4. Casting Some Victims

As mentioned, Landis had to start tracking down his leads early so that Baker could kick off development of the make-up.

Despite pressure from Universal, the director resisted the studio's initial casting idea of Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi for David and Jack, the two ill-fated travellers.

Lead David Naughton got the job thanks to some unusual previous work. "My agent sent me to meet with John Landis and that's really all it took. Normally you have to go through screen tests and so on to win a role but it was really won just by an interview.

"It didn't hurt that John Landis was an avid Dr Pepper drinker. He was familiar with the commercials I';d done for the drink, and he responded to having the interview with me.

"I had a nice long chat with John Landis in his office. I don't know whether it actually clinched the job for me but I told John Landis how I had lived in England, previously having studied acting in London and had gone across Great Britain on a bicycle. John said, 'Hey, that's really interesting, cause these guys are backpacking!'

"He asked me to call him in the morning and I thought, this is odd but OK, I'll call you tomorrow. And next day he said, 'D'you want to be a werewolf?' And that was it. It was a little unusual, but it was probably that straightforward because John had written the script for the movie and was also the director and executive producer. He was the guy for this project."

Ironically, when Naughton reported to Baker's workshop to begin getting casts made for his monster make-up, the crew danced around him, singing a paraphrased version of his old Pepper jingle: "I'm a werewolf, you're a werewolf... Wouldn't you like to be a werewolf, too…"

Griffin Dunne got the part of Jack, the unfortunate friend who is killed by the first werewolf and cursed to wander the Earth as a decomposing zombie. Naughton recalls that Landis nabbed them both because they were largely unknowns - and because they worked well together.

"Really what it was, was the chemistry between myself and Griffin Dunne. That chemistry and the fact that these guys looked like they were just very unsuspecting and innocent victims.

"I don't think that it had anything to do with who we were and I think John Landis wanted to go with unknown people. He wanted to make his story even more feasible - here's two unsuspecting innocent guys who you don't really know and look what can happen to them out there!"

And British thesping icon Jenny Agutter completed the lead trio as nurse Alex Price, who falls for David when he arrives injured at her hospital and discovers his terrible secret. She clearly enjoyed working with Landis.

"He's a terrific director, for an actor. I actually knew him before working with him. He brings a huge amount of energy to a film set," she's said.

"To make films is as boring as watching paint dry - you usually have to do little tiny bits here and there. You go off waiting for lighting, you come back - the energy dies. You hope you can find someone who can keep it going. John never lets that energy go.

"Also he's very good at recognising people the way they are, you feel very secure that he's going to make choices that make sense for you as an actor and he won't leaving you feeling you've got egg on your face."

No, he just put a lot of blood, gore and make-up on their faces. Or at least, he did once they got to London to film…

Next: Hello, London!