From Maggie Gyllenhaal (the Academy Award-nominated writer and director of The Lost Daughter, who many of you will likely also remember from her role as Rachel Dawes in The Dark Knight) comes The Bride!, a bold, iconoclastic take on one of the world's most compelling stories.
Starring Academy Award nominee Jessie Buckley (Men, Wicked Little Letters) and Academy Award winner Christian Bale (The Dark Knight Trilogy, Thor: Love and Thunder), the first trailer and posters have been released today, finally pulling back the curtain on Bale's take on Frankenstein.
In the movie, a lonely Frankenstein (Bale) travels to 1930s Chicago to ask groundbreaking scientist Dr Euphronious (Annette Bening) to create a companion for him. The two revive a murdered young woman, and The Bride (Buckley) is born. What ensues is beyond what either of them imagined: Murder! Possession! A wild and radical cultural movement! And outlaw lovers in a wild and combustible romance!
There's a lot of excitement to see this take on the Bride of Frankenstein, and in an interview with Empire Online (via FearHQ.com), Gyllenhaal said, "I believe that every single one of us has a monstrous vein inside us. And by monstrous, I mean really monstrous. I mean terrifying to look at. You keep it hidden."
"And so in my story, the monsters are monstrous. Even in the trailer, they do really awful things, and that’s just the beginning of it, honestly," she teased. "And at the same time, they are heroes. And I hope that they’re relatable, even if they’ve been brought back from the dead. They’re in a lot of pain, like all of us are."
The filmmaker went on to say that the movie explores "what happens when you bring someone back to life, and they have their own needs, desires, and their own heat that is beyond anything you could have possibly imagined...then what happens?"
The Bride! stars Buckley, Bale, Peter Sarsgaard, with Bening, Academy Award nominee Jake Gyllenhaal, and Oscar winner Penélope Cruz. Maggie Gyllenhaal directs from her own screenplay and produces alongside Oscar nominee Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Talia Kleinhendler and Osnat Handelsman Keren. The executive producers are Carla Raij, David Webb and Courtney Kivowitz.
The Bride! arrives in theaters on March 6, 2026. You can check out a new behind-the-scenes shot from the movie in the X post below.