Guillermo del Toro doesn’t just direct monsters. He understands them.
Oscar-winning Oater, the Oscar-winning man behind “The Shape of Water” (2017) and “Pan’s Labyrinth” (2006), has elevated his career and built up genre films through misunderstood stories of outsiders. However, his much-anticipated adaptation of “Frankenstein” has brought the Mexican filmmaker back to what he calls his creative origins.
“For me, it was “Frankenstein,” Del Toro tells Variety. “This is not a monster movie. It’s a story about the meaning of being human.”
Del Toro’s view of Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel is not fear in the traditional sense. It is mythology, palpor, opera. Decades after development, “Frankenstein” eventually showed off his rap curiosity at the Venice Film Festival, followed by two sold-out surprise screenings at Telluride. Now we have arrived in Toronto, where a vast visual language and emotional core will be fully exhibited for North American audiences.
The film stars Oscar Isaac as Dr. Victor Frankenstein, Jacob Elordi, creature, Christophe Waltz in a mysterious support role, and Mia Goth in a secret performance. Together, they pin down what del Toro calls “a Gothic Rock Concert about Solitary.”
“It’s intimate and epic at the same time,” he says. “I had to feel that sadness, love and anger all existed together.”
At the heart of “Frankenstein” is Erorudi’s transformational performance as a creature. It is hardly recognizable under the elaborate prosthetics of the film.
“One of the things I like about this creature is that he is like a child, especially when he was first born,” says Del Toro. “He is instantly discovering the world.”
Del Toro describes Erorudi’s movement as having “Barreck Grace.” This is a physicality that reflects the director’s belief in monsters as a terrifying being, as a beauty presence.
But Erorudi’s quiet presence drives an emotional arc, but it is Isaac’s Victor Frankenstein who adds the film’s volatile pulse.
“In terms of scope, (Isaac) can do it in his career. “He brings this rage, this guilt, this insanity. It gives the film a heartbeat.”
Del Toro has been trying to make “Frankenstein” for much of his career. Why now?
“I’ve been chasing creatures since I was a child,” he says. “I was waiting for the film to take place on the right terms, in terms of achieving the scope of creatively and making it different. To make it on a scale that can reconstruct the whole world.”
That world definitely belongs to Del Toro. From production design and make-up to Alexandre Desplatt’s elegant score, the film’s craft has already attracted awards.
“The film doesn’t pull punches,” says Del Toro. “There is atrocities to it, but there is grace too. And that’s the point – that both can exist in the same body.”
Still, the receptions are mixed. Split the 81% score for rotten tomatoes and the reaction from Venice and Telluride Miller, and what happened in Dello’s “Nightmare Alley” (2021). The film is considered a box-office runoff, but it still has earned four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. Frankenstein can follow a similar path.
Netflix has already placed this year as one of the leading award nominees alongside Noah Baumbach’s “Jay Kelly” and Kathryn Bigelow’s “A House of Dynamics.” With its rich aesthetics and live performance, “Frankenstein” could have a powerful show in a variety of artisan races.
He never disappoints the “schizoid” nature of his film. To ensure that he is not crippled when one of his many ideas is not green light by the studio.
“I wrote 30 scripts and made 13 films,” says Del Toro. “When the film doesn’t move forward, I tell the team, ‘It was a good practice.’ And ultimately, if I had to make it, it’s only 13 films, which many other people can make in their lifetimes. ”
Derrlo’s artistic generosity coincides with his deep loyalty to the filmmaking community.
“If (young filmmakers) need three days from me to watch the film and give feedback, I’ll give them that,” he says. “Every Sunday, me and many of my colleagues come together to draw. There’s no talk about the industry. I just paint. I make quesadillas. That community is essential to the survival of our business.”
His generosity, along with his cinematic vision, made him one of Hollywood’s most beloved figures. Something that forceful public relations officers can’t buy you in this town.
“Frankenstein” is a story that was created and discarded. Anger born from abandonment. But it is also strange about the possibility of love in a world that refuses to give it.
“People think monsters are scary,” says Del Toro. “But they’re just trying to survive in a world that doesn’t love them.”
Like the amphibians of the ghost children of The Shape of Water and The Devil’s Backbone, the creatures are terrifyingly soft and tragic figures wrapped in sight.
And perhaps, like its maker, this monster may eventually find the love it deserves.
“Frankenstein” will premiere at the Toronto Film Festival on Monday, September 8th.
