Guillermo del Toro chooses Christoph Waltz for FRANKENSTEIN

Director Guillermo del Toro is currently developing a new film adaptation of Mary Shelley’S Frankenstein for Netflix. This has been a passion project of his for a long time and he finally has the opportunity to tell his vision of this iconic story.

The director has added a new cast member to the film and, according to Collider, brought in an actor Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds, Alita: Battle Angel) on board. They say Del Toro confirmed the casting news at the 10th anniversary screening of Pacific Rim, where the director told the audience:

“I’m doing Frankenstein. We’re working on it. We’ll start shooting in February, and it’s a film I’ve wanted to make for 50 years, ever since I saw the first Frankenstein. I had an epiphany, and it’s basically a film that took a lot of growth and a lot of tools that I couldn’t have done 10 years ago. Now I’m brave enough or crazy enough or something, and we’ll deal with it.

He then proceeded to name the cast members, saying, “It is Oscar Isaac, Andrea Garfield, Christoph WaltzAND My Gothicand we’re working on it.”

It is also said that the director will reunite with the famous composer and frequent collaborator Alexandre Desplat for the score and also produce with another of his regular partners, Gary Ungar.

The producer of the film, J. Miles Dale, previously spoke about the film and offered some additional insights about it. According to him, Del Toro is building his own monster universe. He explains:

“At one time, he was supposed to make the monster universe with Universal – Bride of Frankenstein, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Invisible Man, The Wolf Man – and he didn’t. We think Shape of Water was kind of version of a creature. So now here he is creating his own universe of monsters.”

Dale went on to explain that it will be a “deeply emotional” film:

“In the last two films, certainly with Nightmare Alley and then with Pinocchio, we’ve dealt with the whole father-son relationship. And Guillermo and I have both lost our fathers in the last few years. When you have a strong father figure,” it’s a part important part of our lives. This version of Frankenstein follows that thematic path very much. So, I feel like this is the third film in Guillermo’s father’s trilogy. It’s emotional and when you read the script, it’s very emotional and, obviously, very iconic.”

We all know him very well Mary ShelleyIt’s the classic horror story, and it’ll be really cool and interesting to see what del Toro’s take on it is. There’s no word on the characters the actors will play, but I hope so Douglas Jones ends up in the role of the Monster! When describing what his version of the classic horror character would be like, Jones said:

“[M]My first thought is that I’m not the big, wide, hulking Frankenstein you have in mind. But I was told that 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 the images of Frankenstein’s monster in it, that’s what he meant to model the my look. That he was more emaciated, a little thinner, a little tighter, a little more pathetic. Yet, to him, he had an unnatural physical ability, an unnatural athleticism. He was sewn together with spare parts from a couple of different bodies. Very bony face, long, stringy and tight hair.

The director has talked about his vision for this project for years. He previously shared his love for property, but also explained that he’s afraid to make it:

“Frankenstein for me is the pinnacle of everything, and part of me wants to do a version of it, part of me held back for more than 25 years before making it. I dream of being able to make the greatest Frankenstein ever, but if you do it, you’ve done it. Whether it’s great or not, it’s done. You can’t dream about it anymore. This is a director’s tragedy. You can dream about something but once you’ve achieved it, you’ve achieved it. That’s all. You got a 10 or a 6.5 but you were already at the Olympics and were judged.

I can’t wait to see del Toro’s vision of Frankenstein come to life!