New Delhi, Oscar winner Guillermo del Toro says everything he has done so far has led him towards “Frankenstein”. As the filmmaker sees it, the much-discussed tale of a scientist and the monster he creates is set in the 19th century, but it’s about today and its many realities.
The horrors of war, the arrogance of science over human emotions, the inability to listen to other points of view… del Toro’s dream project based on Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s 1818 novel sheds light on it all.
“It’s a very true film to me and it’s about today. If you think about where we are as a society, because of the role of women in society, the devastation of war, the need for massive emotional restructuring of our brains, those things were true in 1818, and they’re still true now,” the Mexican American director told PTI in a Zoom interview.
He said, “We have the arrogance of science over human emotions. Totally present. There’s the stupidity of people who believe they can cross the boundaries of humanism and turn to transhumanism. That’s again a very current thing. And the inability to listen to another’s point of view. Check. Again, about today. I think horror as a genre is great, reflecting the times in which it formed. Is.”
Del Toro, known for films such as “Pan’s Labyrinth”, “Crimson Peak”, “Pacific Rim”, “Hellboy”, “The Shape of Water” and “Pinocchio”, said a filmmaker’s first duty is to “talk about your present” and what he’s feeling about the world.
Jacob Elordi plays the monster in the film, which also stars Oscar Isaac, Christoph Waltz and Mia Goth. The film will be released in select theaters on October 17 before releasing on Netflix on November 17.
He has had a lifelong fascination with demons. And finally gets the chance to portray one of the most famous literary monsters for the big screen.
As someone who fell in love with Mary Shelley’s work while reading the book as a young boy, del Toro said he was pleased that he fell short of his own expectations in bringing the book to life.
“‘Crimson Peak’, ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’, ‘The Shape of Water’, they’re all doing something in rehearsal for this movie. I’m so glad it came out way beyond my expectations. A lot of those elements are coming together at the last minute, like Jacob Elordi, who is a blessing to the movie,” said the filmmaker, who won two Oscars for his 2018 film “Shape of Water.” Best Director and Best Picture and third, Best Animated Feature. For 2022’s “Pinocchio.”
“I never thought you’d be so happy with something you’ve dreamed of for so long. Normally, you’d be afraid it would fall short of where you wanted it to be. But this was incredibly satisfying.”
Her love of Gothic literature and the Romantic movement of the 19th century and its painters and writers Henry Fuseli, Caspar David Friedrich or poets such as William Blake, John Milton and Samuel Taylor Coleridge finds place in her latest film.
The film also honors the influences of Mary Shelley and the story of its coming into existence. Lord Byron proposed that he and his guests PB Shelley and Mary Shelley write a ghost story while they were confined to their home during the summer in Switzerland. “Frankenstein” begins and ends with a quote from Lord Byron, which del Toro considered perfect.
“Mary Shelley’s mother had been to the French Revolution and seen all the bloodshed. And Waterloo and of course the Napoleonic Wars were raging during the early years of Mary Shelley’s life. All these elements had never been brought into play. And I brought them in.
“I brought in Percy Shelley’s poem. And the poem that ends the film is a poem that was written by Lord Byron, about Waterloo. And I thought the quote was so profound: ‘The heart will be broken and yet the broken will live’, which is what the film is about making peace with imperfection, forgiveness and kindness,” del Toro said.
In “Frankenstein”, Victor Frankenstein’s scientist is obsessed with conquering death, but he is immediately alienated by his own creation. In “The Shape of Water”, a woman falls in love with a captured amphibian. “Pan’s Labyrinth” is an allusion to Francoist Spain, the fascist regime that ruled after the Spanish Civil War, using a fairy-tale framework to reveal the horrors of tyranny and celebrate imagination as an act of resistance.
Del Toro said he often reflects on what it is to be human and that’s what his films talk about: making mistakes, being flawed but dealing with them with awareness and kindness.
“I’m very afraid of people who always want to be right. I’m very afraid of people who think they have the truth. I’m very afraid of people who have absolute certainty. I think uncertainty is the core of intelligence. Doubt is the most important thing, not the answer. The question is the important thing. And that’s what the film tries to say.”
According to the filmmaker, in his film, Victor is incredibly smart, but asks the wrong questions and gives “the most brilliant” answers to questions that are not important.
“Why do we die? To live. And that’s why I love that moment where he thinks he’s serving the angel of life, and he realizes he’s serving the angel of death in the movie.”
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without any modifications to the text.