Sci-Fi Film and Television Developments

Frankenstein

6/22/11 - 20th Century Fox and producer John Davis have hired scribe Max Landis to pen a script based on the iconic Frankenstein tale, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  Details of the Frankenstein project are being kept under wraps.  Kenneth Branagh’s 1994 Frankenstein was the last time the famous monster graced the big screen. The film was a disappointment in the U.S., but did far better overseas.  Davis Entertainment is attached to produce the untitled film.

6/22/09 – SCI FI Wire reported that director Guillermo del Toro dropped some details for some of his upcoming high-profile projects, including The Hobbit and Frankenstein.  Frankenstein is moving forward this summer in preproduction development, which will heavily involve Doug Jones as the iconic monster.  "Guillermo did say to the press that he's already cast me as his monster, but we've yet to talk about it. But in his mind, if that's what he's decided, then it's done. He's got a four-picture deal with Universal, so once he's done with The Hobbit, I think the first thing that's up on the docket will be Frankenstein. And reinvention is going to be the name of it, because he's going back to the Mary Shelley book and starting fresh with it."  Jones added, “We are starting makeup tests, actually, in a couple weeks.  We are going to do some tests just to see, because he has five years to play with this. He's taking that luxury of time to make this absolutely perfect. This is his dream. He was inspired by Frankenstein when he was a kid. It was the monster that made him want to make monsters. So, because of that, it's been a lifelong dream, and he wants to be perfect with him."  Jones also revealed that del Toro's creature would be based on the artwork of famed horror illustrator Bernie Wrightson, who spent close to a decade creating pen-and-ink illustrations for a special print edition of Shelley's Frankenstein. "It will not be a big, lumbering Boris Karloff type, but more of a skinny, skeletal, stringy-muscled version made from spare parts of some other guy," Jones said. "The designs I have seen so far of the makeup test we are going to try brought tears to my eyes. I can't tell you what I saw, but just know it brought tears to my eyes. I was emotionally touched that I may get to play this character."

9/4/08 - Guillermo del Toro is now booked with films through 2017, including remakes of Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Slaughterhouse-Five, Variety reported.  Universal Pictures--which has a three-year first-look deal with the director--and del Toro are making a long-term commitment by setting up four directing projects, including the aforementioned movies.  Del Toro's first priority is New Line and MGM's The Hobbit and its sequel, to which he has committed the next five years. He has begun writing Hobbit with Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, collaborating via video conferencing and trips to New Zealand every three weeks.  While it’s difficult to plan projects five years into the future, at this point Universal executives told the trade paper that Drood, based on the life of Charles Dickens, is the most likely to be del Toro’s first post-Hobbit directing vehicle.

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