Guillermo Del Toro’s ‘Frankenstein’ is Still Alive

There are few directors out there who have as much on their plate as Guillermo Del Toro. The renowned director has his new film “Pacific Rim” releasing next year, he’s working on the planned TV show that will feature the Incredible Hulk, there’s still hope for a third “Hellboy” and he spent more than a little time on his failed adaptation of “At the Mountains of Madness.” In addition to his numerous directing projects he continues to produce a fairly steady stream of horror projects and has even had his hands in novels and video games.

An interview with Shock Till You Drop gave some details on Del Toro’s long rumored Frankenstein project. Along with an adaptation of Tarzan, which Del Toro actually references obliquely in the interview, this is a project that the director has been associated with for quite some time with no real details. It’s been labeled as a dream project for him but there had never been much indication that anything was actually moving forward. Now in the interview Del Toro states that Donna Langley of Universal Studios has “put us on track to write the screenplay.”

This would been an indication that Universal not only is interested in what Del Toro has in mind for the famous monster story but also would like it sooner rather than later. It’s certainly no secret how many projects Del Toro is attached to in various capacities. That’s probably what prompted Langley to give him a nudge in regards to getting a script written. That said it’s not something fans should expect anytime soon. Del Toro himself indicates that he expects to need several years to finalize a script that he’ll be ready to shoot.

Frankenstein’s monster is one of the most iconic creatures in both literature and cinema and has been adapted numerous times. The most famous version remains the black and white “Frankenstein” and “The Bride of Frankenstein” directed by James Whale. Del Toro emphasizes in the interview how adaptable the story and the monster are, how it can be set in nearly any time period and the monster can be made to represent almost anything. This indicates that Del Toro is at least considering some fairly non-traditional options in telling this story rather than maintaining the usual Victorian setting that the monster is most strongly associated with. Of course so much can change in the amount of time it will take to write the script and that is still some time off.