Li Jun Li and Ethan Embry find their small town targeted by a mysterious, and murderous, beast in Alma and the Wolf. Hailing from Organ Trail director Michael Patrick Jann, the movie is a mix of psychological thriller, body horror and fantasy horror, revolving around a deputy in a coastal Oregon town who begins searching for a wolf believed to be behind the deaths of some local pets and disappearance of a few people. As he continues his investigation, though, he finds himself falling down a rabbit hole of increasingly surreal situations.

Embry, well-known for everything from his child acting years to cult favorite Can’t Hardly Wait and Grace & Frankie, stars as Ren, the central deputy whose life is in a downward spiral as he struggles to spend time with his teenage son, while also vying to land the lieutenant’s position in his department. Li, meanwhile, stars as the тιтular Alma, a free-spirited woman whom the town largely ignores, and who draws Ren into her orbit when her dog becomes a victim of the wolf. Alongside Li and Embry, the cast of the film includes Legion‘s Jeremie Harris, Organ Trail‘s Lukas Jann and The State‘s Kevin Allison.

Ahead of the movie’s release, ScreenRant interviewed Ethan Embry, Li Jun Li and Michael Patrick Jann to discuss Alma and the Wolf. The stars discussed their characters’ intricate arcs throughout the film and their experience working with the practical effects on the project, while the director discussed casting Embry as his protagonist and finding an effective mix in the movie’s varying genres. Li also reflected on Sinners‘ success and how it came as a surprise to her and the rest of the movie’s team.

Alma And The Wolf’s Tonal Mix Toys With “The Idea Of Narrative”

“…I Don’t Necessarily Want To Make One Horror Movie…”

With the movie featuring everything from a father trying to do better by his son to missing people and the ominous presence of a hulking wolf lurking, Alma and the Wolf proves to be the ultimate mix of genres. Jann recalls being instantly drawn by the “psychological truth at the heart of” Abigail Miller’s script, as well as “the idea of narrative” that it presented through its characters.

The director went on to explain said idea as coming from “one of the basic qualities of being a human being“, in which people “create stories about who you are, and who you are in the world, and what the world around you is like“. “You portray yourself as the hero, or the victim, or the loved one,” Jann explained. “There are all sorts of parts that you create for yourself, and this is a movie that was dealing with, in a horror context, that sort of narrative function, and I really liked that about it.“

One of the other major aspects of Alma and the Wolf that Jann was intrigued by was the opportunity to work within multiple horror subgenres, feeling that “I don’t necessarily want to make one horror movie“, but instead he wanted to “make them all“. The director went on to describe how he sought to mix everything from folk horror to body horror, monster movies, witch movies, horror comedies, “misty forest thrillers” and “a pretty healthy dose of John Carpenter“, which are all meant to lend to the movie’s unpredictability.

“Hopefully, this movie indulges in all of those genres, and is shamelessly moving back and forth between, ‘It’s this kind of movie? No, it’s that kind of movie. No, it’s this kind of movie,'” Jann expressed. “And it can kind of keep you guessing. But in addition to being able to indulge in the pleasures of all of those different genres, and have fun both shooting them and creating them, and also watching them, it also, in the last 20 minutes, has a reason why. It’s able to take all of those things, and the experience of watching this for an audience can be a little like, ‘Wait, whoa. Okay, I didn’t expect that.’ But, at a certain point, I definitely want to leave the audience with like, ‘Oh s–t, now I get it.’“

Jann went on to express his excitement at the movie’s final 20 minutes, denoting how the “mystery of it all unravels” and ties into how “a horror movie is about making palatable the unpalatable”. Though keeping the movie’s final twist to himself, the director explained how the movie was “trying to bring you past the amelioration of a regular horror movie” and subsequently into “the experience of true horror” in which “a character has truly gone mad“, which therefore explains the mix of horror genres.

Both Ren & Alma Presented Their Actors With Interesting Multi-Layered Roles

“…I Needed To Forget About It & Then Only Prep Alma To Be As Real Of A Person As We Initially Thought…”

With Ren being a well-meaning, yet very flawed, central character, it makes him a very complicated protagonist for us to follow. When it came to finding a balance between authentically portraying his flaws while still keeping him likable, Embry initially joked that “it’s easy for me to identify with the world falling apart” thanks to his experience of having been a child actor. On a more serious note, he would go on to explain that his biggest goal was to make sure viewers “wanted to root for him“, particularly “in the deeper context of things“.

