One of the fall’s most anticipated films comes from visionary filmmaker and outspoken opponent of artificial intelligence, Guillermo del Toro. It’s a new imagining of the classic monster tale Frankenstein, pulling from Mary Shelley’s tale of an arrogant scientist who creates life, and in turn, facilitates both his and his creation’s ruin. Along with the Academy Award-winning director at the helm, Frankenstein stars Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi as his creation. While the parallels between Frankenstein and the current proliferation of AI feel timely and easy to draw, del Toro was quick to dismiss his upcoming monster movie as a cautionary tale against the technology.
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“It’s not intended as a metaphor for that,” del Toro clarified at a press conference for the film at the Venice Film Festival via Variety. “We live in a time of terror and intimidation, certainly. And there’s no more urgent task than to remain, in a time where everything is pushing towards a bipolar, understanding of our humanity. The movie tries to show imperfect characters and the right we have to remain imperfect, and the right we have to understand each other under the most oppressive circumstances.”
Del Toro went on to explain that his take on Frankenstein is more a complex, layered albeit wholly unconventional family drama. Isaac seemed to second that notion when he shared an anecdote about he became involved with the film, “I can’t believe that I’m here right now. I can’t believe we got to this place from two years ago, sitting at [del Toro’s] table eating Cuban pork and talking about our fathers and our lives, to him saying, ‘I want you to be Victor.’”
The Frankenstein Metaphor is Unmissable, Despite del Toro’s Claims
Though del Toro may maintain that his Frankenstein isn’t about artificial intelligence (“I’m not afraid of artificial intelligence. I’m afraid of natural stupidity,” he cracked during the press conference), the filmmaker’s lush adaptation of Shelley’s novel will likely serve as a chilling metaphor for the rapidly advancing technology nonetheless. Victor Frankenstein’s use, or perhaps misuse, of science to achieve his means feels all too relevant as we witness tech giants invest more and more into AI, seemingly to blatantly ignore the stunning environmental cost the technology takes along with the reports of AI-induced psychosis that have begun to emerge. Frankenstein is ultimately a tale of unchecked hubris, and it’s hard not to graph it onto the world around us.
Though a filmmaker’s intentions are, of course, valid, ultimately, we’ll have to wait and see for what audiences see and take away from the film when it debuts next month. Frankenstein will have a limited three-week run in theaters starting October 17th before hitting Netflix on November 7th.
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Image Courtesy of Netflix -
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Image Courtesy of Netflix
