Guillermo del Toro talks about giving life to Frankenstein after 30 years of dream

Guillermo del Toro He spent three decades to chase his latest passion project and this autumn, the public will finally be able to see it. His long -awaited adaptation of Frankenstein It will be previewed at the Venice Film Festival on August 30 before hitting cinemas for an exclusive race of three weeks on October 17th.

Netflix will then bring him to streaming on November 7, making him a large bet for the streaming service as he had a budget of $ 120 million.

But don’t expect a simple horror movie. Del Toro insists that his version is not just a monster sewn by the corpses.

“As ridiculous it may seem, I see him as a biography of these characters,” explained Del Toro. “In my film, it is the lineage of family pain.”

The film intertwines the Gothic horror with the family drama, exploring Victor Frankenstein as Victor, played by Oscar Isaacis modeled by the cruelty of his father (Charles Dance) and then passes that pain to its creation, interpreted by Jacob Elordi.

Chief Content Officer of Netflix Bela Bajaria He said: “Guillermo thought he has made this film since he was a child. It is what made him want to be a director first. He wants to explore what it means to be a monster and a human being.” Everest “

Del Toro chased Frankenstein From before even he had a camera. “Absolutely. It took 30 years,” he said. “There is the DNA of Frankenstein ON ChronosON Blade IION Hellboy. And we were developing it to Universal before they passed. I launched it everywhere. It was my Monte Everest who climbed. “

That obsession began during childhood, when he saw the 1931 James Whale classic. “I completely emptied my soul in the creature. I thought:” I am me. “It was a religious and spiritual moment for me,” he recalled. “It was a stranger. He did not adapt to the world in the same way I felt like a child.”

For Del Toro, the story never concerned fear. “It’s a story like PinocchioRegarding a creature created by his father and thrown into the world, somehow deep in the swimming pool. Frankenstein It is a song of human experience. It is the story of a father and a son. “

When it came to launch Victor, Del Toro wanted someone magnetic and modern. “I didn’t want to have a crazy scientist. I wanted to make this type of genius of rock star, and Oscar has all the seductive power of swagger and Swarthy that Victor, in my mind, had. It is like a Rock Star of Byronic.”

Andrew Garfield It was originally ready to play the creature, but after leaving the project, Del Toro turned to Elordi. “I saw SALTBURNAnd I loved his innocence and opening … Jacob’s eyes are so full of humanity. I launched him for his eyes. “

Del Toro has designed his opinion on Frankenstein’s creature since the late 70s. He wanted to avoid the usual bolts and points and instead approached design as a work of art.

“I thought it was very interesting to make it like a puzzle. I wanted it to be beautiful, like a newborn thing. Victor is as much an artist as a surgeon, so the cuts had to have aesthetic sense.”

The sets were also built practically. “It is extremely important for me to keep the reality of film craft alive. I don’t want digital. I don’t want to the. I want old -fashioned craftsmanship. I enter and paint the stage objects. Supergo the construction of the sets. There is an opera beauty when you build everything by hand.”

At a certain point, Del Toro considered the realization Frankenstein As two films have told from different perspectives. In the end he chose a single function with a dramatic turn halfway.

“I decided that it was much better to have a film in which there is a moment of the hinge shortly after creation, in which the perspective moves and follow the creature on his travels after following Victor for the first part.”

Instead of the usual storm and lightning, Del Toro’s creation sequence is a show. “Almost nobody shows the creation of the monster. Everyone shows thunder, and the monster is already put together. And I thought, if you are following a rock star, you want to turn the concert. So instead of making it horrible … I did it in a waltz. I transformed it into a joyful fun, a kind of crazy concert.”

While many interpretations of Frankenstein Saying on precautionary stories about science and technology, of Toro sees it differently. “The usual speech of Frankenstein It has to do with the science gone badly. But for me, it concerns the human spirit. It is not a story of caution: it is forgiveness, understanding and importance of listening to each other. “

Netflix is giving Frankenstein Its largest theatrical thrust, running exclusively in cinemas for three weeks before it arrives on the platform. The film will also receive a physical release, following in the footsteps of the Oscar winner of Del Toro Pinocchio.

For Del Toro, this balance is worth it. “If the choice is among the possibility of making the film and having portions of the theatrical release and portions are streaming or not making the film, it is an easy decision to make. For a director, you want to tell your stories.”

After decades of struggle, Del Toro is finally sharing the film that has shaped his entire career. As he said: “I feel that the film is very eloquent in what he is expressing. If people agree with his position on the world, I have no control.”

Source: Variety