More than 50 years have passed Guillermo del ToroIt was the most personal project to hit the big screen since The Shape of Water director was just seven years old and first fell in love with Mary Shelley's original, monstrous creation. But at the Hollywood premiere, del Toro seemed confident that hisFrankenstein” invaded movie theaters (and soon Netflix) and only the right time.
“To me, [the message] is to emotionally reconnect with the idea of the power of forgiveness and acceptance, which is absolutely… very thin material right now,” he explained to Variety, adding that a new version of “Handmaiden” created by humans and “functioning in a human way” will be needed in 2025. “This is not a blockbuster – a preconceived opinion. This is not a franchise. That's what it says in a very direct and autobiographical way, unfortunately for me and many in the past.”
The idea of the misunderstood monster is a recurring theme throughout del Toro's work, not just in the Oscar-winning The Shape of Water but also in his most recent directorial efforts, Pinocchio and Nightmare Alley.
“It’s all about respect and love for another,” explained composer Alexandre Desplat. — In Greek you say “xenophilia,” which means “to love a stranger.” Because when you love a stranger, the stranger loves you. It makes a big difference.”
“I think it takes hope,” said Jacob Elordiwho plays the famous monster. “I think this film demands that we be hopeful, that it demands that we be emotional and that we see beauty.”
Elordi said both Frankenstein and Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights – in which he will appear as Heathcliff in Emerald Fennell's adaptation next year – were novels he didn't want to read as a teenager but was excited to rediscover at this point.
“I [grown up] and I'm in my 20s now, so they mean something else – the experience… of the characters. It’s kind of an ideal,” he said.
Mia Goth, who plays Elizabeth Lavenza, said she was nervous about working with the revered del Toro.
“I've never been this scared to go to a movie. Not really,” Goth said. “It was a lot for me and I was always in my head. I kept thinking to myself, “Guillermo del Toro is making Frankenstein, the movie you've always wanted him to make, and I'm going to be a part of it.” And I was so afraid that I would be the only bad thing in this movie and ruin it.”
Goth said she eventually got rid of her self-doubt through meditation. “I decided to feel that moment when you open your eyes, you find that peace and a little more wisdom. That's where Elizabeth was.”
Doctor Frankenstein himself Oscar Isaacexplained that del Toro instilled confidence in his performers.
“What he said very quickly was, ‘You can’t fail. I made this custom for you.” He approached it the same way Mary approached writing Frankenstein, which makes it a completely personal expression of their experiences, and that's what he asked us to do,” Isaac said. “As long as we did it honestly and passionately, there were no mistakes and no obligations.”
Del Toro reached out to Felix Kammerer, who plays Dr. Frankenstein's brother, during the 2023 Academy Awards when All Quiet on the Western Front, which Kammerer starred in, won best international feature film.
“I went to the bathroom and he came up to me and just pulled me aside, 'When are we going to work together, baby?' And then I told him about my agency and how to contact them, and I thought, “He’ll never call,” Kammerer recalls. “Two weeks later my agent calls and says, 'So, Guillermo del Toro wants to talk to you.'
It was del Toro's perfect ensemble for the story he had always dreamed of telling—even though for decades, as producer Scott Stuber said, it seemed like “Frankenstein” was del Toro's “white whale.”
“It was the right time. We tried a couple of times before, but [del Toro’s] like, 'It was the right time for me to figure out the themes and the mythology and what I wanted to tell about the story,'” Stuber said.
Frankenstein opens in select theaters on October 17th and streams on Netflix on November 7th.
