2s.Jacob Elordi Opens Up About Playing Frankenstein’s Creature. He revealed his only hesitation before joining Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein — he feared the Creature would be a silent, wordless role. But after reading the script, Elordi was thrilled to find a deeply emotional and articulate version, true to Mary Shelley’s original novel. To prepare, he even created a “Creature diary,” documenting the monster’s inner turmoil throughout filming. The Netflix Gothic masterpiece also stars Oscar Isaac, Mia Goth, and Christoph Waltz, and is being praised for its haunting beauty and emotional depth..2s

In the shadowy realms of Gothic cinema, few stories endure like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Now, Guillermo del Toro’s long-awaited adaptation has electrified audiences worldwide.

Premiering at the Venice Film Festival in August 2025, the film hit select theaters on October 17. It streamed globally on Netflix starting November 7, captivating viewers with its haunting visuals.

At the epicenter stands Jacob Elordi, embodying the Creature in a role that’s already career-defining. Elordi’s performance has drawn rave reviews for its raw emotional depth and physical grace. Critics hail it as a “standout,” injecting fresh humanity into cinema’s most iconic monster.

As Rotten Tomatoes boasts a 96% score, Elordi’s turn feels like a pivotal rebirth. But behind the prosthetics and praise lies a journey of vulnerability and surprise. Elordi recently opened up about his initial fears and ultimate exhilaration in the role.

Elordi’s hesitation was palpable when first approached for del Toro’s vision. He worried the Creature might be reduced to a silent, lumbering brute from older films.

“Silent and wordless—that was my only fear,” Elordi confessed in a Variety interview. Such portrayals, like Boris Karloff’s in the 1931 classic, often muted the monster’s inner world.

Yet, upon devouring the script, Elordi’s doubts evaporated like morning mist. He discovered a profoundly articulate being, echoing Shelley’s original tormented soul.

“The script gave him words, rage, and heartbreaking eloquence,” Elordi shared with Entertainment Weekly. This version delves into the Creature’s philosophical anguish and quest for connection.

No grunts or groans here—just a voice laced with sorrow and intellectual fire. Del Toro’s fidelity to the novel thrilled Elordi, promising a monster with a beating heart.

Preparation for such a role demanded more than lines; it required immersion. Elordi crafted a “Creature diary,” a personal chronicle of the monster’s psyche.

Throughout the grueling shoot, he jotted fragmented thoughts, dreams, and torments. ” It helped me track his evolution from newborn confusion to vengeful clarity,” he explained.

This method acting echoed Elordi’s intensity in

Euphoria or Saltburn, but amplified. Filming spanned Canada and the UK, with Arctic ice fields for the novel’s frozen climax. Elordi’s entries captured the isolation, mirroring the Creature’s abandonment by Victor.

One page lamented, “Born from death, yet craving life—am I curse or canvas?” Such writings fueled on-set improvisations, adding layers del Toro cherished. The diary became a bridge between Shelley’s prose and Elordi’s raw embodiment.

Transforming into the Creature was a marathon of makeup and endurance. Prosthetics artist Mike Hill sculpted 54 silicone pieces onto Elordi’s frame. Each application took up to 10 hours, applied by a team of eight specialists.

Elordi arrived at trailers as early as 10 p.m., enduring overnight sessions for dawn calls. “Twenty-hour days, but I never complained,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. Del Toro marveled at his “superhuman” stamina, calling the set a “safe, liberating space.” The design drew from wartime cadavers, piecing together mismatched flesh tones.

Pale, translucent hues evoked a “newborn soul,” as del Toro described in Deadline. Elordi’s 6’5″ frame provided the ideal canvas—no “accident victim” patchwork here. Instead, Victor’s hubris birthed something “staggeringly beautiful, otherworldly,” per the director.

Del Toro’s collaboration with Elordi sparked from instinctual casting. “I cast him because of his eyes—full of humanity,” del Toro revealed to Variety. Originally eyed for Andrew Garfield, the role shifted due to SAG-AFTRA strikes. Elordi stepped in January 2024, with just three weeks before cameras rolled.

Del Toro scrapped nine months of Garfield designs, redesigning in a frantic nine weeks. Yet, the haste yielded magic: Elordi’s height and expressiveness fit perfectly. On first seeing the transformed actor, del Toro wept, hugging his “beautiful creation.” “It was like meeting the monster of my dreams,” the director recounted in a Netflix Q&A.

Elordi’s physicality drew from butoh dance—slow, deliberate, evoking inner turmoil. He binged Karloff films on del Toro’s urging: “It’s a movie; it can’t hurt you.”

The ensemble elevates this Gothic masterpiece to operatic heights. Oscar Isaac’s Victor is a tortured genius, egotistical yet achingly human. “Guillermo created a banquet; I just showed up to eat,” Isaac quipped at Venice.

Mia Goth shines as Elizabeth, Victor’s fiancée, embodying natural grace amid horror. Her wardrobe, designed by Kate Hawley, weaves floral motifs symbolizing lost innocence. Christoph Waltz adds sly menace as a shadowy mentor, his Austrian lilt chilling. Supporting turns from Felix Kammerer, Charles Dance, and David Bradley enrich the tapestry.

