David Koepp says there’s still life in Bride of Frankenstein

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

There aren't many franchises out there which crashed and burned with the speed of the Dark Universe, but thankfully, the Universal Monsters will live on thanks to the critical and commercial success of Leigh Whannell's THE INVISIBLE MAN. There were a variety of Universal Monster projects in the works before THE MUMMY burned everything to the ground, one of which was a remake of BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN. At the time, Bill Condon (BEAUTY AND THE BEAST) was slated to direct from a script by David Koepp (STIR OF ECHOS), with Angelina Jolie (THE ETERNALS) rumoured to play the role of the Bride.

Production on this incarnation of BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN was close to kicking off production before the project was shelved, but it seems that there's still life in the project yet. While speaking with Collider recently, David Koepp revealed that he's been using the COVID-19 quarantine to take another stab at BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, and that Universal is back onboard.

That was one thing I did during quarantine – I brought back Bride of Frankenstein into a place where I kind of always wanted it to be. Universal was very gracious to let me try again. Because they had geared up and shut down famously in the Dark Universe fiasco. Well, not fiasco, but disappointment. So I have a version now and they have a version that we all really like. I think they’re talking to directors now.

Before Bill Condon's BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN was shelved, it was likely to be somewhere in the realm of the budget of THE MUMMY, but THE INVISIBLE MAN showed that these types of stories don't need to be lavish affairs. "It’s not the great big, $150 million extravaganza with giant movie stars," Koepp said. "It’s not as scaled down as Invisible Man but much more reasonable, doable thing, with, I think, a really cool idea and it’s all present day." In addition to BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, there are several other Universal Monster projects in the works, including a remake of DRACULA from Karyn Kusama (DESTROYER)