When it was announced that Mia Goth had joined the cast of Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein, her part was not disclosed, but it was generally assumed that she would be playing Victor's love-interest, Elizabeth.
This turned out to be accurate, but the MaXXXine star will also play another character in the movie - and probably not the one you're thinking of.
Spoilers follow.
Though it doesn't happen in Mary Shelley's novel, Elizabeth Lavenza (or parts of her, at least) becomes the Bride of Frankenstein in some adaptations of the classic tale. The Bride is not Goth's second role, however.
According to Variety, she will also play Victor Frankenstein's mother.
“Guillermo would always be like, ‘He wants that lechita,’” star Oscar Isaac tells the site. "When everything goes wrong, he just wants that mama’s milk. (To drive the point home, Goth plays both Victor’s mother and Elizabeth, the woman he falls in love with who happens to be betrothed to his brother.) "
Subtext be damned!
"I think people are going to love how epic it is, and the scale of it, it's such a feast," Goth said of Del Toro's take on the story during a recent interview. "But I think they will also be incredibly moved by it and maybe surprised by how much heart went into this. It's a lifelong project for Guillermo."
Frankenstein will screen on Aug. 30 at the Venice Film Festival. Netflix will then give the movie an exclusive three-week theatrical release starting on October 17, before debuting it on its service on November 7.
It’s a movie I have been wanting to do for 50 years since I saw the first Frankenstein," Del Toro said back when the project was first confirmed. "I had an epiphany, and it’s basically a movie that required a lot of growth and a lot of tools that I couldn’t have done 10 years ago. Now I’m brave or crazy enough or something, and we’re gonna tackle it.”
Andrew Garfield (The Amazing Spider-Man) was originally cast as the Monster, but was forced to drop out due to a scheduling conflict, with Jacob Elordi stepping in to replace him. Felix Kammerer (All Quiet on the Western Front), Lars Mikkelsen (The Witcher), David Bradley (Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio) and Christian Convery (Sweet Tooth) also star.
First published in 1818, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus has been adapted numerous times for the stage and screen, but there have been very few fully faithful takes on the story (the creature's appearance in the novel, for example, has never been accurately depicted).
Del Toro expressed his admiration for Shelley during his 2018 BAFTA acceptance speech for best director for The Shape of Water.
“The most important figure from English legacy is, incredibly, for me, a teenager by the name of Mary Shelley, and she has remained a figure as important in my life as if she were family,” del Toro said. “And so many times when I want to give up, when I think about giving up, when people tell me that dreaming of the movies and the stories I dream are impossible, I think of her.”
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