Mary Shelley’s estate is probably laughing all the way to the bank. The celebrated author’s gothic horror, Frankenstein, is a noted literary classic. And we all know what happens to popular novels. Yes, they wind up on the school curriculum. But more pertinently – they’re adapted for the big screen. Kenneth Branagh’s version flopped like a beached whale, even if some of its sequences were worthy of a punchier script. This year’s action horror reimagining, I, Frankenstein, didn’t fare much better either.
So, let’s see if the man whose 1992 chiller Candyman made everyone terrified of coat hooks, Bernard Rose, can finally get it right. Aye aye, kiddies, there’s gonna be another big-screen adaptation – and it’s just landed a leading man-ster.
Noted for his role as Riley Biers in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Xavier Samuel has signed on to star in the re-imagined frightfest as Frankenstein’s monster. Set in modern day Los Angeles, Rose’s take on Shelley’s beastly tale will adopt the perspective of the monster, who will be “met with nothing but aggression and violence from the world around him.” Aw, it’s been too long since we’ve had a hideous creature to root for (Miss you, Cloverfield.) Danny Huston and Carrie Anne Moss will play a married pair of nutty scientists, Victor and Elizabeth Frankenstein, with Candyman himself, Tony Todd secured for a role.
Rose is producing the flick alongside Jennifer Holiday Morrison, under their recently-formed Bad Badger production outfit, and Heidi Jo Markel, under her Eclectic Pictures banner. I quite like the sound of that, and am hoping the film is a hit so that we’re at least given the chance to see a naughty TB-ridden menace in an imaginative logo screen.
But wait – isn’t there already another Frankenstein in the works, you ask? Yes, yes there is! And they’re two un-related projects. Slated for release in October 2015, Paul McGuigan’s version is based on a script by Max Landis that’s alleged to remain loyal to the style of the book. Filming on the flick is reportedly finished, with James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe co-starring as Victor Frankenstein and Igor respectively.
We’ll keep you posted with more news on Rose’s version of Frankenstein as it’s announced.
