Guillermo del Toro's "Frankenstein" Official Trailer: Reimagining of Mary Shelley’s Gothic Classic with Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, and Christoph Waltz
Guillermo del Toro brings his lifelong passion project to life with Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi as his tragic creation.
It’s October! That time of year when everyone leans into a little horror and a few scares. For most fans of the Halloween season (count us among those who love this part of the year), it’s the perfect excuse to binge scary movies all month long, building up to the big spooky night itself. For many, Halloween conjures the frightening imagery of classic monsters. After all, childhood memories of Halloween are often filled with visions of vampires, werewolves, witches, and mummies roaming the neighborhood—sometimes on screen, sometimes right at your door with a candy bucket.
Frankenstein is another horror staple who looms large over the Halloween season. Ever since Boris Karloff walked onto the set in his iconic makeup to star in James Whale’s classic 1931 horror film, audiences have been mesmerized by his tragic, towering presence—both terrifying and oddly sympathetic. Over the decades, Frankenstein has become less of a monster and more a misunderstood creation, a symbol of humanity’s fear of the unknown and the consequences of playing god.
So, does that mean society has become more empathetic, more understanding of how we treat those who are different? Probably not, sadly. If anything, we seem more accepting of the demonization of those we do not understand, placing them neatly in a box as a strawman for our worst fears and frustrations. People want to cling to the binary idea of good and evil. It’s a simplistic way of seeing the world, comforting in its clarity, but ultimately blind to the messy complexities of real human nature.
Guillermo del Toro, who to be quite frank is a visionary filmmaker with an extraordinary ability to wax poetically about films and his influences, had a fascinating conversation with his friends and fellow Mexican filmmakers Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro G. Iñárritu a few years back for a Netflix-hosted event. In it, del Toro discussed the multifaceted sides of a person and how we are always carrying within us both light and shadow—how our contradictions, flaws, and hidden depths are what truly make us human.
Del Toro goes on to describe the “tyranny of nice” as the most repressive construct society has forged—the idea that people must be boiled down into an uncomplicated package of themselves just to fit into a socially acceptable mold. The very thought “chokes” him as he explains that people are all “complex” and “paradoxical,” that we are inherently “every color in the rainbow” and should never be reduced to something as limiting as “black and white.”
(You can watch the full video above, or skip to the 22:56 mark to hear Del Toro’s “tyranny of nice” comment.)
It’s quite a captivating perspective from the Oscar-winning filmmaker, who at the time of this panel conversation was promoting his 2022 stop-motion animated fantasy Pinocchio. The film, which would go on to win an Oscar, also explores the complexity and fragile family dynamic between a creator and his creation—a father and his wooden boy. The animated film not only marked his successful partnership with Netflix but also paved the way for the Mexican filmmaker to tackle a similarly themed fantasy passion project—only this time, it’s the story of a doctor and his creation... Frankenstein.
Guillermo del Toro is known for his visually arresting horror-fantasy films, often centered on monsters—or at least on how one defines and relates to them. With his belief that everyone is only a stone’s throw away from succumbing to the most monstrous aspects of our nature, audiences can likely expect a different kind of Frankenstein movie—one where the monster is not so dissimilar from his creator. Which makes us excited that we might be getting a monster movie where the horror may not lie in the creature itself, but rather in the culpability of how people treat their own responsibilities—or the failure to face them at all.
Del Toro himself has said his Frankenstein movie is deeply personal, as all of his films are, each one reflecting pieces of his own fears, obsessions, and lifelong fascination with monsters. But knowing this has been a long-gestating passion project for him—to finally adapt Mary Shelley’s classic 1818 gothic horror novel—the hope is that after all these years, the project is at last ready to rise from the ground like the creature itself. It’s as if we can already hear him proclaim the words: “It’s alive... alive!” in his unmistakable deep, booming Mexican accent.
Oscar Isaac takes on the task of bringing Victor Frankenstein to life in del Toro’s long-gestating film adaptation. Apparently, they enjoyed working together so much that Isaac is already attached to star in del Toro’s next feature project, a thriller tentatively titled Fury, which is currently only in the writing stage.
Australian actor Jacob Elordi, of Euphoria and Saltburn fame, steps in as “the Creature,” Frankenstein’s creation gone wrong. Given Elordi’s height and towering frame, one might assume he was always the obvious choice to play the monster—but surprisingly, no. Reportedly, he was a last-minute hire after Andrew Garfield had to drop out just nine weeks before filming due to a scheduling conflict. Despite the short prep time and long hours in the make-up chair, Elordi has said it was one of the most satisfying shoots he’s ever experienced.
Rounding out the cast are Mia Goth as Elizabeth Lavenza, the woman caught between Victor and the Creature; Christoph Waltz as Henrich Harlander; Felix Kammerer as William Frankenstein; Lars Mikkelsen as Captain Anderson; Charles Dance as Leopold Frankenstein; and David Bradley as the Blind Man.
Cinematographer Dan Laustsen (The Shape of Water, Nightmare Alley) works the lens, bringing that signature del Toro Gothic look, while Oscar-winning composer Alexandre Desplat (The Shape of Water, The Grand Budapest Hotel) provides the haunting score.
Since premiering at the Venice Film Festival a month ago, the film has received a great deal of critical praise. However, some detractors claim it feels empty and muted—more a feast for the eyes than anything else.
Well, one thing is for certain: Guillermo del Toro has poured everything into the details for this film—so he claims. And when examining del Toro’s filmography, we notice his visuals are so rich, layered, and crafted with such purpose that one can’t help but take note that there’s always more being said beneath the surface. Sometimes, the language of his films speaks less through dialogue and more through haunting imagery. And nothing can be more haunting than Frankenstein’s monster, a being stitched together from death yet forced to confront the cruelty of the living.
Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein will debut in select theaters on October 17th before arriving on Netflix November 7th.
Official Synopsis:
Written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, FRANKENSTEIN is on Netflix November 7.
Starring Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, Felix Kammerer, with Charles Dance, and Christoph Waltz.
Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro adapts Mary Shelley’s classic tale of Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant but egotistical scientist who brings a creature to life in a monstrous experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation.