Del Toro’s frequent collaborators, like composer Alexandre Desplat, infuse ethereal scores. The film’s 119 practical sets—from labyrinthine labs to storm-lashed ships—breathe life. No CGI shortcuts; everything handmade, from 3,178 labor days on the ship alone.

Critical acclaim has poured in since Venice, affirming del Toro’s vision. Vulture praises Elordi’s entry as the “soul” igniting the film’s first half. “A gothic opera soaked in sadness and snow,” raves IMDb user consensus. Metacritic’s 88/100 signals “universal acclaim,” lauding emotional and visual depth.

SlashFilm calls it a “blood-drenched work of art,” while ScreenRant hails atmosphere. Elordi’s Creature pivots his career, distancing from heartthrob tropes. Fans on X buzz: “Rebirth as a lotus flower,” one viral post declares. From Kissing Booth pretty boy to anguished icon, Elordi’s range stuns.

Del Toro’s themes—ambition’s cost, empathy’s fragility—resonate in 2025’s chaos. The film nods to Boris Karloff via subtle Easter eggs, honoring horror roots.

Yet, Frankenstein transcends homage; it’s a meditation on creation’s burdens. The Creature’s plea for a mate underscores isolation’s sting in our connected age. Elordi’s diary entries, shared in post-release interviews, reveal poetic insights. “Why stitch beauty from ruin, only to flee the seam?” one excerpt muses.

Del Toro frames Victor as artist-surgeon, his lab a cathedral of circles and mirrors. These motifs echo life’s cycles: birth, rejection, revenge, redemption. Shooting in Northern Ontario’s ice fields captured raw, elemental fury. Elordi’s voiceover trailer line—”My maker told his tale, and I tell mine”—haunts.

It flips the narrative, centering the marginalized, much like Shelley’s feminist lens. In a post-#MeToo era, the film’s rage against abandonment feels urgent.

Production tales reveal del Toro’s obsessive artistry and team synergy. Set decorator Scott Chambliss built labs with sanded antique wood for authenticity. Costumes numbered 1,252 for extras, with 68 bespoke for principals. Elordi’s stunt gear endured 53 rigors, from lab births to Arctic chases.

Del Toro argued fiercely for a pivotal scene: the Creature’s tender mirror gaze. “It humanizes the divine folly,” he told Collider, color-coding emotions via lighting. Elordi’s butoh influences lent ethereal movements, graceful yet grotesque.

Post-shoot, he shed prosthetics but carried the diary as talisman. ” It grounded me, like the Creature’s stolen moments of reflection,” he reflected. The film’s circle motif culminates in a snowy, circular finale of mutual ruin.

As Frankenstein streams, whispers of awards buzz grow louder. Elordi’s name floats for Supporting Actor nods, a leap from rom-com confines. Del Toro eyes his fourth Oscar, post-Pinocchio‘s animated win.

No sequel looms; del Toro calls this his “lifelong dream fulfilled.” Yet, its impact endures, redefining monsters as mirrors of our fractures. Elordi’s revelation: “This role taught me vulnerability is the truest strength.” From diary scribbles to screen immortality, his Creature roars with eloquence.

In del Toro’s hands, Shelley’s warning evolves: only monsters play God. But in Elordi’s eyes, even gods weep for their forsaken children. As viewership surges past millions, Frankenstein cements a new legacy.

The film’s behind-the-scenes exhibition at London’s Old Selfridges Hotel ran till November 9. Fans marveled at Hill’s clay molds, blasted with thunder for 1850s immersion. Elordi’s on-set photos, shared on X, show a lanky actor lost in reverie.

One captures him mid-diary, prosthetics half-applied, gaze distant. Del Toro’s Q&A with Margot Robbie at Netflix Tudum dissected themes. “Empathy for the other—that’s the bolt of life,” the director proclaimed. Elordi’s co-stars echoed: Isaac on Victor’s “untranslatable” Spanish asides.

Goth on Elizabeth’s nature-infused gowns, linking her to the Creature’s wildness. Desplat’s score, blending orchestral swells with dissonant strings, mirrors turmoil. Hawley’s jewelry—broken saints and Victorian dreams—adorns the fallen.

Looking ahead, Elordi’s post-Frankenstein slate hints at darker turns. Rumors swirl of a Heathers reboot or indie horror, but nothing confirmed. For now, he savors the role’s afterglow, recommending Shelley reads anew. “Her words pulse; they’re alive, like the Creature himself,” he urges.

Del Toro’s adaptation honors that pulse, weaving spectacle with soul. In a year of reboots, Frankenstein stands as thoughtful reinvention. Elordi’s diary, perhaps published someday, could offer deeper glimpses. Until then, his performance lingers—a beautiful scar on cinema’s skin.

As one X user quipped, “Elordi in Euphoria? Meh. In Frankenstein? Divine.” Two centuries on, Shelley’s monster finds a voice worth hearing.