“He really thinks he deserves better, there’s a ton of ego involved,” Embry explained. “So, yeah, it is this trick of like, ‘How do you operate purely on your ego, but still have people rooting for you?’ And it’s great to hear that you also wanted better for him along the way too. I just go back to when I read it and, up until that point, I’m with him. So that’s how, when we started the filmmaking process, I’d go back to that. Forget everything, I know nothing, go back to the original reading, because I rooted for him in the first read.“

When it came to casting the character, Jann felt there are “not too many actors who could have so fully embodied the version of the character that you’re seeing at the beginning“, in which Ren is seen as being “a little bit beaten down“, “doesn’t feel effective” and is “definitely not the hero in his own story“. He went on to praise the Empire Records alum for being “able to draw a line” between Ren’s “lack of competence” and later personality of “stalking through the grᴀss, and in the lake“, calling the actor’s work “remarkable“.

“It was a very grueling shoot for him,” Jann recalled. “As you can tell, the weather was grueling, the locations are fairly remote, and it was a lot of psychological terrain for one actor to cover. He’s just phenomenal, and he really holds it together. He’s so likable, you just want things to work out for that guy. Like his face, when his eyebrows are wrinkled up, when he realizes the task that’s been put in front of him. His complete inability to deal with it, initially, is remarkable.“

With Alma coming back into Ren’s life in the midst of his downward spiral, while also having her own demons in her life, she proves to be something of a unique femme fatale, building up to the movie’s shocking final twist. Li recalls being “equally as shocked as everyone” by the movie’s plot-changing revelation when she read the script, for which she “needed to forget about it and then only prep Alma to be as real of a person as we initially thought she was” rather than focus on said twist.

Her approach, she explained, was to think of her тιтular character as “a reflection” and “the projected psyche” of Embry’s Ren, being “everything that he either wants to be” or “sees himself to already be, the hero“. “I think she represents not only the better version of himself, but there’s also something childlike and innocent about her, which I really wanted to bring,” Li explained. “There’s a scene in the morning after, and she’s ready to ask him to move in, and when they say goodbye, they’re all giggly. That part that I really liked between them, because, looking at it now, it kind of brings Ren back to the innocence before all of this happened.“

Embry found that another major aspect of Alma being involved in Ren’s life was the question of “Is she going to be a good or bad influence” on the film’s protagonist, and whether “the quest he’s going on for her is what he needs to become what he thinks he is” or lead him to “the dark place“. “And then, when the doodie hits the fan, she starts reminding him of all the emotions that he has been burying so long,” Li shared with a chuckle.

Alma And The Wolf’s Practical Effects Were A Very Surreal Experience For Embry

Li Was Driven To See 1 Aspect, In Particular

With the movie featuring some shocking physical transformations and a horrifying depiction of the тιтular creature, Jann elected to keep Alma and the Wolf‘s effects thoroughly practical. Li admits that, due to the nature of her character’s story, she didn’t have as much experience with the Wolf Man suit in particular, however she did purposely make sure she was on set for when “the actual wolf” was filming, as she’s “a huge fan of dogs“.

I just had a day off, and I needed to go on set and meet this wolf actor, who is darling, because he knew exactly how to be nasty. And then, when we yelled cut, he was all proud of his work, and being fed treats.

Embry, on the other hand, had a thoroughly surreal experience with the movie’s practical effects, particularly the “nine-foot-tall wolf puppet” and “goat men“, even telling the younger lead actor of another film he did before Alma and the Wolf about it. The first time he saw the former, in particular, was one of the most memorable for the star, as the on-location production was delayed by an ice storm, with the crew having to “wait for everything to thaw“. The stunt performer playing the Wolf Man wasn’t sitting on his laurels, as Embry watched him continue to get used to wearing the suit.

“I’d see him running down the desolate streets of this small coastal community in Oregon, because he needed to practice running,” Embry recalled. “He had never had the suit, he had never had the stilts. So, I remember sitting there reading the script again, and just seeing him without his head, because he was just getting used to the body. ‘Oh, that must be the wolf man.’ [Laughs] And I love that they did practical effects on this. I love that they hand sewed the wolf costume. It’s a full-body, hand-sewed wig. I hope Michael has it, I hope it’s sitting somewhere in his library.“

Sinner’s Runaway Success Left Everyone Involved “Very Surprised”

“…We Didn’t Think It Was Going To Be This Mᴀssive.”

Alma and the Wolf isn’t the only genre-bending horror movie Li has out this year, as she’s fresh off the heels of the release of Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, which became one of the most-talked-about movies of the year, earning a 97% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and grossing over $360 million at the box office. Even with Coogler’s successful track record, though, Li admits that everyone involved in the film was “very surprised” by how quickly it took off, and is “so grateful” by how it’s been received by viewers.

“We knew it was good, but we didn’t think it was going to be this mᴀssive,” Li expressed. “So we’re really just taking it in, and we’re so grateful. It was such a fantastic group of people, and I’m just glad that it was a film that not only brought people back into the theaters, but it also educated everyone on why it’s important for us to go back to the theaters.“