An American Werewolf in London with Wine
- Tony Elvin
- Nov 26, 2022
- 4 min read
Thank you so much to everyone that joined us at The Electric for An American Werewolf in London on Thursday night . .
If you're reading this then that means you escaped the clutches of the werewolf, congratulations!
Read on for details on all the wines from the evening, a ghastly gallery of photos and a whole bunch of Werewolf trivia.
The Wines
Wine 1 - The Uncommon Bubbly Rosé, England - Waitrose £5, 250ml can
Tank method English sparkling rosé made from the red Champagne grapes of Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grown in Kent, Hampshire & Surrey
Fresh strawberries and raspberries on the nose, with a touch of citrus on the palate
Wine 2 – Bowler and Brolly English Cuvee, England - Aldi £8.99
It says Bowler and Brolly on the label but it's actually from top English wine makers, Denbies.
Mostly made from the Bacchus grape, England's answer to Sauvignon Blanc, this crisp fresh white offers notes of lemon, lime and mineral.
Wine 3 – Chateau St Michelle Riesling, Columbia Valley, Washington State, USA - Waitrose £9.99
Made from Riesling grapes with a touch of Viognier, grown in the Pacific North West's cool climate Columbia Valley in Washington State. This is a dry area with plenty of sunshine. The vines are watered by snow melt.
Aromas & flavours Peach, honey, clover, crisp apple. A delicious wine, perfect with Asian food.
Wine 4 – Dark Horse Malbec, Central Valley, California, USA - Tesco £8.50
Malbec comes from France but has made its home in Argentina. This drop comes from neither, it is Californian, crafted by the hands of wine maker Beth Liston. The popular Dark Horse Winery make some fantastic wines at a great price from more typical grapes grown in California such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Merlot and Chardonnay. I can recommend all of them to you.
Notes of plum and blackberry, a hint of spice and a plush velvety finish.
Wine 5 – Canyon Springs Shiraz, California - Aldi £8.99
Canyon Springs is a catch-all name by Aldi for their Californian Wine range but this is actually made by Eagle Rock Vineyards. Mostly Shiraz with a touch of Petit Verdot. Two grapes that, again come from France. In France you'll see Shiraz referred to as Syrah.
We've enjoyed each of the Canyon Springs wines that we've tried especially the Zinfandel. Maybe it's the Wooooooooolf on the label!?
Juicy black cherry and ripe blackcurrant with hints of summer strawberry, pepper and spice.
Ghastly Gallery
Tony's Trivia
Some highlights from last night's trivia ..
Every song in the movie has the word moon in title.
This is Director John Landis' favourite movie of his own.
The whole film was shot in sequence, very rare.
The production team applied for four work permits but the UK Government approved just three. They approved Director Landis, Makeup specialist Rich Baker and lead actor David Naughton but refused Dunne, who plays Jack on the basis that there were already plenty of young American actors in the UK. That's fine said, Landis we'll make An American Werewolf in Paris. UK immigration quickly changed their stance.
Landis chose London as the backdrop of the movie as, in his mind, London is Horror Central, growing up reading about Jack the Ripper, Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde etc.
The Initial wolf attack wasn't filmed on The Moors but is St James Park central London.
Dunne was told he needed to play Jack in an upbeat manner for the comedy to work, but he found this personally tough whilst looking so grotesque. His mother was also very disturbed on watching movie and would never watch it again.
Landis was inspired to write the screenplay after attending a gypsy funeral in Yugoslavia where a body was buried feet first in very deep grave, wrapped in garlic.
When Landis was approving a HD xfer of movie in mid 2000’s he was shocked at just how gory the movie was.
Michael Jackson loved the movie so much he used Landis to direct Thriller, who brought the crew back to help.
The Wolf transition was approached by Baker scientifically, he said 'wolves and humans are both mammals and have comparative anatomy, with very different proportions.' Through the transformation he really wanted to show that proportional change in limbs and how painful that transformation would be.
To achieve an R rating for the movie Landis had to make three big changes: tone down the sex scene, cut a part where a piece of toast falls out Jack's throat and remove the scene where the Wolf slaughters the rough sleepers. He regrets making the cuts!
David Naughton was cast after John Landis saw him in a Dr Pepper advert, the nakedness however, cost him his Dr Pepper contract!
Alex’s apartment was filmed on location in Pimlico, on Lupus Street. Lupus is latin for Wolf of course!
The London Zoo scene where David wakes up in wolf cage among wolves was real. Naughton asked how safe he was and was told 'you should be ok, they've just been fed, but no fast moves as they might see you as a threat!'
Filming overran on this scene, Naughton asked why there were so many extras on set .. 'They are not extras' David was told, 'the zoo is open!'
'See you next Wednesday' was a fake porn movie featured in the sex cinema and is a trademark of Landis work: Fictional movie posters can be seen in Trading Places, Coming to America, Blues Bros, Thriller and as dialogue in 2001 Space Odyssey, among others and on props and set dressing.
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We look forward to welcoming you back to another even soon. Why not check out our website or sign up to our monthly mailing list to find out about upcoming movie events, tastings or wine pairing dinners:
All the best from Tony and the rest of the Wine Events Crew
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