Guillermo del Toro Explains Why His Frankenstein’s Monster Looks So Unique

Clearly, we’re all very, very excited about Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, which is coming to theaters on October 17 before arriving on Netflix on November 7. That’s because it’s del Toro, one of our most beloved filmmakers; his cast is incredible; and there has rarely been a better pairing of filmmaker and subject matter. One other thing has us hyped up too, and that’s Frankenstein’s monster. Del Toro loves a monster and, in a new interview, he talks about how he approached his monster differently, both visually and in his on-screen creation.

“Ever since I started drawing the creature in the late ’70s and early ’80s, I knew I didn’t want symmetric scars and I didn’t want sutures or clamps,” del Toro said to Variety. “What I thought was very interesting was to make him like a jigsaw puzzle. I wanted him to look beautiful, like a newborn thing, because a lot of times, Frankenstein steps into the frame and he looks like an accident victim. But Victor is as much an artist as he is a surgeon, so the cuts had to make aesthetic sense. I always thought about him as made of alabaster. I never understood something about the other versions: why does Victor use so many pieces from so many bodies? Why doesn’t he just resurrect a guy who had a heart attack? And the answer for me was, what if the bodies come from a battlefield? Then he needs to find a way to bring the corpses together in a harmonious way.”

What does that all mean? We aren’t quite sure, but it sounds absolutely fascinating. Equally fascinating is del Toro talking about his choice to actually show Dr. Frankenstein make the creature. “Almost nobody shows the creation of the monster,” he said. “Everybody shows thunder, and the monster is already put together. And I thought, if you are following a rock star, you want to shoot the concert. So instead of making it horrible that he is putting all these things together from bodies, I made it into a waltz. I made it into a joyous fun, sort of crazy concert. He’s running around the lab, putting this body together, grabbing this part and placing it together here or there.”

Look, if the image of Oscar Isaac in posh Victorian-era clothes dancing around a lab creating an alabaster monster out of dead bodies doesn’t do it for you, why are you reading this website?

Frankenstein will have “the biggest theatrical release that Netflix gives its films,” according to del Toro, starting on October 17. It’ll be in theaters for at least three weeks and, eventually, will even get a physical media release. But, for most people, they’ll see it on Netflix starting November 7. Read more from the filmmaker about his love of the source material, his alternate plans for the movie, and more over at Variety.

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