Kumail Nanjiani’s Horror Film Howl Finds a Home at Orion Pictures
Actor, writer and comedian Kumail Nanjiani is officially stepping behind the camera for the first time, and he’s doing it with a werewolf movie that already boasts one of the year’s most intriguing premises.
According to Deadline, Orion Pictures has acquired Howl, the feature that will mark Nanjiani’s directorial debut. The announcement also lifts the lid on the film’s story for the very first time, revealing a high-concept horror tale that blends celebrity culture, psychological tension and classic monster movie mythology.
The film centres on a famous but deeply troubled actor who shocks viewers during a live television talk show by announcing that, in less than an hour, he will transform into a werewolf live on air.
It’s an irresistibly simple premise that immediately raises countless questions. Is the actor suffering a public breakdown? Is it an elaborate publicity stunt? Or is something genuinely supernatural about to unfold in front of millions of viewers?
That uncertainty alone makes Howl one of the more original werewolf concepts currently in development.
Long-time horror fans may also notice echoes of Joe Dante’s 1981 classic The Howling, whose unforgettable finale featured a live televised werewolf transformation that left both the audience and characters questioning what they had just witnessed. Whether Howl intentionally pays homage to that iconic ending or simply arrives at a similar concept independently has not been confirmed, but the comparison is certain to intrigue genre fans.
The screenplay comes from Madison Vanderberg, whose script earned a place on The Black List 2024, the annual survey recognising Hollywood’s most admired unproduced screenplays. Inclusion on The Black List has often served as a springboard for acclaimed films, making Howl a project that has been attracting industry attention long before cameras began rolling.
Vanderberg previously worked as an entertainment and pop culture journalist before moving into screenwriting and is also attached to write the upcoming Netflix comedy Corporate Retreat, making Howl another major milestone in her rapidly growing career.
Nanjiani won’t just be directing the film, he’ll also star in it. He’ll produce alongside Emily V. Gordon and Dani Melia through their Winter Coat Films banner, with Akiva Goldsman, Greg Lessans and Rachel Wizenberg producing through Weed Road Pictures.
Nanjiani first revealed the project during an appearance on the Comedy Means Business podcast late last year, explaining that directing had always been an ambition but that he had never found the right material until Howl landed on his desk.
He explained that reading the screenplay gave him an immediate sense of how the film should feel, convincing him that he was ready to take on directing despite having never helmed a feature before.
Interestingly, Nanjiani also spoke about why horror felt like the perfect place to begin. He revealed that both he and Emily V. Gordon are lifelong fans of horror and science fiction, regularly watching everything the genres have to offer. Rather than actively searching for a horror project, he simply felt that Howl possessed a unique tone that he instinctively understood, giving him confidence that he knew exactly how the film should be brought to life.
That passion for horror isn’t especially surprising.
Although audiences primarily know Nanjiani through comedy, he’s quietly built an impressive collection of genre credits over the years. His résumé includes Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Destroy All Neighbors, Hell Baby, appearances in both The X-Files and The Twilight Zone, voice work for The Walking Dead video game, and the upcoming comedy-horror series Very Young Frankenstein.
Nanjiani also cited filmmakers such as Jordan Peele, Josh Ruben and Zach Cregger as examples of comedians who successfully transitioned into horror, proving that a background in comedy can often translate surprisingly well into creating suspense and fear. Horror history certainly supports that idea, with many directors using precise timing, audience expectation and carefully controlled tension in ways that overlap remarkably with comedy.
For Orion Pictures, Howl also represents another notable addition to a growing horror slate. The studio has continued to invest heavily in genre filmmaking in recent years, recognising horror’s ability to combine original concepts with relatively modest budgets and strong box office potential.
While there’s currently no release date, casting announcements beyond Nanjiani himself, or production timetable, Howl already possesses several ingredients that should make horror fans pay attention: a genuinely original werewolf premise, a Black List screenplay, a filmmaker making a passion-project directorial debut, and a studio willing to back fresh genre ideas.
Werewolf films have experienced something of a resurgence in recent years, but few have attempted a concept quite like this. Whether Howl ultimately becomes a psychological horror, satirical media thriller, creature feature, or some combination of all three remains to be seen.
One thing is certain, however. If Kumail Nanjiani delivers on the unusual premise that first convinced him to step behind the camera, Howl could become one of the most talked-about werewolf films in years.
