Bill Condon on how his Bride of Frankenstein will subvert the original

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Earlier today we learned just when production on Bill Condon's BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN will begin, as well as finding out that Angelina Jolie, whose name has been kicking around in regards to the title role for quite some time, hasn't yet been confirmed to star. While speaking with Collider, Condon added a few more details about the upcoming project, including how he plans on honouring James Whale's original film as well as turning it on its head. If you've seen the original BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, you'll know that the titular Bride doesn't actually show up until the final minutes, but Bill Condon obviously plans on giving us much more of the Bride in his remake.

What I love about David Koepp’s script is he turns everything on its head. This is Eve before Adam, the bride comes first. So in its own way — you know, we all know the Bride only exists for 10 minutes in the Whale movie; she’s there and the movie’s over. So I keep thinking [it’s], in a way, at least a tribute to what Whale might have done if he’d made a third Frankenstein movie and he’d done it in the 21st Century. I think there are just things about the sensibility of that movie. Also his genius in solving that basic problem you still see when people approach monster movies now, which is you’ve got to create a monster that you’re afraid of, that you’re terrified of, but you can still identify with, and that line was never walked better than by James Whale.

I'm a huge fan of the Universal Monster movies, so the studio's plan to revamp their iconic monsters and place them in a shared cinematic universe, dubbed Dark Universe, left me somewhat nervous. Unfortunately, the recent failure of THE MUMMY did little to put me at ease, but Bill Condon says that when it comes to his film, the whole shared universe concept isn't a priority. "I will tell you this — what I’m doing is 100% making a really good monster movie. It has nothing to do with anything else. Nothing. Zero." Perhaps part of that statement is just an attempt to distance the film from the disappointment of THE MUMMY, but Condon also feels a lot of responsibility to get BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN right.

The movie is obviously in the pantheon for so many people and I’m one of them. I love that film so much. So I do feel again that responsibility I felt to Dreamgirls, the one I felt to Beauty and the Beast, I feel the same response to what Whale created.

BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN is set for a February 14, 2019 release.