Guillermo del Toro has been waiting a long time to make Frankenstein. “This has been, for me, the culmination of a journey that has occupied most of my life,” del Toro said during a live Tudum event earlier this year. “I first read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as a kid and saw [star of the 1931 adaptation] Boris Karloff in, what became for me, an almost religious state. Monsters have become my personal belief system.”
“Exploring the relationship between humanity and monsters, creator and creation, father and son has consumed my stories again and again,” the director continued. “I wanted to make this film before even I had a camera, and I’ve been actively pursuing it now for 25 years.”
Now, fans of del Toro’s other monster (Hellboy et al.) and/or father-and-son movies (Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio) can experience the fixation that started it Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) will officially bring forth del Toro’s vision of the hideous progeny (Jacob Elordi) on October 17 in select theaters before undertaking the experiment November 7 on Netflix. Some lucky folks will also get to see it a bit earlier when it screens at the Venice Film Festival August 30, followed by the Toronto International Film Festival September 8.
At this point, there have (hopefully) been enough Frankenstein adaptations floating around for people to remember that “Frankenstein” is the name of the doctor, and not the monster. You may need a refresher on some of the other characters present in del Toro’s faithful Mary Shelley adaptation, however. Mia Goth stars as Elizabeth Lavenza, Frankenstein’s finacée. She’ll be pretty important as the story unfolds. Felix Kammerer and Charles Dance also star as Frankenstein family members, while Christoph Waltz will play Harlander, Victor’s Patron.
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