Frankenstein by Guillermo Del Toro is the highly anticipated Netflix gothic movie of November, starring Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi. If there’s one thing del Toro specialises in, it’s gothic horror – and what better a story to reimagine than the age-old classic itself? Elordi only had four weeks to prep for his role as the reanimated Creature, telling Collider’s Steve Weintraub:
I had about four weeks to get ready for it. It’s hard to talk about putting your whole self into something, so I can give you the physical things that I did. I found this big old book, and I basically constructed this tome of a book as the creature.
Everything in my life, everything in my day, everything that I was eating or doing, every conversation I was having was sort of filtered through the lens of this creature.
And somehow I got to the end of the experience, and this book was full, and I didn’t remember a lot of it. It was like a fugue state, so much of it.
The legendary actor Heath Ledger also took to maintaining a diary to get into the mind of the Joker for The Dark Knight, so it’s not surprising that an actor would need an external source to outpour villainous thoughts. This seemingly was not the end of Jacob Elrodi’s journey to becoming Frankenstein’s Creature.
Jacob Elordi Completely Reinvented Himself to Play Frankenstein’s Creature
Jacob Elordi told Collider that he is a big fan of Guillermo Del Toro’s work, adding that he knew what kind of world he was getting into. Elordi said that he was at a time in his life where he needed to “excavate” his soul a bit, which was perfect when Frankenstein came knocking at his door. Elordi elaborated:
I was howling at the moon in so many ways… [the film] was just like a complete reinvention as a performer and as a human being. Because that’s what you have to bring, [to Isaac] as you would know, when Guillermo says, “Will you do this thing?” It’s not the time to sit back. It’s the time to fully fall into the thing.
Jacob Elordi would go on to dedicate his entire life to the film till its completion, and is still piecing himself back together from the experience. This type of experience actually went to another star before he had to exit the film and was replaced by Elordi.
We Almost Had an Andrew Garfield Frankenstein Movie
The Spider-Man veteran Andrew Garfield was originally cast as Frankenstein’s Creature, alongside Oscar Isaac and Mia Goth. Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts created by the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, he had to drop out of the Netflix project.
Garfield’s departure from the film created a ruckus, putting pressure on del Toro since he and his makeup artist Mike Hill had already spent nine months designing the monster based on the actor’s likeness. Andrew Garfield stated in the interview with Deadline :
I’m, of course, disappointed that I didn’t get to do it because I love Guillermo and I love Oscar [Isaac] and everyone that he assembled. But meeting Jacob felt really serendipitous so that I could really see and hear that, ‘No, maybe he needed that experience more than me.’ That was cool, to feel that he had a really spectacular time on that job.
Here are more details about the upcoming Frankenstein movie that is based on Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel of the same name.
Are you excited for the Netflix release of Frankenstein? Let us know in the comments.
Frankenstein will release on November 7, 2025, on Netflix in the U.S.
