New Insight into Guillermo del Toro's FRANKENSTEIN; Producer Says He's Building "His Own Monster Universe"

A few months ago it was announced that Guillermo del Toro would finally be developing his Frankenstein movie for Netflix. This has been a long-time dream project for the filmmaker and he’s making it with a great cast that includes Andrew Garfield, Oscar Isaac, and Mia Goth.

The film’s producer, J. Miles Dale, recently talked about the film and offered some additional insight into it. According to him, Del Toro is building his own monster universe. He explains:

"At one time, he was going to do the Monster Universe with Universal — Frankenstein's Bride, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Invisible Man, The Wolf Man — and he didn't. We feel like Shape of Water was kind of a version of a creature. So now, here he is doing his own Monster Universe."

I love that Del Toro is looking to make a monster universe! He made such an incredible and wonderful film with The Shape of Water, and I have no doubt he’s going to make an awesome Frankenstein movie! Dale when on to say that it’s going to be a "deeply emotional" movie:

"In the last couple of films, certainly with Nightmare Alley and then with Pinocchio, we've dealt with the whole father-son relationship. And Guillermo and I both lost our fathers in the last few years. When you have a strong father figure, it's a big part of our lives. This version of Frankenstein very much goes down that thematic road. So, I feel like this is the third film in Guillermo's father trilogy. That's exciting, and when you read the script, it's very emotional and, of course, very iconic."

We’re all very familiar with Mary Shelley’s classic horror story, and it’s going to be really cool and interesting to see what Del Toro’s take on it will be. When talking about the cast of the film, Dale said:

"It's a pretty good cast. We've had pretty good casts the last couple films. The last one was insane, frankly. I mean, that's a pinch-me cast. And so was The Shape of Water cast. That's another dream cast. I think there are a lot of actors that really want to work with Guillermo, and so that makes things a little bit easier. So, it should be fun. Nothing's easy, and that one's not going to be easy — it's a big movie with a ship stuck in the ice and a ton of other things — but we've got a little bit of lead time on it, and we're excited to get going."

There’s no word on who the actors will play, but I hope that he casts Doug Jones as The Monster! When describing what his version of the classic horror character would have looked like, Jones said:

“[M]y first thought is that I’m not the big, broad, big-boned lumbering Frankenstein that you have in mind. But it was told to me, Guillermo is a big fan of Bernie Wrightson, and a friend of Bernie Wrightson, and Bernie had illustrated a version of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and all of the images of Frankenstein’s monster in that, that’s what he was going to pattern my look after. Which was more emaciated, little skinnier, little more drawn, little more pathetic looking. And yet, had an unnatural physical prowess, an unnatural athleticism to him. He was sewn together with spare parts of a couple different bodies. Very bony face, long, stringy, drawn hair.”

The director has talked about his vision for this project for years. He previously shared his love for the property, but also explained that he does have a fear of making it:

“Frankenstein to me is the pinnacle of everything, and part of me wants to do a version of it, part of me has for more than 25 years chickened out of making it. I dream I can make the greatest Frankenstein ever, but then if you make it, you’ve made it. Whether it’s great or not, it’s done. You cannot dream about it anymore. That’s the tragedy of a filmmaker. You can dream of something but once you’ve made it, you’ve made it. That’s it. You landed a 10 or you landed a 6.5 but you were at the Olympics already, and you were judged.”

Del Toro seems like he’s confident and ready to take on the challenge of making his Frankenstein movie, and I’m so excited to see what he does with this story!