After a 17-year journey to the screen, Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein is alive.
Netflix unveiled the first trailer for the fan-favorite filmmaker's adaptation of Mary Shelley's seminal novel during the streamer's annual Tudum event, and, as expected, it looks like this is going to be an extremely faithful retelling of the classic tale.
The teaser begins with Oscar Isaac's Victor Frankenstein recounting his story to Captain Robert Walton, who encounters the now mad with grief and fuelled by vengeance scientist during an expedition to the North Pole. From there, we see Frankenstein conducting the fateful experiment that gives life to his terrifying creation.
As for Jacob Elordi's Creature, we only get a couple of obscured glimpses, but we do get to see him lay waste to a mob on his way to confront his "father."
It’s a movie I have been wanting to do for 50 years since I saw the first Frankenstein," Del Toro said back when the project was first confirmed. "I had an epiphany, and it’s basically a movie that required a lot of growth and a lot of tools that I couldn’t have done 10 years ago. Now I’m brave or crazy enough or something, and we’re gonna tackle it. It’s Oscar Isaac, Andrew Garfield, Christoph Waltz, Mia Goth, and we’re working on it.”
Andrew Garfield (The Amazing Spider-Man) was originally cast as the Monster, but was forced to drop out due to a scheduling conflict, with Elordi stepping in to replace him.
Mia Goth is will play Victor's fiancé, Elizabeth, who may also become the Monster's Bride, depending on which route Del Toro - who also penned the script - decides to take the story.
Felix Kammerer (All Quiet on the Western Front), Lars Mikkelsen (The Witcher), David Bradley (Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio) and Christian Convery (Sweet Tooth) have also signed on in undisclosed roles.
First published in 1818, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus has been adapted numerous times for the stage and screen, but there have been very few fully faithful takes on the story (the creature's appearance in the novel, for example, has never been accurately depicted).
Just in case you're somehow unaware of the premise of the novel, you'll find a brief synopsis below.
"A young scientist, Victor Frankenstein, driven by vanity and thirst for knowledge, manages to give life to a creature whom he assembled from dead material. The creature turns out very ugly, and Victor abandons him in horror. Rejected by his creator and hated by mankind in general, the Monster devotes himself to destruction and revenge."
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