Guillermo del Toro’s lifelong passion project Frankenstein jolted to life on Saturday night in Italy where the Netflix film received a splashy world premiere during the Venice Film Festival. When it was over, and as the credits rolled, the fest audience responded with a 14-minute standing ovation that brought the filmmaker and his title star Jacob Elordi to tears.
The veteran auteur and horror maestro joined his cast Elordi, Oscar Isaac, Mia Goth, Christoph Waltz, Felix Kammerer and composer Alexandre Desplat for the red carpet affair, held inside Sala Grande on the Lido. The streamer’s top executives including Ted Sarandos and Dan Lin also turned up to show their support along with former Netflix film chief Scot Stuber who produced the film. It proved to be a starry night in the theater as other guests included Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Kaitlyn Dever, Jesse Williams, Jessica Williams, Sofia Carson and more.
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Frankenstein, an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s classic tale of Victor Frankenstein, centers on a brilliant but egotistical scientist (Isaac) who brings a creature (Elordi) to life in an experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation. “This film concludes a quest that started at age 7, when I saw James Whale’s Frankenstein films for the first time. I felt the jolt of recognition in that seminal moment: Gothic horror became my church, and Boris Karloff my Messiah,” del Toro said in a director’s statement.
Frankenstein will receive a limited theatrical release on Oct. 17, and a global bow by Netflix on Nov. 7. The 82nd edition of the Venice Film Festival runs Aug. 27-Sept. 6.
