Is Guillermo del Toro’s long-gestating Frankenstein finally about to shock us—not with jolts of fear, but with an emotional jolt that hits right in the feels? With the planets swirling in a rare celestial alignment today, could this be the universe’s nudge for us to rethink the monster’s tale through a new lens—one pulsing with heart and soul rather than just spine-tingling scares? Del Toro has poured a decade of passion (and plenty of patience) into resurrecting Mary Shelley’s classic on Netflix, promising a 19th-century Eastern European backdrop filled with unforgettable characters and a deeply personal story about fathers, sons, and the ghosts we all carry. Mia Goth, alongside a stellar cast including Oscar Isaac and Christoph Waltz, hints at a film so grand yet intimate, even the “monster” gets a makeover not just of flesh but of spirit. Ready to see Frankenstein like you never imagined? November can’t come soon enough! LEARN MORE
Director Guillermo del Toro has spent the last year and a half working on one of his dream projects, an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s classic tale Frankenstein that is set up at the Netflix streaming service. The movie is set to be released in November – and cast member Mia Goth says viewers will be surprised by the amount of heart del Toro has brought to his take on the familiar story.
Del Toro’s Frankenstein, which is a long-awaited passion project for the filmmaker, might have the following logline: Set in Eastern Europe in the 19th Century, the story of Dr. Pretorius, who needs to track down Frankenstein’s monster- who is believed to have died in a fire forty years before–in order to continue the experiments of Dr. Frankenstein.
Mia Goth (Pearl) stars alongside Oscar Isaac (Moon Knight), Jacob Elordi (Saltburn), Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds), and Charles Dance (Game of Thrones), with Ralph Ineson (The Witch) showing up for a pivotal cameo. At one point, Andrew Garfield was in the cast, but he had to drop out and was replaced by Elordi… and the role Garfield passed over to Elordi was the Monster.
Del Toro has been talking about making a new version of Frankenstein for more than a decade. Years ago, he had the project set up at Universal, with Doug Jones (The Shape of Water) on board to play Frankenstein’s Monster. The movie got far enough into pre-production that Jones even saw a Monster bust inspired by Bernie Wrightson’s artwork in an illustrated adaptation of Shelley’s novel, which Wrightson spent seven years working on. But then the project fell apart. Now it’s finally happening at the Netflix streaming service, which previously teamed with del Toro on Pinocchio and the anthology series Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities.
Del Toro has described his take on the classic Mary Shelley story as “an incredibly emotional movie.” While at Cannes, del Toro said (with thanks to Variety for the transcription), “Somebody asked me the other day, does (this Frankenstein) have really scary scenes? For the first time, I considered that. It’s an emotional story for me. It’s as personal as anything. I’m asking a question about being a father, being a son… I’m not doing a horror movie — ever. I’m not trying to do that.”
While speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Mia Goth was asked what the movie is, if it’s not a horror movie. She said, “It’s an incredibly epic film. I’ve never been a part of something so big and so grand. But it’s also incredibly emotional and deeply personal; you know, it’s a story that’s been a part of Guillermo’s life since he was a boy, so I definitely think people will be pleasantly surprised by how much heart there is in this movie.” What sets it apart from the many other Frankenstein movies? “The heart and how deeply personal (it is). Guillermo has tethered this story to his own experiences and has just made it a deeply personal story.“
Are you looking forward to Guillermo del Toro’s heart-infused, deeply personal, incredibly emotional Frankenstein? Let us know by leaving a comment below.