As Dracula recently discovered twice in quick succession through Renfield and The Last Voyage of the Demeter, being one of the most heavily-adapted and iconic public domain characters in all of horror comes with its pitfalls, but based on nothing but the sheer level of talent involved, it would be fair to assume that Netflix’s Frankenstein won’t be falling into the same traps.
The legendary monster is never away from the big screen for too long, but when that comes as part of repeated disappointments including Van Helsing, Victor Frankenstein, and I, Frankenstein to name but three recent examples, the literary creation arguably hasn’t been done proper justice in a feature-length setting since Kenneth Branagh’s camp classic Gothic favorite from way back in 1994.
This time around, Frankenstein carries the bottomless pockets of Netflix funding production and three-time Academy Award winner Guillermo del Toro in the director’s chair, with the cast comprising of Andrew Garfield, Oscar Isaac, and Mia Goth. That being said, the ensemble just got another massive boost, after del Toro revealed to Collider that two-time Oscar winner Christoph Waltz is on board.
“I’m doing Frankenstein. We’re working on it. We start shooting in February, and it’s a movie I have been wanting to do for 50 years since I saw the first Frankenstein.I had an epiphany, and it’s basically a movie that required a lot of growth and a lot of tools that I couldn’t have done 10 years ago. Now I’m brave or crazy enough or something, and we’re gonna tackle it. It’s Oscar Isaac, Andrew Garfield, Christoph Waltz, Mia Goth, and we’re working on it.”
Mouthwatering doesn’t even begin to cover it, and while specifics haven’t been revealed, you can’t help but think Waltz is perfect for the scientist who brought his creature to life, or is that too obvious?