Remus Lupin is one of the mysterious characters in the Harry Potter. He was first introduced in The Prisoner of Azkaban. And not in just the beginning, he remained an intriguing character throughout the film franchise.
In Harry Potter, the revelation of him being a friend of Harry’s father was the strangest. But there’s another revelation that shocked many Potterheads. That surprising fact is that he is a werewolf, too. His beginnings as a werewolf transpired when he was only four years old.
There’s one more scoop about his origin. The tidbit is that Remus Lupin’s werewolf suit was not just CGI. It was also a costume that the actor put on with CGI over it. So, to make it more natural, the crew members had to use practical effects for the actors with a person in a werewolf suit. This is what became a true nightmare for crew members.
Remus Lupin’s Werewolf Suit Was a Nightmare for Crew Members
In an interview posted by siriusblackfacts on Instagram, crew members depicted the experiences they had dealing with Lupin’s suit. One of the crew members said:
“We did build a werewolf suit. That was – I think, the worst nightmare I’ve ever had. The design was very, very skeletal, and I kept saying, well, yeah, but to put somebody in it. You know, we can’t cut bits off actors that don’t like that, so you know we’re gonna have to make some concession.”
Another asserted that at one point, he was hung from chains, “and these animatronic legs they built were gonna stretch and come out of my knees, so I had to be hung from chains that turned out not to be practical, much to my relief, because it looked really very uncomfortable, to do that.”
The third person in the interview remarked, “We made some lovely stilts, and the guys could actually run about on these stilts, but when we put them in the real suit, it was so tight that it actually did restrict their movement slightly. And, when you’re balancing three feet off the ground, it gives you that sort of thing.”
The fourth interviewee said that “the restrictions for the costume meant he [David Thewlis] couldn’t be quite as athletic.” She said that the filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón wanted an agile and fast werewolf, especially during the fight scenes with the dog. But it couldn’t happen because of how the suit was made.
Remus Lupin’s Werewolf Awkward Suit Shots were Later Replaced With CGI
Controversy arose over Lupin’s werewolf portrayal in Harry Potter. Because it diverged from book descriptions and fan expectations—from humanoid-wolf hybrid to rat-like depictions.
Filmmakers were committed to Lupin’s werewolf concept, which led to practical effects like suits with stilts and limb extensions, which, ironically, didn’t meet expectations.
But almost all the awkward suit shots in Lupin’s werewolf portrayal were later replaced with CG effects. It made the unconventional design feel uncanny. Despite all, some appreciated the practical suit’s werewolf-like appearance.
