Politics & Power Quote by Jenny Agutter

There is a particular kind of polite sharpness in the way Jenny Agutter says she is "not really quite sure" what John Landis planned. It reads like the actor's version of a raised eyebrow: not a tabloid swipe, but a carefully staged distance. The sentence is doing two jobs at once. On the surface, it's practical clarification about franchise continuity. Underneath, it's a quiet assertion of authorship and legitimacy: the original film had an internal logic and a specific creative vision, and whatever came after doesn't automatically inherit that DNA.

Agutter's phrasing also captures a recurring cultural dynamic around sequels, especially those made years later under different industrial conditions. "Plans" suggests intention, artistry, a roadmap. By contrasting that with the blunt fact that American Werewolf in Paris was "a completely separate story", she implies the sequel didn't feel like an organic extension so much as a branding exercise. The diplomacy matters: she doesn't call it cynical, she simply declines to recognize it as part of the same creative lineage.

As an actress associated with the first film, Agutter is also protecting a piece of her own screen history. The original American Werewolf is remembered for its tonal daredevilry: horror played with comic timing, romance undercut by gore, craftsmanship that still reads as singular. Her comment isn't nostalgia; it's brand management for a work that became a cult reference point. In one measured sentence, she draws a border between "our movie" and "the product that used its name."