Guillermo del Toro has shared the personal trauma that helped inspire and inform the creation of his latest horror film, Frankenstein. The Academy Award-winning director behind The Shape of Water and Nightmare Alley opened up about the real-life incident, which involved his father and, decades later, shaped his adaptation of the classic by Mary Shelley.
The director was present at the Toronto International Film Festival, where he spoke to Entertainment Weekly. During the conversation, he revealed that a traumatic incident involving his father, Federico, inspired some of the themes in the film. Federico del Toro was kidnapped in Mexico in the late ’90s, and after the family paid the ransom, he was eventually released. Del Toro reflected on the crime:
“My father was kidnapped in ’98, and when he came back, he didn’t talk about it. And then before he passed, I said, ‘We have to sit down, and you got to tell me what happened.’ That was very important for me to understand the man.
“What you realize is a grudge takes two prisoners and forgiveness liberates two people. I thought I could make the movie, but then I went, ‘No, thank God it didn’t happen until now.'”
Although del Toro is known for making movies with fantastical overtones, he’s always incorporated real-life themes into them in some way; for example, the trauma of war in The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth, or aging in Cronos. When explaining his latest film, he commented on the differences between drama in movies and in real life:
“Every time you have drama on film is great. Every time you have drama in your life, it’s coming from a false understanding of life. Either you think you deserve more or you don’t deserve this. And the word ‘deserve’ has nothing to do with living. It just is. And the movie tries to show those things.”
Frankenstein is based on the 1818 classic Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, which has been adapted numerous times. Del Toro directed a star-studded cast that includes Jacob Elordi as the monster and Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein; other performers include Mia Goth, David Bradley, Charles Dance, Ralph Ineson, and Christoph Waltz. The film is set for a limited theatrical release starting October 17, and will stream on Netflix starting November 7.
Jacob Elordi on the Relief of Playing Frankenstein’s Monster
Jacob Elordi is the latest Hollywood star to play the infamous monster created by Dr. Victor Frankenstein. To play the part, he had to undergo extensive makeup and prosthetics to achieve the look del Toro envisioned. While present at TIFF, Elordi shared the personal experience of seeing himself as the monster:
“It was honestly so relieving. It was so relieving to get out of being myself for a second and to be able to do something so completely different. I recommend everyone tries it.”
