Van Wolf Man?

According to Variety, Benicio Del Toro has signed up to play poor ol' Larry Talbot in a remake of Universal's The Wolf Man. Del Toro is apparently a huge monster fan and even collects Universal monsters memorablia. He's also going to help produce the film.

The script's being written by Andrew Kevin Walker, who also wrote Se7en. That sounds like good news except that Variety reports that "Walker is updating the storyline with new plot twists and characters that would take advantage of modern-day special effects." I'm having Van Helsing flashbacks, that are helped along by the fact that the remake is being set in Victorian England.

Not that there's anything wrong with Victorian England as a setting, but since the original Wolf Man was set in a contemporary setting for its day, I just wonder why the change. The first thought that comes to mind is that someone liked Van Helsing and figured that the world needed another period monster movie with lots of CGI.

Still, Benicio is a great choice for a lead and it's especially nice to know that as a producer he's got some genuine affection for the project. My negative speculation is based on experience with other Summer Blockbuster Hollywood remakes, so hopefully I'm wrong to be concerned about this one.