he said. "It was one of the first books I read as a kid."

Hensley added that he didn't think it necessary to do much more research than that. "These monsters are such a part of our culture," he said. "We all grew up with them. We all dressed as Dracula, Frankenstein and the Wolf Man at Halloween. They're so ingrained in us, such a part of all our lives in unique ways. So Frankenstein was a part of me, which is why I didn't do much film-watching."

Van Helsing, from Universal Pictures, opens May 7. Universal is owned by Vivendi Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.

I can't wait to see this film. And it looks like the Monster Legacy box set has been released to coincide with it cos there are Stephen Sommers interviews on all the discs!