Guillermo del Toro Won’t Go Topless for ‘Frankenstein’

Posted by Dr. Cole Abaius (cole.abaius@filmschoolrejects.com) on October 6, 2008

Since we here at FSR have the uncanny ability to predict the news cycle, we put the spotlight on the 1931 classic Frankenstein as part of our 31 Days of Horror and our weekly Old Ass Movies Feature. Turns out that just last night, fanboy favorite Guillermo del Toro was discussing his adaptation of the literary classic in front of a DGA crowd in New York City.

Comingsoon.net reports that the director talked in detail about the creative process he’s engaged in to create the world of his “Hobbit” adaptation, discussed his obsession with dragons, and revealed some info on his take on the classic, lumbering monster:

I’m not doing ‘Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.’ I’m doing an adventure story that involves the creature. I cannot say much, but it’s not the central creation story. I’m not worried about that. The fact is I’ve been dreaming of doing a ‘Frankenstein’ movie since I was a child. The one thing I can promise is, compared to Kenneth Branagh, I will not appear shirtless in the movie!

That’s right. Guillermo del Toro refuses to get nude from the waist up for the film. What he doesn’t refuse to do, is to quit working. The guy has over 39,000 film projects between now and 2015. While that may or may not be a slight exaggeration, with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, At the Mountains of Madness, several Hobbit films and this Frankenstein adaptation, the man is busy.

It might be sacrilege, but I’ll admit I have some mixed feelings about this one. I’m torn. So I decided to list some pros and cons.

Cons

1. The original is a classic that’s untouchable.

2. Do we really want an adventure story with Frankenstein?

3. The 1994 attempt at an adaptation was, erm, not that great.

4. Boris Karloff is a genius, and it’s unclear as to whether Doug Jones (who is probably del Toro’s only choice for the monster) would live up to that dynamic.

Pros

1. It’s Guillermo del Toro.

What do you think? Are you excited to see what Guillermo del Toro can do with Frankenstein’s monster? Will his refusal to take it all off for art doom the project to failure? Will he at least direct shirtless?


Read more articles by Dr. Cole Abaius

« Previous Article | Next Article »

Related Topics:

In Development, , , , , ,

Related Reading:

Your Ad Here

Comment Policy: No hate speech allowed. If you must argue, please debate intelligently. Comments containing selected keywords or outbound links will be put into moderation to help prevent spam. Film School Rejects reserves the right to delete comments and ban anyone who doesn't follow the rules. We also reserve the right to modify any curse words in your comments and make you look like an idiot. Thank You!

  • David G
    Del Toro! Of course he'll do great. Just imagine what he has in mind for a Frankenstein!! Wait! We cant, thats why hes doing the film and not US. I have no idea what he'll makethe monster look like but he hasnt let us down so far, huh? I cant wait and love that hes doing this. He never said he was doin a Frankenstein movie, in fact he said he wasnt. Its another movie where the Monster is a character in. But which movie is it? Hmm. Oh, and I agree that no one will ever touch Shelley's Monster of course. That would just be blasphemy.
  • Chris
    "4. Bela Lugois is a genius, and it’s unclear as to whether Doug Jones (who is probably del Toro’s only choice for the monster) would live up to that dynamic."

    Don't you mean Boris Karloff?
  • @ Chris.....wow, yes.

    Congratulations. That's the first mistake I've ever made. Ever. In life.

    Well done.
  • The funny part about that gaff is that Cole just wrote an entire article about Karloff as Frankenstein over the weekend... It makes me giggle.
  • I don't care for you, Neil Miller.

    I'm boycotting FSR from now on. And the internet. And bathing.
  • And, for the record, I will be going topless for Frankenstein.
blog comments powered by Disqus