Guillermo del Toro is afraid to make Frankenstein; Universal wants him to

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Is Guillermo del Toro any closer to making his dream project, an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s FRANKENSTEIN? We’ve heard for years how it’s one (of several) potential features for the busy director, but it always seems to retrieve the back-burner treatment. But today we learn there might be an intriguing reason for the delay: he’s afraid!

Yes, what really scares Guillermo del Toro is the prospect of making a film based on his favorite all-time book, even though, according to him, Universal Pictures’ chairperson Donna Langley is very interested in having him do it.

Via Collider:

I would love to. I mean, look, I would love to do Frankenstein and Bride, or Frankenstein for sure, but it really, Frankenstein has been—I’ve been really, really, afraid. Donna [Langley] has approached me a few times to start it now and I’m always like, you know, it’s like the dream project so I’m a little, I’m a chicken shit, you know? When I do it, I need to do it. Like, if I do Frankenstein, I literally would stop everything, and I’m going to a sabbatical of three years, just to write that. It’s not something that’s gonna just flow, like second nature. It’s my favorite book in history. [Laughs]”

A new wrinkle has just been added to this, of course: Yesterday it was announced Universal is relaunching its entire catalogue of classic monster movies. Could the inevitable FRANKENSTEIN reboot by done with a del Toro touch? (And would Benedict Cumberbatch – pictured below – be along for the ride?)