Guillermo del Toro details Jacob Elordi’s Frankenstein monster form

Guillermo del Toro details Jacob Elordi’s Frankenstein monster form

Guillermo del Toro gave a glimpse of Jacob Elordi’s hauntingly raw monster form in the Frankenstein film.

The upcoming adaption of 1818 Mary Shelly’s novel of the same name, follows Dr Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac), a gifted yet obsessed scientist who defies the law of nature by creating life, only to be horrified by the creature he brings to the world.

In conversation with the Entertainment Weekly ahead of film’s TIFF premiere, del Toro offered an interesting preview of what Elordi’s monster looks like.

When asked if the audience will be “terrified” by it, the director quickly responded, “No.”

He went on to call Elordi’s looks as “staggeringly beautiful, in an otherworldly way,” because what he “didn’t want was the feeling that you were seeing an accident victim that has been patched [together]” in a haphazard way by Victor Frankenstein.

The Pan’s Labyrinth filmmaker explained, “Victor is as much an artist as he is a surgeon, and if he’s been dreaming about this creature for all his life, he’s going to nail it.”

He described the monster as “a new born, alabaster creature,” with scars that are “beautiful and almost aerodynamic.” And because it’s skin came “from different bodies so it has different colours. The hues are pale but almost translucent. It feels like a new born soul.”

Del Toro also shared Elordi’s thoughts on playing the creature. He said that the Wuthering Heights actor felt a deep connection with it, which added depth to his performance.

“One of the things I thought needed the most intelligence, emotionally, was to track the evolution of the creature,” del Toro said.

“[Elordi] said something to me that was touching and real: ‘This creature is more me than me, and people don’t know that, and I’m going to be able to be myself through this’,” the director said. 

“He brought a truth to this performance that’s really something to behold.”

Frankenstein will premiere for limited release in theatres on October 17 before making its way to Netflix on November 7.