Guillermo Del Toro's Frankenstein Movie Features A Casting Twist We Never Saw Coming

If you were hoping that you could see Guillermo del Toro's new "Frankenstein" in a movie theater, good news! After previously being confirmed only to debut on Netflix this November, it's now been revealed the movie will have a limited theatrical run in October. The recent news about the movie doesn't end there.

Oscar Isaac (who plays Dr. Victor Frankenstein) and Jacob Elordi (who plays the Monster) sat down with Variety to discuss some details of del Toro's "Frankenstein," including the movie's runtime (149 minutes), how the two are approaching their parts (Isaac is playing Victor like a rock star; "I saw him much more as an artist than as a scientist," he explained) and an intriguing new detail about their co-star Mia Goth.

Previously, it had been announced that Goth is playing Elizabeth Lavenza, the woman Victor loves. Elizabeth has been played in previous films by Mae Clarke (in James Whale's 1931 "Frankenstein"), Helena Bonham Carter (in Kenneth Branagh's 1994 "Frankenstein"), and many more.

But that's not Goth's only role in the movie. She will also play Victor's mother, who dies in his childhood and thus inspires her son to try and overcome death. Isaac and del Toro's Frankenstein isn't just a man so wrong in the head he tries to play God, he also falls for a woman who looks identical to his mother. "Frankenstein" apparently leaves no room for subtext because it adds a new detail to Victor: he shares Homelander's (Antony Starr) love of Freudian-laced milk. Isaac explained:

"Guillermo would always be like, 'He [Victor] wants that lechita.' When everything goes wrong, he just wants that mama's milk."

"Frankenstein" has always been about parenthood and childbirth; strip away the science-fiction and you get a story about a son angry at his father for rejecting him (hence del Toro comparing it to his other father/son films "Nightmare Alley" and "Pinocchio"). While Victor is obsessed with his mother, his own creation doesn't have one. Shelley wrote the book after suffering a miscarriage; like Victor, she must have wished she revive the dead. In the process, she crafted a story that suggested men alone aren't strong enough to bear the burdens of creating life.

Mia Goth himself has promised that "Frankenstein" will be "personal" and "emotional," because it is a remake of the story that made del Toro love monsters. Emphasizing it's not only scientific ambition, but the absence of his long dead mother, that drives Victor's experiments definitely sounds like one way the film will deliver on that promise.

This specific double casting is a new trick for a "Frankenstein" film, but the general idea of using the same actor in multiple parts is not.

James Whale's 1935 "Bride of Frankenstein" featured Elsa Lanchester as the beehive-haired Bride. But Lanchester also played Mary Shelley in a framing device, telling the story to her husband Percy (Douglas Walton) and their friend Lord Byron (Gavin Gordon). Branagh's "Frankenstein" also depicted Elizabeth becoming the Bride of Frankenstein; we'll see if del Toro's version has a similar twist in store.

In 2011, Danny Boyle directed a stage version of "Frankenstein" at the British Royal National Theatre, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller. The two actors swapped parts as Doctor Frankenstein and the Creature between showings, emphasizing the kinship of creator and created.

Goth herself also has experience playing two parts in one movie. In Ti West's "X," she played final girl Maxine and the slasher Pearl (the similarity was disguised by old age makeup on Pearl). Goth reprised both roles, showing Pearl's backstory in "Pearl" and Maxine's future in "MaXXXine." I don't know if this had any bearing on del Toro casting Goth in two roles, but I am confident in saying Goth will make the most of both her "Frankenstein" parts.

"Frankenstein" opens in a limited theatrical release on October 17, 2025 before debuting on Netflix on November 7.