Guillermo del Toro Unveils Ambitious Frankenstein Adaptation at Venice Film Festival
A few years ago, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos asked Oscar-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro what dream projects he still hoped to bring to life. The director had a simple but powerful answer: “Pinocchio and Frankenstein.”
Sarandos immediately gave the green light, leading to del Toro’s stop-motion masterpiece Pinocchio in 2022. Now, his long-awaited take on Frankenstein is finally here — premiering as one of the most talked-about films at this year’s Venice Film Festival.
A Lifelong Dream Project
For del Toro, Frankenstein is more than just another movie. “It’s been a dream — almost a religion — since I was a kid,” he told reporters in Venice. He cited Boris Karloff’s iconic 1931 portrayal of the monster as a major inspiration, but stressed that he waited decades to make the film under the right creative conditions.
“I always wanted to tell this story on the scale it deserves — to rebuild the entire world and explore both Frankenstein and the creature from a human perspective,” he explained. Now that production is complete, the director admits he feels a kind of “postpartum depression” after finally letting go of the project.
Star-Studded Cast
The new adaptation features Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi as the creature — a last-minute replacement for Andrew Garfield, who had to step away due to scheduling conflicts caused by the Hollywood strikes.
Elordi revealed he had just three weeks to prepare: “It felt like a monumental task, but Guillermo had already laid out this banquet. I just had to sit down and join in. It was a dream come true.”
The film also stars Christoph Waltz and Mia Goth. Goth plays Elizabeth, Frankenstein’s wife, who grows increasingly sympathetic toward the creature — creating deep emotional conflict at the heart of the story.
A Fresh Take on a Classic Tale
Del Toro’s Frankenstein is divided into three chapters: a prelude, followed by two versions of events told from the perspectives of both Victor and his creation. The narrative explores Frankenstein’s troubled childhood, the obsessions that drove him to create life, and the profound loneliness and mistreatment the creature endured.
At nearly two and a half hours long, the film has room to fully explore its characters and themes. Critics so far are divided. Deadline praised del Toro’s bold vision, while The Independent argued it lacked emotional weight. The Hollywood Reporter called it “one of del Toro’s finest,” while Total Film gave it four stars, calling it “masterfully crafted and thematically resonant.”
Del Toro’s Signature Vision
Known for Pan’s Labyrinth, Pacific Rim, and the Oscar-winning The Shape of Water, del Toro has built his career around humanizing monsters and exploring what it truly means to be human. With Frankenstein, he aimed to show the creature not as a horror icon but as something closer to a newborn.
“Most versions look like accident victims,” he said. “I wanted beauty, vulnerability, and imperfection.”
The production emphasized practical sets and costumes over digital effects, something del Toro believes gives actors a more authentic environment. Christoph Waltz joked: “CGI is for losers,” sparking laughter at the press conference.
Humanity at the Core
While some have drawn parallels between the story and modern debates about artificial intelligence, del Toro dismissed those comparisons. “It’s not a metaphor for AI,” he explained. “The central question is the same one Mary Shelley asked: What does it mean to be human?”
For del Toro, that question feels more urgent than ever. “We live in a time of fear and division. The answer, which art is part of, is love. To be human is to embrace imperfection — to live in shades of black, white, gray, and everything in between.”