‘Frankenstein’ | Anatomy of a Scene

“Hi, I am Guillermo del Toro, director of “Frankenstein.” “Life!” We are at a disciplinary hearing for Victor at the Royal College of Medicine in Edinburgh. And watch that little ball. I shot this as Victor narrating his past. So it’s idealized the way he remembers it. He remembers himself to be the hero, and he remembers himself to capture the attention of everyone. The red ball is a symbol of his mother’s death and his quest for immortality. The color red in the movie does. We introduce Harlander through these golden shoes and the rudeness of his manner. This is played by Christoph Waltz and he will finance Victor. This scene was meant to be shot, always roaming, looking for Victor. “Now there lies the challenge.” “That should be our concern.” “It should be.” I free the camera. I make it follow things. I make it zoop in a crane like this one. It’s like he’s giving a little concert. We’ve dressed him very much like a rock star with a flared shirt and the red of the cravat. That is again the quest for immortality. And his mother. The batteries. We introduced them here. These red batteries that will become key to the resurrection of the body of the creature and his experiment. And the idea was to make it very much like a tribunal. The symbol of the movie constantly around Victor is a circle. So the theater is in the shape of a circle. There are circular windows, et cetera because this has circular narrative that opens and ends in the frozen North. Now, this, I thought, was a really good way to demonstrate not only the technique of stitching, but also a little bit of a preview of what the creature may look like. We do that through this anatomical assembly and some of the anatomical waxes in Victor’s apartment. This is completely done analog. There is no C.G. creature. This moment I love. I call it the Spielberg pause, which Steven Spielberg does by cutting three times to people expecting to see something. This is a really nice little shock when the creature comes to life. And as I said, this is entirely a puppet. There are blue screen puppeteers behind it, and there’s a radio control and cable control. And now, Victor, the way Oscar Isaac plays it, And the way we dressed him, was meant to evoke like a bohemian in the ‘60s. A little by little we will introduce a broad brim hat, flared pants, little heeled boots that remind you of the anti-establishment that he is meant to represent, the progress in his mind. “Are you sure?” This catch, by the way, is completely real. It was caught by the puppeteers and one puppeteer was puppeteering the head; another one, the hand, and the way they interact is beautiful. Victor, and the way I set up the scene, is moving around, but is moving around a completely immobile tribunal. So for a while he manages them to be still and judging him in a severe way. And then the battle comes in into the arena. “Why not quantify it?” “This is unholy!” And Victor uses the ball again. He’s used it to send the points back and forth to the judges. And when they invoke God, he loses his patience and throws the ball. And there’s a beautiful shot where Harlander catches it. And that is the change of perspective. Harlander will have the ball with him when he goes and visits him into his lab. And I think what is great about this scene is that it establishes all at once Victor’s quest, Victor’s intentions, his temperament, and the absolute lack of uncertainty, which every tyrant, every villain really has. And he thinks himself to be a victim.