Lisa Frankenstein is heading to theaters next month, and it is set to star Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania‘s Kathryn Newton and Riverdale‘s Cole Sprouse. The movie follows an unpopular high schooler (Newton) in the 1980s who accidentally re-animates a Victorian corpse (Sprouse). The film was written by Diablo Cody (Juno, Jennifer’s Body) and marks the feature-length directorial debut of Zelda Williams. ComicBook.com recently had the chance to chat with Cody and Williams, who spoke about the other films that inspired the project. During the interview, Cody also revealed one song they were unable to secure for the film.
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“Well, I really wanted ‘Right Here Waiting’ by Richard Marx to be in the movie, but we were not able to get that song. I think that song is ready for a renaissance. It was big, big emotions back then,” Cody shared.
You can watch our interview with Williams and Cody at the top of the page.
What Inspired Lisa Frankenstein?
“For me, I’m glad that you said John Hughes because Weird Science was definitely up there,” Cody told ComicBook.com‘s Chris Killian after he used Hughes as an inspiration example. “I loved that movie when I was a kid, and I also was always intrigued by the idea of, ‘What if it was the girl creating the perfect man?’ Just kind of flipping the narrative on that one a little bit. But yeah, I’m a total Hughes-head, so that was definitely up there for me.”
“It’s a bit of a tie, because I will say I’m such a John Waters stan that there’s a lot of that in here,” Williams added. “But I really did take a lot of the things that I genuinely feel inspired by from Death Becomes Her. That movie, for me, is so informative of comedy when you’re dealing with violence, especially in this ’80s setting, and the color and the vibrancy. Death Becomes Her was incredibly informative for me.”
What Is Lisa Frankenstein About?
You can read the official description for Lisa Frankenstein here: “A coming of RAGE love story from acclaimed writer Diablo Cody (Jennifer’s Body) about a misunderstood teenager and her high school crush, who happens to be a handsome corpse. After a set of playfully horrific circumstances bring him back to life, the two embark on a murderous journey to find love, happiness… and a few missing body parts along the way.”
The film stars Kathryn Newton, Cole Sprouse, Liza Soberano, Henry Eikenberry, Joe Chrest, and Carla Gugino.
Lisa Frankenstein was produced by Mason Novick and Diablo Cody, who have previously collaborated on Tully, Young Adult, Jennifer’s Body, and Juno. Jeffrey Lampert is serving as executive producer. Focus is distributing the new film in the U.S. with Universal Pictures International handling international distribution.
Lisa Frankenstein is due in theaters on February 9.
