Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein Starts Shooting in February, Christoph Waltz Joins Netflix Project

Summary

• Guillermo del Toro announced that he will be directing a new version of Frankenstein, a movie he has wanted to do for 50 years, with an all-star cast including Oscar Isaac, Andrew Garfield, Christoph Waltz, and Mia Goth. Shooting begins in February.
• The filmmaker believes that now is the right time to tackle the movie because it requires growth and tools that he didn’t have in the past.
• Guillermo del Toro most recently won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature for his Pinocchio, which also draws from an iconic old fantasy creature.

“It’s alive… alive!” Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro was in Los Angeles on Thursday, October 5 celebrating the 10th anniversary of his film Pacific Rim. Following the IMAX 3D screening of the modern-day kaiju movie, del Toro discussed the altogether different kind of monster he is focusing on in his next project, Frankenstein. And the filmmaker revealed the Netflix project begins shooting in February. Del Toro made the announcement during the Q&A session following the Pacific Rim celebration (per @colliderfrosty). Del Toro said:

“I’m doing Frankenstein […] So, we’re working on it. We start shooting in February. And, I mean, it’s a movie I have been wanting to do for 50 years since I saw the first Frankenstein and I had an epiphany. And it’s basically a movie that requires — required — a lot of growth and a lot of tools that I couldn’t have done 10 years ago, 20 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.”

Author Mary Shelley penned the classic tale Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818) just over two centuries ago. Three silent film adaptations based on the tale of Victor Frankenstein were made before Universal Pictures ever produced arguably the most well-known and recognizable incarnation, Frankenstein (1931), which starred Boris Karloff as the Monster.

Related: Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein: What the Horror Adaptation Needs to Get Right

Guillermo del Toro Gives Frankenstein New Life

ABC

Guillermo del Toro is a three-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker. His most recent Oscar win (Best Animated Feature) came in 2023 for his dark, stop-motion take on Pinocchio. But Del Toro’s other two golden statues have an indirect tie-in to Frankenstein. In 2018, Del Toro won Best Picture and Best Director honors from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for The Shape of Water.

The Shape of Water finds inspiration from another of the vaunted Universal Monsters and from Del Toro’s unique line of thought about that particular monster movie, The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954). And that is: “Why doesn’t the creature ever get the girl?” (per the Los Angeles Times).

Del Toro will write and direct the upcoming version of Frankenstein, which will feature an all-star cast that includes Oscar Isaac, Andrew Garfield, Mia Goth and Christoph Waltz. Back in March, sources told Deadline that del Toro was in talks with Isaac, Garfield and Goth to join the Netflix project, and the filmmaker confirmed their involvement and Waltz’s at Pacific Rim’s 10th anniversary screening. At the time of this writing, there isn’t an official release date set for Frankenstein.

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