Jacob Elordi is replacing Andrew Garfield as the monster in Guillermo del Toro’s forthcoming Frankenstein film, according to a report in Deadline. He will star opposite Oscar Isaac as the titular character (who, as pedants everywhere love to remind people, is not the monster, but the scientist who creates him.) The cast will also include Christopher Waltz (Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained) and A24 scream queen Mia Goth (Pearl, Infinity Room).
Most people will be familiar with the basic story of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the 1818 novel on which the film is based, and which Del Toro has previously described as “the most important book of [his] life”: Victor Frankenstein creates a monster using electricity and old body parts, which – having been rejected by a cruel world – turns against him and destroys his life.
As a parable about scientific hubris and the danger of playing God, the story could have a new relevance in the current moment, which is wrought with anxieties about the reckless development of AI – Sam Altman, take note! Details about the story are still to be confirmed, but we can expect Del Toro to bring his own unique spin (from Hell Boy to The Shape of Water, his films are nothing if not sympathetic towards monstrous characters.)
Standing at 6”5 feet tall, Jacob Elordi is perfectly suited to play the monster (who, in the original novel, is a whopping 8 feet). Is he too handsome for a character who is supposed to inspire revulsion? Maybe, but the same could be said for Boris Karloff, who played the definite Frankenstein back in the 1930s and was quite dishy in his time. And looks aside, can the monster really be any more evil than Nate Jacobs?
The release date is yet to be announced, but according to Collider, the film – which is a Netflix production – can be expected at some point around late 2025.
