Awoo! Actor Went Method to Play a Wolf

Between Jeremy Strong and Lady “I lived as [House of Gucci subject Patrizia Reggiani] for a year and a half” Gaga, method acting is having a moment, as thespians compete to see who can disclose the most distressing nuggets of information about their “process” in the press.

Not one to be beat, the rising star George MacKay — who is best known as the young lad in 1917 who did not die, as opposed to the one who did — really committed to his role in the recently released feature film Wolf, which is about a fellow who believes he is a wolf trapped inside a human. MacKay, who plays the protagonist, recently shared with Insider the lengths he went to in order to inhabit the mind of a wolf allegedly inhabiting a man:

He told Insider that he worked with a movement coach and watched “a ton of videos of wolves” to workshop his crawl.

I watch a ton of videos of wolves, too, but you don’t see me bragging about it. (Except for just now.)

The “1917” actor explained that he started his transformation into playing a wolf in a man’s body by doing “meditative exercises” that helped him get into “the mindset of the animal” while letting go of the socialization “that makes us human.”

Doesn’t seem that hard, either. I could see him listening to something like this “The Great Wolf Spirit | Guided Meditation” YouTube video.

During the pandemic, MacKay said he “crawled around for months and months and months every day, just working on all the movements and working on the howl.”

Alright here we go. Crawling around every day? Letting the howls rip, neighbors be damned? Gritting one’s teeth while mentally chanting “Oscars Oscars Oscars Oscars Oscars” over and over again? That’s the good, freak, award-winning stuff. Acting, baby!

Unfortunately, despite MacKay’s dedication to the craft of being a wolf, the movie appears to have been met with a mixed reception. It turns out that crawling and howling may not be all there is to a good wolf movie. How about giving Wolf Children a try instead?