![Guillermo Del Toro Wanted To Make ‘Frankenstein’ As 2 Movies, Says Netflix Is Giving It Its Biggest Theatrical Release [Ned]](https://cdn.theplaylist.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/21084628/Guillermo-Del-Toro-Frankenstein.jpg "Guillermo Del Toro Wanted To Make ‘Frankenstein’ As 2 Movies, Says Netflix Is Giving It Its Biggest Theatrical Release [Ned]")
After wanting to adapt Mary Shelley‘s novel into a film his entire career, Guillermo Del Toro has finally done so, and his “Frankenstein” will premiere at the Venice Film Festival on August 30. And Del Toro’s “Frankenstein”will be an epic in more ways than one . Not only did Netflix provide the director an $120 million budget to make the picture, but the streamer will also give the film its longest theatrical run ever: three weeks, starting on October 17; then Frankenstein streams exclusively on Netflix on November 7.
Del Toro confirmed the theatrical release window in a new interview with Variety. “Well, we will get the biggest theatrical release that Netflix gives its films,” said the director. “I don’t know the exact number, but it’s three weeks exclusively and then it can stay in theaters longer.” Del Toro also confirmed that Netflix will also release “Frankenstein” on physical media, like they did with his 2022 stop-motion film, “Pinocchio.” “The theatrical experience is very important, I believe in it,” continued Del Toro. “But if the choice is between being able to make the movie and have portions of the release be theatrical and portions be streaming or not make the movie, that’s an easy decision to make. For a filmmaker, you want to tell your stories.”
And Netflix’s budget allowed Del Toro to tell his version of “Frankenstein” in a grandiose way. “It took around 120 days and cost around $120 million,” said the director about shooting the film, and he hopes the finished product looks even more expensive than that. “Whatever budget I get, I always say it should look like it cost double. “The Shape of Water” was made for $19.3 million, and I wanted it to look like a $50 million movie. “Pacific Rim,” which cost $190 million, I wanted it to look like $400 million. I think it is my fiduciary duty as a producer, and my artistic duty as a director, to have my ambitions always exceed the budget.”
But Del Toro also wanted to make sure his “Frankenstein” budget went mostly into practical effects. “It’s extremely important for me to keep the reality of film craft alive,” he continued. “I want real sets. I don’t want digital. I don’t want AI. I don’t want simulation. I want old fashioned craftsmanship. I want people painting, building, hammering, plastering. I go in and paint props myself. I supervise the construction of the sets. There is an operatic beauty when you build everything by hand. You feel that you being swept along by the work of hundreds of people.”
Del Toro did adjust his initial narrative vision of “Frankenstein,” however. “No, I didn’t think about it as a miniseries,” he corrected the interviewer, but “Ithought about it as two movies. I originally wanted to make the same movie from two points of view and sort of contradict what you had seen in the first movie with the second one. But I decided it was much better to have a movie where there’s a hinge moment shortly after the creation, where the perspective shifts and you follow the creature in his travels after following Victor for the first part.”
Oscar Isaac plays Victor Frankenstein in Del Toro’s film, an ambitious scientist obsessed with the creation of life, ultimately creating a monster he rejects with tragic consequences. Del Toro desribed Isaac’s Victor as a “a Byronic rock star” and patterned his costumes over late ’60s/early ’70s London fashion trends. “He can be seductive,” Del Toro said of the character, “and he has a feline way of moving around that makes you understand how he could attract financial backers for his experiments.” Meanwhile, Jacob Elordi plays Frankenstein’s monster, who Del Toro cast after Andrew Garfield had to drop out of the picture. “Jacob’s eyes are so full of humanity. I cast him because of his eyes,” Del Toro said of the actor, who he decided to cast after watching Emerald Fennell‘s “Saltburn.” “Frankenstein” also stars Mia Goth and Christoph Waltz.
With a Venice world premiere, a hefty budget, and its biggest theatrical rollout to date, Netflix is betting big on Guillermo Del Toro’s “Frankenstein.” Will it pay off? Cinephiles will get an early scouting report on the film after reviews from the Lido trickle out on August 30, but general audiences won’t get to decide for themselves until it hits theaters on October 17.
