Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein Gets Filming, Cast Update

Guillermo del Toro won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature earlier this year for his version of Pinocchio, and now fans of the director are eagerly awaiting his next project. Earlier this year, it was announced that he would be making his own version of Frankenstein and that Moon Knight‘s Oscar Isaac, Spider-Man actor Andrew Garfield, and Pearl star Mia Goth were all in talks to star in the project. This week, Collider shared another exciting update. It looks like Oscar-winner Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) will be a part of the star-studded cast, and the film is set to go into production in February. 

“I’m doing Frankenstein,” Del Toro told the outlet while chatting about the 10th anniversary of Pacific Rim. “We’re working on it. We start shooting in February, and it’s a movie I have been wanting to do for 50 years since I saw the first Frankenstein. I had an epiphany, and it’s basically a movie that required a lot of growth and a lot of tools that I couldn’t have done 10 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.”

This will mark the second time Waltz and Del Toro have worked together after the actor voiced Count Volpe in Pinocchio. Currently, it is unknown who he will be playing in Frankenstein. 

Frankenstein Producer Teases Project: 

Earlier this year, producer J. Miles Dale spoke with The Academy’s A.frame and explained why Del Toro is the perfect person to tackle the iconic monster.

 “At one time, he was going to do the Monster Universe with Universal — Frankenstein’s Bride, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Invisible Man, The Wolf Man — and he didn’t,” Dale explained. “We feel like Shape of Water was kind of a version of a creature. So now, here he is doing his own Monster Universe.”

“In the last couple of films, certainly with Nightmare Alley and then with Pinocchio, we’ve dealt with the whole father-son relationship. And Guillermo and I both lost our fathers in the last few years. When you have a strong father figure, it’s a big part of our lives,” Dale continued. “This version of Frankenstein very much goes down that thematic road. So, I feel like this is the third film in Guillermo’s father trilogy. That’s exciting, and when you read the script, it’s very emotional and, of course, very iconic.”

“It’s a pretty good cast,” Dale concluded. “We’ve had pretty good casts the last couple films. The last one was insane, frankly. I mean, that’s a pinch-me cast. And so was The Shape of Water cast. That’s another dream cast. I think there are a lot of actors that really want to work with Guillermo, and so that makes things a little bit easier. So, it should be fun. Nothing’s easy, and that one’s not going to be easy — it’s a big movie with a ship stuck in the ice and a ton of other things — but we’ve got a little bit of lead time on it, and we’re excited to get going.”

Stay tuned for more updates about Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein.