The Wolfman: Keeping the wolf behind a stately door

You have to go some to outshine the likes of Benicio Del Toro and Sir Anthony Hopkins.

To compete with that kind of star wattage, it helps if you're one of the country's most beautiful stately homes.

While it might not quite upstage the famous actors around it, Chatsworth House manages to be one of the highlights of the movie, The Wolfman, released today.

Inspired by the classic 1941 horror movie, starring Lon Chaney Jr as the eponymous creature, this updated version sees Benicio Del Toro wearing the furry mask of the lycanthrope who should stay away from the full moon.

Co-star Emily Blunt, one of Britain's brightest young film actors, plays the love interest in the horror adventure movie.

For Blunt, one of a number of highlights of working on the movie was the chance to film on location at Chatsworth House, the home of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire.

One of the low-lights was wearing a corset in the period drama, so soon after slipping out of one for her lead role in The Young Victoria.

"My god, the corset," says Blunt, faux-dramatically.

"I'm like an old hand at that. It's become like my annoying friend."

Of the Derbyshire stately home, she is much more complimentary.

"I remember the first day I saw it. I drove around the corner of the house and I was like 'oh my god, there's the film'. To me, the house was just like what I thought the film would be. It was so Gothic and sweeping, this sprawling mansion that had a real mystery and darkness to it.

"It is stunning and the grounds are amazing – I used to go and practise riding my horse in the grounds," adds the actress, who turns 27 this month, before adding: "What is this magical job I have?"

It is easy to understand Blunt's incredulity at her rapid rise up the ladder of fame, particular when her co-star, Del Toro, arrives.

"Benicio, he's so cool. Did I fancy him? No, he's like my brother."

Del Toro, who was one of the film's co-producers, has been key in bringing the story of the Wolfman to the screen in this updated version.

He grew up watching monster horror movies like Lon Chaney Jr's Wolfman and says the film is something he's wanted to make for a long time.

"My earliest recollection of movies were those Universal horror movies. I watched them before VHS and DVD, the only way to watch them was on these Super 8 films that were three minutes long and I would watch them projected on to my wall – and I was never afraid," says Del Toro.

"Then I saw them all a few years later with Bela Lugosi and all those guys, and I was afraid. It was the sound that really added that fear. My earliest recollection of movies were these movies."

The updated Wolfman follows Lawrence Talbot, a famous stage actor, played by Del Toro, as he returns home to England to understand the mysterious disappearance of his brother. His father, played by Hopkins, holds the key to the mystery.

While vampires are all the rage these days, lycanthropy has yet to take its moment in the spotlight. Werewolves lack the sex appeal of Dracula and his undead children.

Perhaps the fact that a man in a wolf mask can only ever look like a man in a wolf mask accounts for this monster running behind in the popularity stakes.

Blunt accepts that, particularly as she is not a fan of horror movies, The Wolfman is not necessarily a film she would have leapt at the chance to make.

She says: "I think it was when I heard who was attached to it, to work with those actors was a huge plus for me and I had never done that sort of thing before.

"I appreciated we were going to make an homage to those movies of the Forties, not some modern slasher movie, which I would have no interest in doing because I have a moral problem with those movies that are about human degradation and humiliation.

"This seemed reminiscent of a classic ghost story your grandfather might tell you.

"When I found out it was Benicio doing it, that was huge. I was like 'if he's doing it, then it's got to be left of centre and there has to be a different angle on it'."

When Del Toro arrives, it is easy to see why he could convince someone that if anyone was going to make a success of The Wolfman, it was him.

With famous roles including one of the youngest Bond villains, a mumbling gangster in The Usual Suspects, essentially the same character in Snatch, Dr Gonzo in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Che Guevara in last year's two-part biopic, it is surprising to discover that Del Toro looks and sounds every inch a movie star.

His accent is straight out of California and his impressive physique matches genuine matinee idol looks.

He went straight from filming the gruelling and intensive Che to The Wolfman.

"It wasn't deliberately a decision to go from Che to this, but it really had the effect of taking a load off. It worked as a decompressor.

"I like all kinds of movies, I've done movies in that world like Sin City, so it shouldn't be that crazy to see me doing Wolfman.

"I'm an actor, a film-maker and I like doing all kinds of movies."

As a co-producer, Del Toro was on set most days and has much riding on his creation.

His research for Che was boundless and he famously piled on weight for Fear and Loathing.

So how did he prepare for The Wolfman?

"I watched my dog. I did," laughs Del Toro.

"Then I went back to those old classics. The reason I was watching these old classics was seeing the commitment of the actor behind the make-up, playing those monsters. Like Boris Karloff in Frankenstein. If you watch and see the commitment behind the performance, behind the mask, it's really masterful.

"I don't want to sound stupid, but those guys were kind of the first method actors."

"I was afraid of putting on the suit and looking like I was going to a halloween party, but Rick Baker did a great job. It looks pretty cool."

As well as giving Blunt a chance to star in the "kind of movie I haven't done before" and Del Toro a chance to put on a "cool mask", it will also give audiences around the world a chance to see the impressive backdrop of Chatsworth House.

Simon Seligman, spokesman for the estate, said: "One of the most exciting things for us here is that as a result of the filming, Chatsworth will be viewed all over the world and everyone sitting down to watch the film, whether they are in California or China, will get to see Chatsworth in all its Wolfman glory."