Guillermo del Toro on ‘Frankenstein’s’ Epic Scale and the Film’s Message of Forgiveness: ‘It’s the One We Don’t Hear Often Enough’
Guillermo del Toro was a young child growing up in Mexico when he first saw James Whale’s 1931 film adaptation of “Frankenstein.”
The film was an epiphany for the young boy, who spent every Sunday going to church at the crack of dawn. He understood his Catholic faith better through the film than the sermons he heard.
Almost six decades later, del Toro has fulfilled his desire to reimagine “Frankenstein” and Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel by rewriting the narrative of who the monster really is.
His film stars Oscar Isaac as Victor, a crazed scientist who sets out to conquer death and brings to life a Creature, played by Jacob Elordi. In this version, del Toro uses his imagination to tell a story from both the perspective of the creator and the Creature.
As part of the film’s launch, “Frankenstein: Crafting a Tale Eternal,” a fully immersive and free exhibit, is open through Nov. 9 at the Old Selfridges Hotel in London.
“Frankenstein: Crafting a Tale Eternal” showcases rare editions of Mary Shelley’s classic book, as well as costumes by Kate Hawley, production design pieces by Tamara Deverell and prosthetics by Mike Hill.
In the video above, del Toro gives Variety’s senior artisans editor Jazz Tangcay an exclusive tour of the exhibit, highlighting many of the key pieces and the work of his artisans. Read on for more.
Mary Shelley’s Book
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There are three main revisions of the book; on display are the 1818 edition and the 1835 illustrated version. “The one I read when I was a kid was the first published in 1818,” del Toro says. “It’s sort of an unruly book. It’s a beautifully hungry book. She asked all the questions — philosophical, economic and social — that she felt troubled by.”
Reflecting on society at the time, del Toro explains that the writers Mary Shelley, Percy Shelley and Lord Bryon were all “punks,” adding: “They were really undomesticated youth, going against their parents’ world and the world of etiquette and properly educated kids.”
Kate Hawley’s Costumes
In the film, Mia Goth takes on two roles. She first plays young Victor Frankenstein’s mother, who dies in childbirth, and later appears as Elizabeth, who is engaged to Frankenstein’s brother, William. Elizabeth is fascinated by insects and science. “Elizabeth’s wardrobe represents nature. That’s why she connects with the Creature,” del Toro explains. “She represents the Holy and the natural world. So she’s dressed in white, which is purity. It’s also the Creature.”
The white wedding dress has a ribbon bodice and was Hawley’s homage to the “Bride of Frankenstein,” while the bandages are a direct visual connection to the Creature’s costume.
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The blue dress was inspired by x-rays, which are patterned into the designs.
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Hawley and a team of craftspeople worked across the globe embroidering, aging and tinting the costumes for the film. Del Toro stresses the costumes are “not eye candy. It’s eye protein.”
Casting the Film
Issac plays Victor Frankenstein. As a young man, he was raised by his domineering father (Charles Dance), who sits with him and teaches him about the sciences. When Victor loses his mother, he sets out to find a way to conquer death by creating life.
Del Toro explains that the cycle of pain is something Isaac understood when the two met. “We come from Latin families where the shadow of the Father looms very large,” he says. In “Frankenstein,” the shadow starts with Dance and is passed on to Victor. Of Isaac del Toro says: “He knew he needed to do a larger-than-life performance.”
Bringing the Creature to Life
Nic Serpell-Rand
Del Toro wanted to show the Creature as a newly minted human being. Prosthetics artist Mike Hill knew del Toro didn’t want a monster, but a character.
“We follow with the experiments in Victor’s lab that, again, have the language of red and have the brutality of Victor, being an artist whose musical notes happen to be anatomical,” del Toro says.
Color again plays an important role. “Victor and Elizabeth are the only ones that are going to have red because Elizabeth is the mother in a way, and Victor is on a quest for eternal life because his mother died,” he adds. “All these things come into play, with the color and art direction.”
As Victor builds his lab and builds the Creature, there are various stages of it coming together. Seamless stitching and different coloration on the Creature’s body reflects how Victor has pieced it together via dead soldiers and parts found on the battlefield.
“By the time the creature is revealed, [the audience] already saw the things that make him unique,” del Toro says. “He looks like a newborn, not like a ICU victim. And that’s important.”
Nic Serpell-Rand
Building the World of ‘Frankenstein‘
Nic Serpell-Rand
Del Toro turned to his go-to production designer Tamara Deverell to bring the film’s epic scale to life. From building Victor’s lab to the film’s ship, Deverell scouted across Scotland and Toronto.
Visually, del Toro’s use of circle motifs, as seen in “Crimson Peak,” “The Shape of Water” and “Nightmare Alley,” was used to symbolize the circular narrative of “Frankenstein.” The film’s begins at dawn with the captain and ends at dawn behind the Creature. This can also be seen in the windows aboard the ship and in Victor’s lab.
Del Toro points out that “the circle is broken when the Creature takes control of the ship; that’s finally the liberation in the film.”
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Another visual of the circular motif is the giant Medusa head, which the Creature notices. It reflects “the mythological scale of the movie; the misunderstood monster that is Medusa. Medusa is used in waterways and water towers and cisterns in the Middle East.” He continues, “We took her and put her here to remind [people] of the scale of the film being epic.”
The Film’s Message
Del Toro’s film reimagines Shelley’s classic and the monster by humanizing him. Aside from telling the story from both perspectives, the Creature comes to forgive his creator, Victor Frankenstein.
In the film, Victor emotionally abuses the Creature. It’s a pattern of generational trauma — Victor suffered at the hands of his father, and now, he’s inflicting the same on his creation. Which leads to the question: Who is the real monster? It’s the human, the creator who vilified his very creation and even framed him for Elizabeth’s death.
As Victor lies dying and the Creature tells his version of the story, the film concludes with a cathartic release for both. The circle is broken, and the two reach a moment of forgiveness. The Creature has accepted his fate; he is immortal. But despite everything, the Creature finds it within him to say to Victor: “I forgive you.”
“The question of the book is, what makes us human and why are we here?” del Toro explains.
Forgiveness and acceptance are things, del Toro says, we are losing every day. “The movie hopes to provoke emotion from a text that is 200 years old because it’s telling us we should know better,” he adds. As for the Creature’s “I forgive you” line, the filmmaker says: “It’s the one we don’t hear often enough.”
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