Guillermo del Toro explains why Jacob Elordi ended up playing the monster in ‘Frankenstein’ instead of Andrew Garfield.
Guillermo del Toro has confirmed a major change in his upcoming Netflix production ‘Frankenstein’, which was originally set to feature Andrew Garfield as the monster. However, Garfield stepped down from the project due to scheduling conflicts and was replaced by Jacob Elordi. The shift came as a surprise, particularly since del Toro and his team had spent nine months designing the character based on Garfield.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, del Toro revealed that Garfield’s departure forced the team to recast the role under intense time pressure. The revelation is all the more surprising given that the design process had been built around Garfield over the course of nine months.
“Jacob is the most perfect actor for the creature. We have a supernaturally good connection. Very few words. I barely have to say anything, and he just gets it. We recast and had nine weeks. You can’t be under more pressure than that,” the director admitted.
Make-up artist Mike Hill also highlighted Elordi’s physical presence: “The way he moves, his wrists, that brooding stare, those long eyelashes like Karloff… I don’t know who else has that kind of physicality. He’s innocent, but housed in a nearly two-metre-tall body. If he wanted to, he could do real damage.”
Elordi, for his part, confessed: “Because I came in so late, everything happened at once. I was filming while I was still figuring it all out.”
