What's the secret to a perfect on-screen transformation? While (Poor Things), the star of 's (The Invisible Man) latest Universal Monster adaptation, , isn't confident he'll be taking on another creature feature in the future, he certainly has the recipe for a chilling performance.

Opposite (Apartment 7A), Abbott plays Blake in Wolf Man, a father who's taking his family on a getaway trip to his inherited childhood home. On their way to the farmhouse, however, something sinister attacks them, forcing Blake and his wife Charlotte (Garner) and their young daughter () to seek refuge inside the home. As the night progresses, so too does Blake's bizarre behavior.

In an interview with Collider's , Abbott shares the film that inspired one of the most important aspects of this adaptation: the transformation from man to wolf. In addition to classic body horrors, Abbott says he enlisted the help of a friend to nail his physicality and discusses the several-hours-long makeup and prosthetic process. They also talk about what's on the Wolf Man's playlist, sharing scenes with Garner, and reuniting with writer-director (The World to Come) on her historical drama . You can watch the full conversation in the video above or read the transcript below.

CHRISTOPHER ABBOTT: Well, it's in the script already, so the first thing I obviously start talking about is the transformation and how that's going to work. A movie that he referenced, and I referenced a lot, was The Fly, which I'm sure he talked about, just because the pace of . It's slow, there's a lot of attention to small details, and I think it's fun to act, but I think it's also fun to watch those little things — how much of the human is leaving, how much of the animal is coming in, and especially the levels in the middle when you can't quite tell which is which. Those are fun to play, but it's complicated, and you really have to play with those levels and see what works and what doesn't. So I think that was sort of the biggest challenge there.

ABBOTT: That’s right.

ABBOTT: I didn't worry so much about rules, right? So the thing is, because it's a wolf, so of course, you’re like, “Okay, well, how can I play a wolf physically?” Now, we're not built like that, so you can't. So . I brought in a friend, Or Schraiber, who's a dancer, and he's fantastic. We worked together before shooting, working on ideas so I could come to set with as many ideas as I could and just have options. So I’m taking stuff from actual dance, whether it's just a move or just one little thing, and just sort of creating an amalgamation of anything from animal videos to that, and just creating something unique and whatever works for the scene on the day.

ABBOTT: I love it. I love dance anyway, too, and I love his work, so I loved using that.

ABBOTT: Animal-wise, I don't know if I'm going to get asked to play any more animals.

ABBOTT: It's a good question.

ABBOTT: Honestly, I truly do love dance. I would actually just sayI would like to do something with some dance in it. I don't mean like a musical necessarily, but something where, I don't know, there are movies that have done it. Holy Motors has some of that. Something like that.

ABBOTT: I'm going to impatiently wait for it, too.

ABBOTT: Just make sure you like the people that you're doing it with. It's just a lot of time spent together. Arjen [Tuiten]and Pam [Goldammer], who did the prosthetics, I love them, and it was like, “Thank god,” because spending seven hours in this little trailer with people, you're intimate, and you better get along.

ABBOTT: Honestly, we just hang out and talk and play music and take breaks. Pam would sage it. I didn't do podcasts or anything. It's just talk, and it was great.

ABBOTT: It's not what you would think. You know what I mean? There's a lot of, like, Paul Simon. It's more of the opposite.

ABBOTT: It's like, again, without having rules, right? So I think you can set something, and you'll be like, “Okay, now this is the part where it has to be…” whether you're playing with percentages, whether it's 80% Blake and 20% animal, or vice versa or whatever, you can sort of have these things. But also the fun part is,take to take, we would change the dials. You know what I mean? And then you have the edit to sort of figure that out. So we would do a little bit of that, as well, just for options and just to have fun.

ABBOTT: I'm trying to think of anything that was in the middle. There's a scene where you can't tell if he's trying to attack the daughter or protect her, so I think it's playing with that. Then, the details in that usually come down to the eyes because it's the eyes that are human or animal. So I think it's probably that.

ABBOTT: She's into detail, and even though we're doing a, let's say, genre film, horror film, whatever, where it's a lot about the visuals and the scares and all this kind of stuff, in this. She's so good at sort of being specific about those things and telling the truth. And so I think we were both similar in that way and came together.

ABBOTT: That's right.

Ann Lee, I know she wrote that script, so coming back together with her, can you feel a difference in her work when it's her material?

ABBOTT: Brady [Corbet] and Mona have been close, dear friends of mine for a very, very long time, and I've watched them work, often with these kinds of films really pushing a boulder up a mountain, you know what I mean, of trying to get them made. And the same goes for Ann Lee. On paper, is it a movie that's going to make a lot of money? Who knows? It's a strange, weird thing. But the important thing here is to get it made. I haven't seen anything of that movie yet, but I'm really excited about it because, again, on paper, what a weird, almost like a musical history thing about Ann Lee. You're like, “Well, what is this?” But from what I've seen, from what we shot and everything, I think it's going to be a very unique, special experience.

Those are all the right keywords. Bring it on.

Given the fact that you have worked with her before, is there anything you saw her do on that set that made even you go, “Oh my god, I knew you were good, but I never realized you'd be capable of that?”

ABBOTT: God, I mean, the thing is, I've done something in all three of Mona’s movies by now. She was my first friend when I moved to New York a very, very long time ago, and that was back when she was even acting and trying to do that. Then just seeing her grow, I've been witness to all of it, even hanging out at the house when they're complaining about not being able to get money for the film. So I've seen it all in real-time and the progression, but when I step back, I can't help but just be in awe. I don’t know if being proud is the right word, but I do. I feel proud of her and them.

Wolf Man opens in theaters on January 17th.

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