Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein adaptation was ‘hauntingly beautiful’

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Genre filmmaker Guillermo del Toro has a long list of projects we wish we could see, but they haven't made it into production yet. One of the most famous of those is the H.P. Lovecraft adaptation AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS, which fell apart even with Tom Cruise signed on to star in it and James Cameron producing. Another "lost film" of del Toro's is an adaptation of Mary Shelley's FRANKENSTEIN, a project that nearly happened at Universal around ten years ago.

Del Toro's frequent collaborator Doug Jones – who has delivered creature performances in most of the director's films, and would have played Frankenstein's Monster in del Toro's version of the story – recently sat down for an interview with Collider, and during the conversation, he revealed that FRANKENSTEIN made it deep enough into pre-production that he was able to see a bust of the monster design. A design that was inspired by Bernie Wrightson's artwork in an illustrated adaptation of Shelley's novel that Wrightson spent seven years working on.

Jones said, 

My first thought is that I’m not the big, broad, big-boned lumbering Frankenstein that you have in mind. But it was told to me, Guillermo is a big fan of Bernie Wrightson, and a friend of Bernie Wrightson, and Bernie had illustrated a version of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and all of the images of Frankenstein’s monster in that, that’s what he was going to pattern my look after. Which was more emaciated, little skinnier, little more pathetic looking. And yet, had an unnatural physical prowess, an unnatural athleticness to him. He was sewn together with spare parts of a couple different bodies. Very bony face, long, stringy, drawn hair.
 
I never went through a makeup test myself for it. But I did go to the creature shop, Spectral Motion, who was developing the look for him at the time… I was there for something else, and Mike Elizalde, the owner of the shop, said ‘I gotta show you something’. Then he unveiled a head and shoulders bust of me with this monster makeup built on it. It was like, honestly, my eyes welled up. It was so hauntingly beautiful, and it did pay reverence to Bernie Wrightson’s artwork and gave you a different-looking Frankenstein’s monster than what you’re used to."

Jones guesses that del Toro's FRANKENSTEIN didn't happen because Universal shifted their focus to developing the Dark Universe, but I'm not sure the timing is right for that if this was back in 2010. Regardless, FRANKENSTEIN didn't go into production, and Jones hasn't heard anything more about its chances since then. If it does end up going forward, Jones would still love to play Frankenstein's Monster for del Toro.

Just four months ago, during the online Comic-Con event, del Toro said that his dream projects are AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS and a "two or three" film adaptation of Shelley's FRANKENSTEIN, so maybe it will still happen someday.