Frankenstein Producer Says Guillermo del Toro Is Building His Own Monster Universe

Frankenstein producer J. Miles Dale has referred to Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming film adaptation of Mary Shelley’s gothic horror novel as the second installment in the director’s cinematic monster universe.

The acclaimed filmmaker helmed the Oscar-winning creature feature The Shape of Water, and he is now busy piecing together his next monster movie: a star-studded Frankenstein adaptation. During an interview with The Academy’s A.frame, Dale noted these two movies are part of a new monster universe.

“At one time, he was going to do the Monster Universe with Universal — Frankenstein’s Bride, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Invisible Man, The Wolf Man — and he didn’t,” Dale explained. “We feel like Shape of Water was kind of a version of a creature. So now, here he is doing his own Monster Universe.”

Del Toro has spoken about his desire to adapt Frankenstein as far back as 2008, and Dale says the director is committed to bringing a different take of Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel to the screen, one that deals with the themes of family and tap into the “deeply emotional” undercurrents of the famously tragic tale.

“In the last couple of films, certainly with Nightmare Alley and then with Pinocchio, we’ve dealt with the whole father-son relationship. And Guillermo and I both lost our fathers in the last few years. When you have a strong father figure, it’s a big part of our lives,” Dale shared. “This version of Frankenstein very much goes down that thematic road. So, I feel like this is the third film in Guillermo’s father trilogy. That’s exciting, and when you read the script, it’s very emotional and, of course, very iconic.”

A report earlier this year revealed that Andrew Garfield, Oscar Isaac, and Mia Goth are all “on board to star” in del Toro’s Frankenstein movie. Dale teased the adaptation has “a pretty good cast” but refrained from sharing further details about the roles the trio will be starring in and who may appear alongside them.

“It’s a pretty good cast,” Dale said. “We’ve had pretty good casts the last couple films. The last one was insane, frankly. I mean, that’s a pinch-me cast. And so was The Shape of Water cast. That’s another dream cast. I think there are a lot of actors that really want to work with Guillermo, and so that makes things a little bit easier. So, it should be fun. Nothing’s easy, and that one’s not going to be easy — it’s a big movie with a ship stuck in the ice and a ton of other things — but we’ve got a little bit of lead time on it, and we’re excited to get going.”

Frankenstein looks to be del Toro’s next live-action project, though first, he will co-write and direct a stop-motion adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s fantasy novel The Buried Giant for Netflix as he is keen to dedicate more time to making animated movies over live-action features going forward in his career.

Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.

Cover image credit: Tibrina Hobson / Contributor via Getty Images.