Much like Frankenstein’s monster itself, the monster at the center of Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein is a mash-up of inspirations. There’s Boris Karloff, the original and most famous Frankenstein. There’s artist Bernie Wrightson, whose illustrations of the character greatly impacted del Toro. There’s Mary Shelley, of course, whose novel the film is based on. And then there’s make-up artist Mike Hill and the actor under that make-up, Jacob Elordi, who you see above in the first official image of the character.
“What attracted me to [Elordi] was his gangliness and his wrists. It was this looseness,” Hill told Vanity Fair. “Then he has these real somber moments where he watches you really deftly, and his eyelids are low, with the long lashes like Karloff. I was like, ‘I don’t know who else you could get with a physicality like this.’ His demeanor is innocent, but it’s encompassed in a six-foot-five frame. He could really do a lot of damage if this man really wanted to be a bad guy.”
Though this Frankenstein will look unlike others we’ve seen, he’s described as being “kintsugi-like.” That’s the art of repairing pottery with gold, and it begins to give you some idea of what to expect. “When fully exposed, the creature resembles a marble statue from antiquity that has been shattered and fused back together,” the Vanity Fair piece reads.
That’s the physical. For the performance, Elordi binge-watched all of Karloff’s movies and put Wrightson’s art all over his apartment (which Isaac also did in his trailer). “I turned it into this shrine to all things that I felt pertained to the creature,” Elordi told the magazine. “Bernie’s pictures were all over the walls. Maybe when you’re asleep, or just by walking around it all, you end up soaking it in.”
Which he had to do very quickly because, mere weeks before production, Andrew Garfield—who was originally cast as the monster—had to drop out. It was a blow, but in Elordi, who is several inches taller than Garfield, the production found someone even more intimidating. “Andrew Garfield stepping out and Jacob coming in. I mean, it was like Jacob is the most perfect actor for the creature,” del Toro said. “And we have a supernaturally good connection. It’s like, very few words. Very few things I have to say, and he does it.”
For many more words on Frankenstein, including hints at the plot, characters, and more, head over to Vanity Fair. There are also a ton of new, gorgeous pictures there too. The film comes to Netflix in November.
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